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| Emily Michiko Jensen as Butterfly Photo by David Allen |
Madama Butterfly
Opera San Jose
November 16, 2025
Director Michelle Cuizon and her forces make some interesting tweaks to Puccini’s great tragedy in this production. Some work, some don’t, but she operates with the luxury of strong principal voices and Joseph Marcheso’s orchestra, whose divine playing reveals the sonic gems in the score.
(I’ve reviewed this opera twenty-plus times, so I’m going to afford myself a little stream-of-consciousness. Enjoy the ride.)
Let’s talk about Sharpless, the American consul, who is one of the more malleable characters in the opera. Eugene Brancoveanu, who seems to have become a permanent OSJ fixture, brings to the character an unusually strong presence, owing to his height and resonant baritone. He balances this by giving Sharpless a great degree of sensitivity. In the final act, when the Pinkertons arrive to claim Butterfly’s son, Trouble, Sharpless looks absolutely tortured, and snaps at Pinkerton’s cowardice. Great acting.
I have never heard such enthusiastic booing for Pinkerton, but perhaps we’re a little sensitive these days about American authority figures abusing young women. Tenor Christopher Oglesby even encouraged it, offering a “bring it on” gesture straight out of professional wrestling. Oglesby did an excellent job of playing the weasel in the final act, leaving his second wife to do the dirty work of claming his first wife’s kid. But he also did a great job earlier, playing the dashing romantic on his wedding night, applying his effortless, confident singing to the epic first-act duets. His top notes are gold.
Not that Puccini hated Americans. In fact, the Pinkerton character was originally Dutch. Puccini, after his trip to New York, became a great fan of all things American. So Pinkerton became a Yankee and Puccini quoted the Star Spangled Banner in his score. Later, he turned another Belasco play into The Girl of the Golden West, featuring Italian-singing California miners who said things like “Stockton,” “Sacramento” while drinking “viskey.”
As for our Butterfly, Emily Michiko Jensen plays the part with exceptional elegance. Vocally, she is equally as assured as her stagemates, with a bel canto in-the-mask technique that produces a spinning quality in her tone. I do wish that she would play more with her dynamics and phrasing, but younger singers are not always afforded the leeway for such things. Her “Un bel di” is magnificent and moving, sprouting like a sudden bloom from a conversation with Suzuki.
About ten years ago, I began telling my friends that “Un bel di” translated as “One Fine Day,” and in fact inspired the girl-group hit of that name. It was one of those lies that one tells as a joke. Eventually, however, I looked it up online and discovered that Carole King saw a performance of Madama Butterfly and thought that the title “One Fine Day” would be great for a pop song. So my made-up lie was actually true!
The principal variation by stage director Michelle Cuizon is to place a young Asian man (Thien-An Truong) and an older friend (Kyounghee Lee) at the edges of the action, seeming to watch it as if they were viewing a play. This turns out to be the grown-up version of Butterfly’s son, Trouble, come home to see his birthplace with the now-elderly housekeeper Suzuki. In the end, I think this innovation worked, especially with grown-up Trouble’s reaction to the final tragedy.
(A note about that tragedy. I’m sorry, I’m going to need something more visceral than a pretend slash to the throat. Even turning her back to the audience would have at least left it to the imagination. Opera companies in general are notoriously bad at fake killings.)
Other, smaller twists included having American nurses and consulate staff at the wedding. I enjoyed this; it brought out the cultural blendings and clashes of Nagasaki. Another change came in Act II, when Butterfly’s rich suitor, Prince Yamadori (Haoran Li) shows up in a naval uniform similar to Pinkerton’s. The traditional presentation gives Yamadori an extravagant Japanese outfit, befitting his status and vanity. But it makes sense to imply that Goro (Ilhee Lee) makes his money completely off of sailors.
The floral celebration that generally accompanies the arrival of Pinkerton’s warship is vastly muted here. I was disappointed, since the scattering of petals is a joyous, visually arresting scene, and such a stark contrast to the impending tragedy.
The orchestra under Joseph Marcheso really lives and breathes this score, bringing out every delicious touch of Puccini’s score: the booming brass of the wedding scene, the low drumroll that foretells Butterfly’s terrible fate. And especially the playful melody in the strings that underplays Sharpless as he attempts to read Pinkerton’s letter. The melody reappears soon after in the Humming Chorus, played as Butterfly keeps watch over the harbor.
A more visual overlap comes in the form of Kate Pinkerton’s lovely skirt (designed by Julie Engelbrecht), a light brown affair with lace around the waist. The skirt mirrors a similar one worn by Butterfly, creating a subtle connection between the two. In general, the production was visually stunning, thanks in large part to the black backdrop of Kent Dorsey’s scenic design and the work of lighting designer Eric Watkins. The result was a series of stage scenarios that resembled large, live-action paintings.
Through Nov. 30, California Theater, 345 S. First Street, San Jose. $58-$215. operasj.org, 40/437-4450
Michael J. Vaughn is a 40-year opera critic and the author of 30 novels, including his most recent, I Look for You in the Crowd, available at Amazon.