Amal Choucri Catta on the problems of playing a geisha Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini; Cairo Opera Company, dir Abdalla Saad, Opera Orchestra, cond Nader Abbasi; Opera Choir, dir Aldo Magnato. Venue: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, 10 to 14 November, 8pm Obviously inspired by the 2002 production of the Welsh National Opera, Cairo's Madama Butterfly was premiered last January directed by Ludek Golat of the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre in Ostrava, with sets and costumes by Dana Zabrodsak of the Czech Republic. Giacomo Puccini's opera, however, did not turn out to be a particular favourite among Cairene audiences. The sets were poor, the stage empty and the famed Japanese cherry blossoms missing. Audiences were granted a new staging of Butterfly last week, with cherry blossoms the stage's main attraction: the huge sliding doors and different catwalks had been replaced by a Japanese house with a colourful garden, leaving sufficient space for Butterfly's friends to wish her well on her wedding night. These welcome changes, executed by director Abdalla Saad, with sets and costumes by Mohamed El-Gharabawi, were appreciated. Sets and costumes may have been changed but the cast was largely the same with two exceptions: bass- baritone Reda El-Wakil, in the role of Bozo, was replaced by Abdel-Wahab El-Sayed and Hatem El-Genedi, while tenor Francesco Anile, in the role of Pinkerton, was replaced by Piero Marin, who shared the role with Walid Korayem. Piero Marin sang on the opening night with Egyptian soprano Iman Mustafa interpreting Cio-Cio-San, the sweet, modest little Geisha called Butterfly. She shared the role with Japanese soprano Mitzuko Mori, who sang the part last January to perfection. This time, as second cast, she was once again the real geisha, fragile and refined. She should have been cast with the handsome French Piero Marin, the dashing Pinkerton who only wants to possess Cio-Cio-San for a night or two. He leaves her shortly after the wedding, in Act One, vanishes in Act Two only to re- appear in Act Three, this time with his American wife in tow. Marin has a good voice with an unfortunate tendency, however, of pushing the fortissimo to a scream and giving a general impression of boredom, of using his voice but not his heart. On stage he has a strange resemblance to Michael Douglas. His performance is often superficial and unconvincing. As for Iman Mustafa, she would have been a better Butterfly with Walid Korayem in the role of Pinkerton, as he was last January. Being tall and rather sturdy he would have suited her better than the slim and elegant Marin. It must, however, be said that Iman Mustafa is miscast in the role of Cio-Cio-San: she is far too stout, robust and mature for the part of a 15- year-old. Which brings us once again to the question often asked: where are all our good singers? Dalia Farouk, Amira Selim, Taheya Shamseddin, Nevine Allouba, Mona Rafla and other excellent sopranos have disappeared from Cairo's main stage. Why? The same goes for the mezzo-soprani. Hala El-Shabouri and Jolie Faizi seem to be getting all the parts while others, like the marvellous Hanan El-Guindi or the young and promising Jala El-Hadidi are being forgotten or pushed aside. Last January El-Shabouri and Faizi were cast as the servant Suzuki, and here they were there again while El-Guindi and El-Hadidi appear to be ignored. Singers like sopranos Sara Enani, Isabella Fayed, Jehanne Fayed, Nashwa Ibrahim and others are rarely, if ever, cast in important roles. The same goes for male singers, such as the excellent baritone Elham Amin, who gave audiences a sparkling Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute and participated successfully in other operas. And where is the golden-voiced bass-baritone Ashraf Sweillam, who is making a brilliant career for himself all over the world but is never asked to sing in his own country? And where is baritone Raouf Zeidan, tenor Georges Wanis? It is saddening to see good performers leave: Cairo Opera House would be well advised to make use of its good performers. There is little action in Madama Butterfly, the opera being mostly based on the tales the heroine tells in the first act, her unending chit-chat boring the American lieutenant who does not really care about her past, let alone her future. He is a happy-go-lucky seaman who has never stopped roaming the oceans, boasting of having a girl in every port. When he leaves his 15- year-old bride she continues talking all through the second act while waiting for the return of her unfaithful husband. The action does set in, however, in the third act when Cio-Cio-San realises she will never see her American spouse again and decides to give up her three-year-old son to his American father. In the end she stabs herself with her father's dagger while Pinkerton calls her name. Singing the role of Butterfly is not an easy enterprise: the singer must not only be blessed with a good voice but also with a talent for acting and keeping the audience interested through the three long acts. Boredom was the reason for the fiasco that accompanied the opera's premiere at La Scala in February 1904. The long second act was greeted with boos and whistles. Puccini withdrew the work after the performance, carefully revised it and opened it in May of the same year at Brescia and Covent Garden with the celebrated Enrico Caruso singing Pinkerton to great acclaim. The difficulty lies in finding a soprano with a mature voice and the extraordinary acting talent necessary while at the same time looking young enough to play the part of a 15-year-old girl. Soprano Dalia Farouk would have been perfect in the role. On the opening night at the Main Hall, the audience was delighted to see Nader Abbasi at the head of his orchestra: his music was filled with tenderness and passion, happiness and anguish, according to different moods of the tale. The choir was quite remarkable, though the "humming chorus" was hardly audible: there is really no reason for the overdose of pianissimo. In the end, though, the audience did cheer.
