Madame Butterfly's New Groove

Brian Staufenbiel sits in a rehearsal, his torso pulled taut with the energy of a gymnast. Opening night of Madama Butterfly, Festival Opera's season opener in Walnut Creek is 10 days out and July 4th is barely a blip on the director's radar.  "Oh yeah," he says, "we load in to the theater that day."

What will load in to the Lesher Centre for the Arts is daunting: an innovative new version of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, opening Saturday night, which makes this classic of grand opera exciting and relevant. If any company is up to the challenge, Festival Opera is.

which performs every summer in Walnut Creek, is mid-sized by opera standards. It doesn't have the budget of, say, San Francisco Opera, and it must contain works of opera within the 800-seat Hofmann Theatre. Still, Festival Opera has won critical acclaim for presenting exciting and often innovative works—even on a more modest scale.  With the choice of Staufenbiel, awarded first prize in the 2007 National Opera Association competition in New York and head of the opera program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the potential for groundbreaking theater is enormous.

Still, there are challenges.  "There's so much you can't manage to portray," says Artistic Director Michael Morgan.  "You can't have an actual ship coming into the theater!  And the acting has to be intense."

Staufenbiel, with an "Oh, yes you can" attitude and seeking "a more focused, intimate Butterfly," is working with shadow puppetry and sliding screens to solve the dilemmas.  "Shadow puppetry is used at the start of each act and the set design creates a funnel effect for the scenes," he explains.  "I want the singers to really communicate with the audience and not just scream into an abyss," he finishes, turning back to the rehearsal action.

Set designer Matthew Antaky, shadow puppet designer Christine Marie and several cast and crew members shout out from behind a wall-sized sheet of white paper hanging from the room's ceiling.  "Is it too fast?" someone asks, "Should we see his profile?" calls another.  Staufenbiel multi-tasks: indicating timing by humming a few bars, cleaning the rehearsal CD—which periodically skips, offering coffee to a visiting journalist, and rapidly problem-solving the removal of props with his stage manager.

The costumes, hung nearby, are aggressive. Gem-toned, heavy with jewels and texture, they go far beyond demure kimonos. "They're futuristic, quite unusual," says Sheaff, inviting a closer look.  On loan from Toronto's Malabar, Ltd., the costumes reflect both traditional Japanese styles and modern fashion sensibilities.

Which brings us full circle to Festival Opera's opening conundrum: how to attract young, techno-saturated audiences without alienating their bedrock of mature opera lovers?  Morgan identifies the hook for both demographics: "If you have a tendency towards spectacle, opera satisfies that." 

With Madama Butterfly, Puccini's magnificent drama following a Japanese geisha from daring liberation to tragic defeat, Festival Opera promises a "big-box" opera packaged in an exquisitely-crafted new staging.

Sheaff became a firm believer in young people's ability to embrace opera years ago. "We had a group of about 50 kids from Allen Temple Baptist Church here," she recalls, "they came—kicking and screaming—to see Werther."  But when they had to leave before the final curtain, they said to her, "Mrs. Helen, it's like a soap opera!  When can we come back and see the whole thing?"

Staunfenbiel sees the increased physicality of this generation's singers as the best opportunity for engaging novice audiences.  "The industry is changing," he says, "Singers are in better shape.  This is a very physical show.  And the acting is amazing.  We've had tears; I mean, real weeping, in here!" 

 "At the end of the day," says Morgan, "opera is about good singing."  And that is what he knows will keep Festival Opera's traditional audiences returning and the opera devotees of tomorrow stepping inside.

Madame Butterfly opens Saturday and plays through Sunday, July 18. The company continues its summer season August 7-15 with Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti's story of love, murder, and crumbling family fortunes.

Tickets are $39 to $100, available by calling the Lesher Center box office at 925-943-SHOW (7469) or by going online at www.lesherartscenter.org. You can also buy the tickets at Barnes & Noble Booksellers.