MADAMA BUTTERFLY

WATCH NOW

So what if... what if a brash American naval officer and a young Japanese girl met and fell in love? How would they communicate? (Certainly not in Italian!) In POP’s most ambitious production to date, Artistic Director Josh Shaw’s long-time dream of a bilingual Madama Butterfly came to life at The Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo. With a new libretto by Josh Shaw and Eiki Isomura, all Japanese roles were sung in Japanese (by Japanese-American artists) and all American roles were sung in English. This was a co-production with Opera in the Heights (Houston), sponsored in part by an Innovations Grant from Opera America.

もし…もし明治時代に、アメリカ海軍士官が日本人の少女と出会い、恋に落ちたとしたら…二人はいったいどうやって会話を…？(どう考えてもイタリア語を使ったはずは無いでしょう。) POP史上最も大胆なプロジェクト、芸術監督Josh Shawの長年の夢、プッチーニの「蝶々夫人」のバイリンガル演出がLittle TokyoのAratani Theatreで開幕される。日本人キャラは日系アメリカ人歌手が日本語で演じ、アメリカ人キャラはアメリカ人歌手が英語で演じます。公演は英語と日本語 両方の字幕を表示して行われます。ヒューストンのOpera in the Heightsとの共同作であるこのプロダクションはフルの演出、衣装、オーケストラと合唱団を用いて上演されます。

Madama Butterfly - 蝶々夫人

April 2019

Los Angeles Aratani Theater

Music by G. Puccini

New English/Japanese Libretto by Josh Shaw & Eiki Isomura

Creative Team:

Josh Shaw, Director/Designer/Librettist

Eiki Isomura, Conductor/Librettist

Naoko Suga, Chorus Master

Sueko Oshimoto, Costume Designer

Cast:

Keiko Clark, Cho-Cho-san

Peter Lake, B.F. Pinkerton

Kenneth Stavert, Sharpless

Kimberly Sogioka, Suzuki

Eiji Miura, Goro

Hisato Masuyama, Bonze

Steve Moritsugu, Prince Yamadori

Chelsea Obermeier, Kate Pinkerton

Norge Yip, Imperial Commissioner

Takuya Matsumoto, Registrar

Jussi Sjöwall, Sorrow

Janet Todd, Cho-Cho-san cover

Chorus (Members from South Bay Singers): Miyako Ito, Kaori Kawamura, Hitomi Kitagawa, Kazuko Kosaka, Keiko Kurosawa, Keiko Nakada, Tomoko Nakazawa, Shinoi Osuka, Yurika Takashima, Makiko Tohmatsu, Naomi Uenishi, Yoshiko Akane, Hiromi Dunbar, Mayumi El-Mekhgiange, Atsuko Igarashi, Sanaye Kozono, Yoko Kuriki, Noriko Mizuhara, Namie Miyake, Midori Morimoto, Keiko Murai, Keiko Suga, Emiko Sudo, Ayako Takano, Kazuko Tsubota, Yusaku Kishi, Toshiki Maehara, Seiko Yajima, Masaru Yokoyama

Advisory Committee: Snehal Desai (East West Players), Shigemi Matsumoto (USC, CSLB, CSNR), Doug Cooney (Diversity in American Theater), and Padraic Costello (Ethnomusicologist)

​

Community Engagement Manager: Yumi Mizui