The auditorium lights dimmed, and the cast and crew of Cincinnati Opera’s new production of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” anxiously took their places.
For months, the team, made up largely of Asian and Asian American artists, had worked to reimagine the classic opera, upending its stereotypes about women and Japanese culture.
They gathered at the Cincinnati Music Hall one evening last week to fine-tune their creation before its opening last Saturday.
“It feels a little like a grand experiment,” said the production’s director, Matthew Ozawa, whose father is Japanese and mother is white.
The opera has long been criticized for its portrait of Asian women as exotic and submissive, and the use of exaggerated makeup and stereotypical costumes in some productions has drawn fire.
Persons:
Butterfly ”, ”, Matthew Ozawa, Madame
Organizations:
Cincinnati Music, American Navy
Locations:
Cincinnati, American, Nagasaki