M. Butterfly

ABOUT
Inspired by a scandalous true story, the play M. BUTTERFLY opened on Broadway in 1988, and proved an immediate critical and commercial success, winning many accolades, including the Tony Award for Best Play. The production ran for almost two years, leading to an equally acclaimed production on London’s West End, which starred Anthony Hopkins. The play was subsequently translated and produced in over three dozen countries, and adapted into a film by director by David Cronenberg.

M. BUTTERFLY was inspired by a real-life illicit affair between a French diplomat and his mistress, a Chinese opera diva, which began in 1960’s Beijing and eventually continued in Paris. In 1986, the couple was arrested for espionage in France, where it was revealed that the Chinese star was not only a spy, but also a man in drag. The real-life diplomat, Bernard Boursicot, claimed not to have known that his lover of two decades, Shi Peipu, was a biological man. The obvious question reverberated through France and the world: how could he not have known?

On hearing the story, playwright Hwang asked himself, “What did the diplomat think he had found?” The answer eventually came to him: Boursicot thought he had found his own Madame Butterfly. In M. BUTTERFLY, Hwang dovetails the plot of MADAMA BUTTERFLY with the events of the spy story. The diplomat, rechristened “Rene Gallimard,” meets the Chinese opera singer, “Song Liling,” and begins to fantasize that he is Pinkerton, the American lieutenant from Puccini’s opera. Like Pinkerton, Gallimard becomes seduced, not simply by Song’s manipulations, but also by his own fantasies of Asian females as submissive creatures raised to sacrifice, serve, and suffer for men – particularly, Western men. Gallimard believes that he has found “the perfect woman.” His stereotypes of obedient “Oriental” women mirror his nation’s belief in docile Asian nations that secretly wish to be dominated by stronger Western powers. Like the West, however, Gallimard’s fantasy cannot last forever. By the end of the play, he realizes that it’s actually he who was Butterfly, deceived by a duplicitous lover. And the Chinese spy who perpetrated that deceit, was therefore the real Pinkerton.

M. BUTTERFLY, the opera, will plant this story firmly within the world of opera, which plays such an important role in its conception. Gallimard’s self-delusion, like Cio-Cio-San’s, will become even more powerful when expressed through music. Composer Huang Ruo’s brilliant voice, rigorous yet always deeply emotional, will make an audience feel the diplomat’s passion and confusion more viscerally than the original play. Moreover, the creators will not only bring to life the Western opera which Gallimard loves, but also Song Liling’s world of Chinese opera, which Huang Ruo is uniquely suited to evoke. Bringing together these musical traditions will allow an audience to experience Song’s inner life perhaps more fully than in the original work. Furthermore, Huang Ruo plans to write the role of Song Liling for a contratenor, thereby drawing the audience even more fully into Gallimard’s delusions and fantasies. This opera will bring together East and West, and the operatic traditions of each, into a breathtaking and hypnotic spectacle, which will explore and illuminate this amazing story.

Writing in the New York TIMES, Frank Rich called the original play, “a visionary work that bridges the history and culture of two worlds.” On the wings of music, these worlds will meet with even more drama, passion, and heartbreaking tragedy in M. BUTTERFLY, the opera.