On March 5, 1900, in London, Puccini saw Madama Butterfly, a play about a geisha. Four years later, her tragic fate inspired his latest drama. “My Butterfly remains the most sincere and expressive opera I've ever conceived.” This quote sums up the extraordinary impact of the journey of Cio-Cio San, who gave her heart and soul to a visiting American officer. He led her into a fake marriage for his own entertainment, while she wholeheartedly committed to him, her devotion making her blind to the trap he set for her. Puccini’s most moving score gives life to an ingenuous soul destroyed by men’s selfishness and negligence.
German director Andrea Breth, a major figure of the contemporary art world, highlights the fake quality of exchanged looks within the opera, whether between Butterfly and the characters violently projecting their fantasy onto a person and a society; between Puccini, his librettists, and the Japanese world; or between the opera and its current audience. This masterpiece of intimacy was explored by director Sesto Quatrini, who specializes in the Italian repertoire, 30 years after Madama Butterfly was last performed in Lyon.