The West Australian Opera’s 2025 revival of Madama Butterfly is, in short, a triumphant testament to the exemplary calibre of theatre in WA. It will overwhelm your heart, your eyes and your ears.
Set in 1904 Nagasaki, the opera tells the tragic story of Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha known as Butterfly who marries American naval officer Lieutenant Pinkerton. Believing in the sincerity of his love, she waits faithfully for his return, only to be met with betrayal and heartbreak.
The narrative unfolds with devastating clarity and is accompanied by an unparalleled brilliance of vocal performance, musical production, staging and costume design. Only the English surtitles can draw your eyes away from the performance. Even then, when Cio-Cio-San’s fate is sealed, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone’s eyes darting to the surtitle screen.
Mariana Hong as Cio-Cio-San is a splendour. She entirely captivates in her heartbreaking vulnerability, commitment and faith. The intensity of her duty and honour anchors all 3 hours’ of runtime.
Supporting roles, including WA’s Fleuranne Brockway as Suzuki, Sharpless, and Pinkerton match Hong’s intensity and emotional depth. The ensemble work is flawless – and is what makes it so difficult to divert your eyes away.
Musically, the WA Symphony Orchestra evokes soaring happiness and aching melancholy in its performance of Puccini’s lush score. There is no quiet moment.
Madama Butterfly. Photography by West Beach Studio.
The staging is its own success. The simplicity and cultural authenticity of the interior favours intimacy, drawing us into Cio-Cio-San’s world with quiet intensity. The interior is then completely surrounded by water – a feat that has surely never been accomplished on the His Maj stage before – to striking effect. Cio-Cio-San has been renounced as a result of her marriage and so her family must become an island unto itself.
The costumes are another masterclass in vibrance, cultural authenticity and design nous. Act 1, in particular, is a technicolour spectacular – as is Prince Yamadori, the geishas and the Bonze.
In sum, West Australian Opera’s Madama Butterfly is a masterfully executed production that overwhelms the senses to move, provoke, and captivate. Whether you’re a seasoned opera-goer or attending for the first time, this is a production not to be missed.
Madama Butterfly is on at His Majesty’s Theatre from 26 July to 9 August.