Phil Chan believes “Madama Butterfly” should be celebrated as a masterpiece.
Chan also believes the 120-year-old Puccini opera should be reclaimed and reinvented by Asian and Asian-American artists.
Best known for his work in ballet and as a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an organization committed to eliminating offensive stereotypes of Asians on stage, Chan makes his opera directing debut with the Boston Lyric Opera’s “Madama Butterfly.” The production, which runs Sept. 14-24 at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, is the culmination of a massive exploration of the legacy of “Madama Butterfly” undertaken by Chan, the BLO team and a dozen others.
“We can say that ‘Madama Butterfly’ is inherently racist and sexist, but we could also ask, ‘How can we save it? What else can this work be?’” Chan told the Herald. “Three years ago, scholars, performers, directors, historians, and folks from all across the opera ecosystem took a look at this work asking what are problems with it and what is a way forward for it.”
The problems were obvious. Puccini had never been to Japan so he populated “Madama Butterfly” with hurtful and dangerous caricatures. Those caricatures were more often than not played by white actors in yellowface. Puccini also leaned into orientalism to make the opera more “exotic.”
“Orientalism is when you have an outsider, such as a European artist, setting a story in an exotic, other place while having a disregard for any cultural realities of that place,” Chan said.
The way forward involved destroying the orientalism trope by moving the setting to America. The BLO’s version brings the story of Japanese-American nightclub performer Cio-Cio-San and American Naval Officer B.F. Pinkerton to 1940s San Francisco and a California prison camp during a time when World War II amplified racial prejudices.
“No one wears a kimono on stage, there are no geishas, nobody is demure,” Chan said. “Nobody is culturally Japanese in this story. Everybody is American… In some ways, this is no different than any other reimagining [for the stage] whether it’s a Shakespeare play or an opera with a new setting. We’re just continuing the grand tradition of reimagining classic works.”
The reworking doesn’t extend to Puccini’s score. The music remains untouched (likely to the relief of a large number of opera diehards).
“There are a couple little changes, like ‘I’m the luckiest girl in Nagasaki’ becomes ‘I’m the luckiest girl in San Francisco,” Chan said. “But otherwise, if you close your eyes, you can’t tell the difference between this and any other opera house performing ‘Madama Butterfly.’”
Then Chan quickly adds: “Although I think our singers are fantastic.”
Many of those singers finally get to embrace “Madama Butterfly” in a way they never could. The performer playing matchmaker Goro, Rodell Rosel, told Chan this was the first time he’s played the character as himself and not with the affectations of an Asian caricature.
“He’s so brilliant and it works for the character and you can tell that he’s loving it,” Chan said. “It works because it feels real.”
For tickets and details, visit blo.org
