
M. Butterfly 蝴蝶君
Dates & Tickets
Limited Tickets
Love has no boundaries.
René Gallimard, a civil servant at the French embassy in Beijing, falls in love with a beautiful Chinese opera singer named Song Liling. Song holds two shocking secrets, both of which eventually bring Gallimard professional and personal ruin.
David Henry Hwang’s Broadway smash hit is transformed into operatic form in collaboration with composer Huang Ruo. Don’t miss James Robinson’s gripping production that captures both the driving pulse and the lyricism of the music and reveals the blurred lines between fantasy and reality at the heart of this true story.
Don’t miss this highly anticipated World Premiere.
El amor no tiene límites
René Gallimard, un funcionario de la embajada francesa en Beijing, se enamora de una hermosa cantante de ópera china llamada Song Liling. Song guarda dos secretos impactantes, los cuales eventualmente traen a Gallimard ruina profesional y personal.
El gran éxito de Broadway de David Henry Hwang se transforma en forma operística en colaboración con el compositor Huang Ruo. No se pierda la producción de James Robinson que captura tanto el excitante pulso como el lirismo de la música. Esta fascinante historia basada en una historia real, revelará las líneas borrosas que existen entre la fantasía y el mundo real.
No te pierdas este tan esperado estreno mundial.
Synopsis
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Act I
Paris, 1986. Partygoers mock the diplomat René Gallimard for his affair with a Peking Opera soprano. From his prison cell, Gallimard begins to tell his story.
Beijing, 1964. Gallimard is assigned to the newly-established French embassy. He goes to the opera and sees an enchanting soprano in the role of Madama Butterfly. He develops the fantasy that he is Pinkerton and Song Liling is Butterfly, the “Oriental” woman in submission to the “Western devil.” Gallimard’s boyhood friend Marc appears to him in a dream, congratulating him on his new love.
Gallimard visits Song at her flat. They drink tea together, but she sends him home. Her rebuff keeps him away from the opera for months. At last she writes to him, wishing to see him again.
The Ambassador, Toulon, informs Gallimard that he has been promoted to vice-consul. He goes immediately to Song’s flat to tell her the news.
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Act II
Paris, 1986. Partygoers read more news about the Gallimard case.
Back in 1966, Toulon and Gallimard confer about America’s plans in Asia. Meanwhile, Comrade Chin of the People’s Liberation Army asks Song to serve the Revolution by passing on classified information from the French.
Gallimard is demoted because the Ambassador has lost faith in the Americans and in him. He goes to Song’s flat and demands that she strip for him. Then he relents … just in time for Song to announce to him that she is pregnant. Gallimard is aflame with joy: “I want to marry you!”
Song asks Chin to procure a male, blond mixed-race baby in seven months’ time. Toulon informs Gallimard that he is being sent home. Gallimard rushes to Song’s flat, intending to bring her back to France with him. The flat is deserted. An angry troupe of Revolutionary Chinese Opera performers takes the stage.
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Act III
The Revolutionary Chinese Opera company stages a ritualistic denunciation of Comrade Song, the “actor-oppressor,” and recommends her rehabilitation. Chin orders her to go to Gallimard in France and send back weekly reports.
Gallimard, haggard, recalls his return to France ten years prior. Lonely, deflated and always haunted by Song’s memory, he would tell his story to anyone who would listen–but no one did.
Suddenly Song appears. Gallimard is transported by the reunion. Then two French counterintelligence agents come to arrest him on charges of espionage, claiming they have already extracted a confession from Monsieur Song. Before the audience’s eyes, Song is transformed from a woman in Chinese dress to a man in an Armani suit.
Song testifies in court. The judge asks whether Gallimard knew Song was a man. “You know, Your Honor,” Song replies, “I never asked.”
Song and Gallimard are left alone in a room in a prison. Song begins to strip. He will show René the truth. Gallimard protests that he only loved the lie. Declaring that he’d rather live in pure imagination, he sends Song away.
Dancers join Gallimard onstage and help him dress in kimono, wig and makeup. He is the Butterfly now.
Artists
Kangmin Justin Kim
Mark Stone
Hometown: East Sussex, England
2022 Season:
René Gallimard, M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Guglielmo, Così fan tutte, 2007
Hongni Wu
Hometown: Jingdezhen, China
2022 Season:
Comrade Chin/Shu Fung, M. Butterfly (SFO Debut)
Kevin Burdette
Hometown: Knoxville, TN
2022 Season:
Dr. Bartolo, The Barber of Seville
Manuel Toulon/Judge, M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Mr. Scattergood, The Last Savage, 2011
Past Seasons:
Correspondence, Lord of Cries, 2021
Quince, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2021
Voltaire/Pangloss/Cacambo/Martin, Candide, 2018
Major-domo, Ariadne auf Naxos, 2018
Frosch, Die Fledermaus, 2017
General Polkan, The Golden Cockerel, 2017
Sulpice Pingot, Daughter of the Regiment, 2015
Stobrod Thewes/A Blind Man, Cold Mountain, 2015
Otto van der Puff, The Impresario, 2014
Chamberlain, Le Rossignol, 2014
General Boum, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, 2013
Justice Wills/Colonel Isaacson, Oscar, 2013
Joshua Dennis
Hometown: Sacramento, CA
2022 Season:
Marc, M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Jaquino, Fidelio, 2014
Santa Fe Opera Apprentice: 2012, 2013
Past Seasons:
Frederic, The Thirteenth Child, 2019
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
Serano, La donna del Lago, 2013
Carolyn Kuan
Hometown: Taipei City, Taiwan
2022 Season:
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, 2014
James Robinson
Hometown: Wheeling, WV
2022 Season:
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Così fan tutte, 2003
Past Seasons:
Vanessa, 2016
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
Allen Moyer
Hometown: Schuylkill Haven, PA
2022 Season:
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Così fan tutte, 2003
Past Seasons:
Die Fledermaus, 2017
Vanessa, 2016
Daughter of the Regiment, 2015
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
James Schuette
Hometown: Manitowoc, WI
2022 Season:
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Carmen, 1999
Past Seasons:
Vanessa, 2016
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
Christopher Akerlind
Hometown: Hartford, CT
2022 Season:
The Barber of Seville
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
The Rake’s Progress, 1996
Past Seasons:
Lucia di Lammermoor, 2017
Vanessa, 2016
The Impresario & Le Rossignol, 2014
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
Greg Emetaz
Seán Curran
Hometown: New York, NY
2022 Season:
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Daphne, 2007
Past Seasons:
Die Fledermaus, 2017
Vanessa, 2016
Daughter of the Regiment, 2015
Salome, 2015
The Impresario & Le Rossignol, 2014
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, 2014
Oscar, 2013
Rick Sordelet
Hometown: Montclair, NJ
2022 Season:
Carmen
The Barber of Seville
Falstaff
Tristan und Isolde
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Salome, 2015
Past Seasons:
La Fanciulla del West, 2016
Don Giovanni, 2016
Roméo et Juliette, 2016
Cold Mountain, 2015
Christian Kelly-Sordelet
Hometown: Montclair, NJ
2022 Season:
Carmen
The Barber of Seville
Falstaff
Tristan und Isolde
M. Butterfly
SFO Debut:
Cold Mountain, 2015
Past Seasons:
La Fanciulla del West, 2016
Don Giovanni, 2016
Roméo et Juliette, 2016
Susanne Sheston
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
2022 Season:
Chorus Master, all productions
SFO Debut:
2008 Season
Past Seasons:
2021 Season
2019 Season
2018 Season
2017 Season
2016 Season
2015 Season
2014 Season
2013 Season
2012 Season