For the penultimate production of its season,
the Regina Opera Company in Dyker Heights will stage a production
of Puccini’s tragic "Madama Butterfly," that is at
once traditional and unconventional.
Among Regina Opera’s many strengths, according to Francine Garber-Cohen,
Regina Opera’s chairman and executive vice-president, is that
audiences expect a staging faithful to the composer and librettist’s
original intentions – and this "Butterfly," running
March 15-16 and March 22-23, will be no different.
"It is a traditional staging that takes place in Japan:
the characters wear kimonos and black wigs," Garber-Cohen
explains, "and the music will be performed exactly as it
was written: uncut and unchanged."
But here traditional does not mean slavishly conventional. Director
Linda Lehr – who has been working with Regina Opera for several
seasons, directing such repertory staples as "Tosca,"
"La Boheme," "Rigoletto" and "Carmen"
– studied the history of Japanese theater, coming up with an
idea that will be used in this production.
"Linda has added puppeteers, called ’bunraku,’ that are
from traditional Japanese theatrical productions. Dressed in
black costumes, they handle the props [handing Cio-Cio-San the
knife for her suicide, for example]," Garber-Cohen says.
"They will be acting, not singing, roles for three people,
who are essentially performing in mime."
Puccini’s plot couldn’t be simpler. An American sailor, Benjamin
Franklin Pinkerton, is married to the delicate young Cio-Cio-San,
who believes he truly loves her. When he finally returns to Japan
with his new American wife, Cio-Cio-San says goodbye to their
young son and fatally stabs herself with her father’s knife.
Soap opera? Perhaps. Yet Puccini’s music – filled with authentic
emotion, as all his scores were – makes these characters and
their actions plausible, dramatic and heartrendingly tragic.
As usual for Regina Opera, talent and not racial homogeneity
is the leading factor in casting the roles.
"We go based specifically on the person’s talent,"
Garber-Cohen notes. "We have cast people of various ethnic
groups in our lead roles over the years – Korean-American, Japanese-American,
Hispanic-American and African-American – because we cast the
best singers who are available.
"When we did our recent ’Marriage of Figaro,’ the father
was Caucasian, the mother was African-American, and Figaro himself
was Japanese-American. The audience just loved it!"
Often, too, the casting is homespun.
"We use the finest Brooklyn singers all the time,"
Garber-Cohen says, and going down the cast list for this "Butterfly"
bears him out. For the performances on March 16 and March 22,
Deborah Anne Faw, of Carroll Gardens, and Peter Emery, of Park
Slope, sing Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton. (Carol Welker and Alejandro
Olmedo handle the roles on March 15 and March 23.)
Additional Brooklyn voices, Sarah Blaze, of Park Slope, and Adrienne
Metzinger, of Midwood, alternate as Kate Pinkerton, the sailor’s
new American wife. One of the "bunraku" puppeteers,
Katie Cohen, is also from Midwood.
The 14-year-old Cohen, who also sings in Regina’s chorus, is
the daughter of Susan Carlson, flutist with the Regina Opera
orchestra. That brings up another unique facet of Regina Opera:
its unabashed, unapologetic nepotism.
"Since Regina Opera has been around for 33 seasons now,"
Garber-Cohen explains, "we’ve gotten to the point where
we have second- and even third-generation performers.
"Both of the young boys who alternate playing Butterfly’s
son have deep roots with Regina – both of Christopher Clark’s
parents are regular players in our orchestra, and James Callaghan’s
mother, Joan Callaghan, is one of our leading mezzo-sopranos.
Also, Joan’s father, Sal Fontana, and uncle Frank Fontana sang
with our company in the 1970s and 1980s."
Grand finale
This spring, the Regina Opera’s season ends with a flourish.
On April 6, the Annual Gala Concert will be presented, as many
of the company’s leading-role singers perform opera arias and
ensembles by Verdi, Puccini and Mascagni, along with popular
music and Italian and Neapolitan songs.
May 4 is the Swing Along Broadway Concert, with several Regina
Opera soloists singing show tunes, including selections from
old Broadway classics and contemporary Broadway songs.
Finally, the last of the season’s productions is Verdi’s "La
Traviata," staged by Linda Lehr and conducted by Jose Alejandro
Guzman, on May 31, June 1, June 7 and June 8.
Regina Opera presents "Madama Butterfly"
on March 15 and March 22 at 7 pm, and March 16 and March 23 at
4 pm, at Regina Hall, corner of 12th Avenue and 65th Street in
Dyker Heights. Tickets are $15; $10, college students and seniors;
$5, junior high and high school students; and free for children
under 12.
For more information, call (718) 232-3555 or visit www.reginaopera.org
on the Web.
