Soprano flawless in Opera Worcester’s ‘Butterfly’

By Dan Sweeney TELEGRAM & GAZETTE REVIEWER

With staccato bowings in the low strings, Giacomo Puccini sets the mood of conflict and crisis in the first notes of his 1903 opera “Madama Butterfly.”

On Wednesday night, there was conflict and crisis aplenty as the National Lyric Opera, under the artistic and stage direction of the indomitable Michael Capasso, presented the final offering of the 2009-10 season of Opera Worcester, to a near sold-out audience at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Given the season opened with Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” I think it not a stretch to label Opera Worcester’s 36th season the year of “Family Turmoil.” In both operas, opposing forces are at work to bring about the deaths of our leading character. In “Butterfly,” it is the clash of cultures.

Although the first act got off to a rather uneven feel — characters moving around, too many seemingly worried about their spots and cues, and further exacerbated by the subtitle machine taking off in bursts of an Evelyn Wood speed reading course — it all settled down when our two main characters, Butterfly and Pinkerton, were alone on stage.

Puccini certainly gave us an all-star character lineup of leading sopranos. His characters Minnie, Turandot, Mimi, Manon and Tosca are all bigger than life, however none of them carry an opera like Butterfly. She presents one of the most demanding roles in Italian opera as she must transition from a shy, naïve youth of 15 to melancholy maturity in less than two hours. For Wednesday’s offering, we were certainly blessed, for that transition was flawlessly done by our Butterfly, Mihoko Kinoshita.

In Act I, she is the young girl, taken by Pinkerton, and resolved to the marriage contract after she has been outcast by her family. By Act II, however, she is aged 20 years by her abandonment, and it was all visible in her singing and looks.

Ms. Kinoshita is an accomplished singer. She beautifully delivered her “Un bel di” as she lightened and swelled her tone in one amazing breath. Her “Flower Song” was touchingly done, with great assistance from Suzuki, performed by Sara Petrocelli. I should also mention a very competent performance by Michael Corvino, who sang the role of Sharpless.

The tenor for the evening, Peter Furlong, who played the callous, self-righteous racist Lt. Pinkerton, had all the command of voice for his singing role, as evidenced by his duet with Butterfly in Act I, and his one aria “Addio fiorito asil” shortly before the end.

However, there was a seeming disconnect to his acting, as he too often sang to the audience and stared for his cues. He needs to learn a way of checking without really looking.

I must mention that during the second intermission, Michael Capasso came on stage to give a tribute not only to Opera Worcester and to the city as well but also to a larger-than-life figure, Opera Worcester member and patron Dr. James P. Walsh, who was in attendance but ill of late.

To Dr. Walsh, we all add a bravo!