Sun, Nov 22, 2009
 Barbara Divis is wondrous in "Madama Butterfly." She sings the title role with a supple voice, and her acting is truly convincing.
Scott Humbert
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RLM Services, Inc. Orthopedic Assistant-CMA Sales and Marketing Ever-Ready Glass Glass Sales Health Care BENSON HOSPITAL RESPIRATORY THERAPIST Accent'Butterfly' soars superblyOne very fine night
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.02.2007
PHOENIX — Butterfly's aria in the second act of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" is a heart-puncturing lament set to some of the most beautiful music ever composed.
Last Friday night before a tightly packed Phoenix Symphony Hall, the arresting soprano Barbara Divis took that aria — "Un bel dì" (One fine day) — to heights that stunned the audience.
The last note still lingered in the air when a rush of thunderous applause filled the spacious hall. Shouts of "bravo!" boomed from every corner, and for some 90 seconds, Divis stood motionless, enveloped in the adoration.
It's a safe bet that she will get a similar reception in Tucson when she performs the title role of Arizona Opera's production of "Madama Butterfly" tonight and Sunday.
As Butterfly, Divis has a supple voice, gorgeous and hopeful when she imagines her American husband, Pinkerton (tenor José Luis Duval in his Arizona Opera debut), returning; throbbing with heartbreak when she realizes she has been duped.
Combine her vocal prowess with her acting chops, and Divis is the total package. She convinces you that she's a naive 15-year-old fallen for a dashing American sailor years her senior. You share in her angst and depression as she comes to realize she's been spurned.
Puccini's opera, which was a critical failure at its February 1904 La Scala premiere, is loosely based on a magazine story and subsequent play about a Japanese girl abandoned by her American husband. The girl is so consumed by grief and humiliation that she takes her own life.
Puccini's story is moved along by a score rich with Asian and American accents woven in its fabric. It is lush and melodic, creating an aural atmosphere for every dramatic moment. In many ways, the music has as much a starring role as the characters.
This is most evident in the lengthy orchestral prelude to the second scene of Act II, as Butterfly holds vigil for Pinkerton throughout the night. For a big chunk of the scene, Butterfly paces while her child (Haley Harris) and her servant, Suzuki (the mesmerizing mezzo-soprano Jane Dutton), sleep on the floor. The music stirs, then subdues and the chorus hums. The music is soothing, then anxious; gentle string passages cast warm hues on the simple sets, announcing the dawn as effectively as the subdued stage lighting.
The music makes you feel anxious and sad, nervous and neurotic — all the emotions Butterfly is experiencing in those tense hours knowing that Pinkerton is never coming back.
The Arizona Opera orchestra, led by guest conductor Antony Walker, was worthy of Puccini's task and played with perfect pacing.
The stage is subdued, with movable walls made to look like thin rice-paper, a few wicker chairs and a table. It's set on a raised platform that serves as Butterfly's home looking out at the sea. It is understated in a very Japanese way; this is an opera that stands on its story and music, and everything else is eye candy.
The Phoenix show also included wonderful performances by baritone Phillip Cutlip, as Sharpless, the American consul; tenor Joseph Hu, as Goro, a marriage broker; and a brief but memorable appearance by barrel-voiced Tucson baritone Christopher Herrera, as Uncle Yakuside.
● Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at 573-4642 or cburch@azstarnet.com.
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