“I think opera is an important and challenging art form,” said Seth Hoff, assistant director at the Portland Opera. “I think that any opportunity to experience a new art form is a good thing.”
Tomorrow night, the Portland Opera will premiere the classic Giacomo Puccini opera Madame Butterfly at the Keller Auditorium.
“I think opera is an important and challenging art form,” said Seth Hoff, assistant director at the Portland Opera. “I think that any opportunity to experience a new art form is a good thing.”
Tomorrow night, the Portland Opera will premiere the classic Giacomo Puccini opera Madame Butterfly at the Keller Auditorium.
“Madame Butterfly is one of the top classics. It’s an opera that you should see if you’re interested in art and exposing yourself to different art forms,” said stage manager Jennifer Hammontree. “I think it’s a classic masterpiece.”
Hammontree said that Puccini’s style of music is among the most recognizable in opera. “People who don’t know opera immediately recognize it. You connect to the emotional aspect of the music,” she said. “It’s one of my favorite operas. I’m definitely a sucker for Puccini. He’s able to manipulate the emotions of the story with the words and the music.”
“What I like about opera is how they tell a story,” Hoff said. “I love stories. That’s what I love about movies, plays and opera. In opera, the music is integral to how the story is told.”
The opera follows a Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, also known as Madame Butterfly. She marries an American sailor named Pinkerton, and although he doesn’t take his vows seriously, she loves him wholeheartedly.
“Madame Butterfly reflects the opening of Asia to the Western world,” said Portland Opera General Director Christopher Mattaliano in the general release for the opera. “It is a very human work of deeply felt characters. Cio-Cio-San is one of the richest characters in all of opera, and Butterfly is Puccini’s greatest work.”
“The choices that Butterfly makes throughout the whole story are just so powerful,” Hoff explained. “You always want it to end differently, and you know it’s not going to. It’s human, and people can relate to it.”
“This production, when it originated, was extremely radical. Madame Butterfly rejects her Japanese heritage, and she’s dressed in western clothing,” Hammontree said. “That was radical. She’s adopted Christianity and embraced her husband’s country.”
Opera runs on a fast-paced schedule. The performers rehearse for about four weeks with three sessions per day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. There are only four technical rehearsals before they open.
“It’s very intense and focused,” Hammontree said. “That’s a different kind of pressure.”
“The music takes such priority,” Hoff said. “Especially since the text is in a foreign language.”
“I love that the music drives everything. If a singer forgets to sing, the orchestra keeps playing, the music goes on. If a scene shift isn’t going well, there’s nothing to cover it,” Hammontree said. “You have to figure out how to drive through and keep up with the conductor, which can make it very exciting and terrifying.”
Hoff was originally a dancer. Now, as assistant director, he keeps track of things like the staging, use of props and entrances and exits.
“It’s different being at the opposite side of the table. You get to see more of the whole picture,” Hoff said. “I learned more about how the show is put together after I wasn’t performing. It’s a different perspective.”
Hammontree became interested in theater when she took a clown class in college. She knew she wanted to be involved in theater, though she wasn’t interested in becoming an actor. Now her job is to hold the whole show together as the stage manager.
“I run the show from back stage,” Hammontree said. “When you come see the show and the curtains move and the lights change, I’m responsible for making sure all that happens when it’s supposed to happen, starting and stopping the show and everything in between.”
Hoff said that this production was challenging because, though he had done Madame Butterfly before, the director Christopher Mattaliano had done it 22 times.
“The speed that he set was challenging to keep up with, to wrap my head around the different ways the story can be told. He’s just a wealth of experience and knowledge,” Hoff said. “It’s allowed him to really set the staging and then give the singers more opportunity to find their way in the story within these set boundaries.”
Hammontree said that Madame Butterfly has the benefit of being shorter than most operas. She said it goes by so quickly because of the pacing. “That’s part of Puccini’s genius. Everything goes by so quickly. That’s important to us as a modern audience,” she said.
“The singers are amazing. They’re just vocal athletes. To sing for three-plus hours is amazing. It’s an incredible feat,” Hoff said. “The music in Butterfly is beautiful. It’s interesting, and it keeps changing. And the story is so compelling. There are contemporary topics, such as racism and conflicts between two cultures.”
