“Madama Butterfly” cast members discuss the opera’s timeless appeal

It was set for The Atlanta Opera’s 2019-20 finale, and then later that year to run alongside La Boheme. Both times, though, the company’s version of Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly — about American naval officer Pinkerton who takes a 15-year-old Japanese wife, Cio-Cio-San — was postponed because of the pandemic. Now, it’s finally on, and its international cast is ecstatic. Directed by Tomer Zvulun, the company’s general and artistic director, this production — the first version at The Atlanta Opera since 2014 — offers a fresh take on the classic for the opera’s mainstage 2022-2023 season opener, running November 5–13. 

One of the cast members is tenor Julius Ahn, who plays marriage broker Goro, a role he has played around the world to considerable acclaim. “He’s what you’d call a matchmaker, responsible for arranging marriages,” Ahn says. “In the Western world, he has been stereotyped as a pimp, which is far from the truth. In those times, the people of status and nobility did use a matchmaker to arrange marriages.” 

While some reviews describe Goro as a wicked character, Ahn doesn’t necessarily agree with that assessment. “That comes with how he is portrayed a lot of times. There is a lot of ignorance about the Japanese side of things when it comes to the culture and its people. He is very pragmatic and direct and definitely a survivor. He is viewed as a pimp selling off this young girl, and that is not the case. He is not a nice guy, but that doesn’t mean he is just wicked. He certainly is chameleon-like with dealing with clients because he is a business person.”

This is the third time Ahn has worked with The Atlanta Opera and the performer is very complimentary of Zvulun, who is bringing in Kevin and Momo Suzuki from New York to assist in authenticity with the Japanese culture and movement. “The Atlanta Opera is very welcoming and open,” says Ahn. “I have never had the sense that I was an outsider of any kind. It’s a wonderful environment of forward-thinking artists and administrators, which is what I really appreciate. Tomer is bringing in people who are very knowledgeable about the Japanese culture and have a lot of experience with the opera itself. He is open to our opinions.”

Craig Colclough, part of The Atlanta Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro in 2014, sings the role Sharpless. His previous engagement in Madama Butterfly was in a LA Opera version in a smaller role in 2008. 

The performer describes Sharpless as the consulate in Nagasaki, stuck between two worlds, struggling with what to do. “He knows, as a diplomat and a man in that time period, that certain things are allowed and are supposed to be OK, in a male-dominated U.S. imperial (world). I know all the noble families in the area. When I go to oversee this arranged marriage of military officer Pinkerton, I know that education and culture-wise it is OK, but then I am at odds inside myself because I have the paternal instinct, and as a father, I see something is wrong here. He plans to use this girl and leave her and sees nothing wrong with it, but I don’t have a real position to tell Pinkerton to stop.”

He is impressed with Zvulun’s desire to tell an authentic story. Madama Butterfly was written in 1904 and takes place before WWII. “Once (the war) happened, the U.S. moved into this super aggressive propaganda machine against Japan as a whole, and their people and heritage in yellow face and characters and slander.  Then, as that sank into the culture, there was that ingrained U.S. racism against Asia and Japan. Tomer has been deliberate about not going back on those and incorporating yellow face tropes and the degrading depictions that are caricatures.”

Both men have theories as to why Madama Butterfly has endeared itself to audiences decade after decade. “First and foremost, the music is astoundingly incredible,” says Ahn. “On top of that, you have this really wonderful lead character who has an incredible journey in such a young life. It would be difficult for any adult to go through, and yet she at 15 has an experience few of us would dare to do. There is also a love story. That is the catch-22 of Madama Butterfly. I think the opera is misunderstood in a way. It’s billed as this musical masterpiece, but I think it’s an operatic masterpiece with incredible stories that should be told.”

Colclough agrees that the musical has kept the opera popular, but its themes resonate as well. “Everyone can connect with the pain of self-sacrifice for a child. There is also something about Colonialism and abuse of other cultures. We sometimes look at history, and this is a specific look at the individual cost of abusing other cultures. It is personalized. That theme has stayed relevant.”

Having sat out over a year during the pandemic, Ahn — who will be returning to The Atlanta Opera next spring for his first Wagner piece, Das Rheingold — is gung-ho about live performances again. “It’s incredible. It may sound corny and cliched. So many of us were going through stages of grief and depression for a couple of years because what we do as artists is who we are. That was swiped out from under our feet. It’s great to be back. It’s life-reaffirming.”

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Jim Farmer covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival. He lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.