In late October I photographed a dress rehearsal of Opera Southwest's production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
The production featured Cecilia Violetta Lopez as Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly) and Hak Soo Kim as Lt. Pinkerton . . .
Laurel Semerdjian as Suzuki, Butterfly's devoted housemaid . . .
and Matthew Hanscom as Sharpless, the American consul.
The story of the opera is well known. In 1904, Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer, rents a house in Nagasaki and marries its 15-year-old occupant, Butterfly, for convenience.
Then after one night with her, Pinkerton leaves for three years.
Butterfly waits faithfully for him to return . . .
which he eventually does, but with an American wife.
Needless to say, it doesn't end well.
Images from the full dress rehearsal are posted on my photography website; you can reach the gallery by clicking here.
But before you go . . . I have another set of images I want to share with you.
I learned years ago from my friends at Antiques Roadshow that the best moments happen after the on-camera interview is over: the lights go down and everyone relaxes. That's why I stick around after the end of each opera to photograph the on-stage "notes" discussion with the singers, the conductor, the director, and others to de-brief the production and practice the curtain call choreography.
In this case, during the "notes" discussion, Cecilia Lopez was caringly engaging with the 5-year-old boy who played Butterfly's son in the opera, and their interaction provided a trove of endearing images.
Enjoy!
