Madama Butterfly Takes Flight As Kent Says Goodbye

As Puccini basked in the glory of La Boheme and Tosca – two of the most popular and successful works ever written for the operatic stage – little did he know that his next work, Madama Butterfly, would premier to howls of derision.

And yet, more than a century on from that opening night at Italy’s La Scala, Ellen Kent still tours the Italian master’s work, only this time her star soprano, Elena Dee, closed the curtain at Bradford’s Alhambra to howls of joy; how fickle the public can be!

Another production I have seen several times – perhaps the last as Ms Kent bills this her ‘Farewell Tour’ – I always enjoy the impassioned intensity of Korean born Dee and her retinue of Eastern European opera stars: Moldova’s Vitalii Cebotari as the US Consul, Sharpless, and tenor, Oleksii Srebnytskyi as the dastardly opportunist, Lieutenant Pinkerton.

A good 30 minutes shorter than Carmen, which I saw the previous evening, Madama Butterfly is not only more palatable, but, for fear of stating the obvious, will always be about Puccini’s sublime score which, in parts, plays your heart strings more than any music should be allowed to do!

But, listening closely, it is hard to ignore what feel like ‘borrowed’ musical phrases by the duo behind Les Miserables’ Bring Him Home! I almost expected to hear Colm Wilkinson’s strains from the wings.

The set was exquisite and, Kent, always with an eye for the dramatic, made sure the on-stage kimonos were nothing less than remarkable: antique wedding kimonos from Japan!

However, Sharpless’ wig was something more akin to an adapted welcome mat that should have been left outside his front door before he set off on tour. Despite still having a great voice, our romantic lead, is getting a little long in the tooth to play the young beau that 15-year-old Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) falls head over heels in love with.

I first saw Dee many years ago in that other Puccini favourite, La Boheme in which she played Mimi. Since then, she has matured as a performer, however, her tendency to consistently lean her head to one side as she sings can be annoying: a singing technique or an attempt to appear submissive in this particular role? I was not the only one to comment as such.

Puccini’s Madama Butterfly orchestration, once the source of much criticism until he trimmed it down and determined to stick to a Two Act format – he had dallied with a Three Act version until critics advised him against it – is divine and, at just 46, some would argue that he was at the height of his powers in 1904.

However, when you close your eyes to listen to the music, you miss the Giacosa Illica libretto but, read that, and you are in danger of putting the music second! Either way, there is plenty of meat on the bone to salivate over!

During Act II when Madama Butterfly is waiting for Pinkerton’s return, it is a gut-wrenching moment as you feel her pain and sense of loss: he has been away for three years and her joy at his pending return is indescribable until she realises he has re-married and is merely returning to Nagasaki to collect his son.

Gut wrenching, passionate and powerful, this is an opera, that will always leave you drained and thoughtful for the unfairness of life.

“Ee, I enjoyed that,” said the opera newbie to my side at curtain down. Kent had touched another heart with one of her ‘of the people’ productions.

Madama Butterfly
Alhambra, Bradford
NEXT IN YORKSHIRE
York Grand Opera House
3rd May 2026
Book: ticketmaster.co.uk / senbla.com