The best Opera I have seen in my life: "Madame Butterfly" (Dublin,Board Gais Energy Theatre 2012)

On the 15th of March 2012 my opinion about Opera changed, there is one before and after "Madame Butterfly" for me. I have had the chance to see different Operas live before because my husband loves Opera but I did not find anything in it that really got me. I'm not an expert in the field, of course, to some extent I felt like the famous scene in the movie "Pretty woman", when Julia Roberts go to the opera for the first time in her life and start crying and clapping at the end; that was actually me at the end of Madame butterfly, I couldn't stop crying and clapping! The protagonist playing Madame Butterfly "Cio-Cio-San", is a French singer called: Anne Sophie Duprels, she got so much into the role that she was also crying with the full theatre audience at the end who were applauding with standing ovation! At the same time when the Mexican tenor, Rafael Rojas, playing Madame's butterfly's American husband ,Pikerton, came to the stage at the end some of us booed him not because of his performance but more due to his role being so unfair to Madame Butterfly. First time I have seen people booing a tenor at the opera due to the role they perform! For me the best performers were : Anna Taylor, playing Madame's butterfly servant, Suzuki and Anne Sophie Duprels, playing Madame butterfly. When both of them sang connected with all of us, their expressions , their voices and moves, superb! To tell you a bit of the story of Madame butterfly, it's a small soap opera where an American lieutenant, Pikerton takes advantage of the elasticity of the marriage contracts in Japan under which under a short absence of the husband, it means a divorce. He knew this from the starts and marriage broker, Goro, finds a beautiful geisha "Madame Butterfly" to get married to him. At the beginning of the first act, the wedding takes place (it's a beautiful moment with the whole family singing along) with the American husband only seeing the beauty of the Geisha and thinks of the wedding night and where at the same time, delicate Cio-Cio-San sees his husband to be like the man of his dreams whom she will love forever. On the second act, Madame Butterfly waits for almost three years for his husband who abandoned her to marry an American woman back in the U.s.a. Cio-Cio-San who is desperately in love with his husband , she has been faithfully waiting for him and almost running out of money with her loyal servant, Suzuki, and her son with the hope of having him back one day. The opera is full of poetry in the songs , songs for love and despair. To me the most beautiful part comes in the second act with the waiting of Madame Butterfly and the tragic end when she realizes that her husband is married to another woman and she has nothing to offer to her son, having to give him away.

No need to say that seeing this opera live played by the group Opera North at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre  in Dublin on the fourth row just in fron of the orchestra, has changed my perception of opera forever and i have even bought my first opera cd!! I can't stop listening to Madame's Butterfly! This is definitely one of the things to do before you die "seeing Madame's Butterfly" live!! Money doesn't matter (I can't tell you , it's not cheap)! It's a memory I'll keep and I had the joy to enjoyed it with my mum and husband.Thanx Puccini!!

See a video of the opera I saw with the same company : Opera north