Davaria's Captivating Adaptation of "Madame Butterfly"

Divaria Productions Opera Company's multidisciplinary adaptation of "Madame Butterfly" electrified Saturday night's Bay Street audience, and they showed their approval by jumping to their feet and giving a long, rousing standing ovation.

Based on David Belasco's 1900 one-act play, Giacomo Puccini wrote five versions of this opera. The first two-act version opened at La Scala in 1904, was poorly received and quickly closed. Puccini continued to revise it, turning it into a three-act opera with the Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. This version had a successful New York run in November 1906.

J.A. Diaz's astute direction brought this tragic love story to life. The plot revolves around a young geisha in Nagasaki, Japan, who marries an American naval officer at the turn of the 20th century. Broadway veteran Michael Rudko played the acting version of Sharpless, The U.S. Consul at Nagasaki. Rudko, serving as a narrator, made the show more accessible to audience members who may not have been familiar with the storyline. The well-written narration by Gregory Moomjy and Ashley Galvani Bell helped the audience emotionally connect with the opera and understand the universal themes, deception, illusion, betrayal, white privilege, and unrequited love that made this one of the most heartrending operas of all time.

Ashley Galvani Bell, the founder of Divaria Productions and gifted soprano and actress, held the audience spellbound as Cio Cio San, also known as Madame Butterfly. Bell commanded the stage as she expressed the intoxicating joy of falling in love and the depth of despair betrayal inevitably brings. Bell passionately proclaims she chose "Madame Butterfly" to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini's passing.

This star-studded show featured Richard Bernstein, a 29-year member of the Metropolitan Opera Company. He performed the role of Bonzo, Cio Cio San's uncle, in The Met: Live in HD production of "Madame Butterfly." Bernstein reprised this role for Saturday night's Davaria production, and his rich bass voice resonating across the stage was one of the show's highlights.

Two other Metropolitan Opera performers brought their A-game to Divaria's production, including tenor and Grammy-Award Winner Errin Duane Brooks as U.S. Navy Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton and John Easterlin, a five-time Grammy Award recipient as Goro, the matchmaker who arranged the marriage between Pinkerton and the geisha, Cio Cio San.

Michael Nansel, a Divaria Productions veteran, with his magnificent baritone voice and expressive facial expressions, gave an award-worthy performance in the singing role of Sharpless. Mezzo-soprano Anna Tonna, who performed Queen Elizabeth in Divaria's award-winning documentary opera film "Rival Queens," aced the role of Suzuki, Cio Cio San's maid and confidante. Amanda Pennfield gave a nuanced performance as Kate Pinkerton, the American wife of Lieutenant Pinkerton, whose arrival in Japan causes Madame Butterfly to lose all hope, protect her honor, and follow in her father's footsteps.

Divaria Productions collaborated with community members to produce this show. Olivia Fromm, who has performed in Bay Street's summer camps, gave an angelic portrayal of Dolore, Cio Cio San's child. Members of the Suffolk Symphonic Choir, directed by Brad Drinkwater, performed a choral piece, making a dramatic entrance as they slowly moved down the theatre steps, carrying candles.

Momo and Kevin Suzuki of the Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York choreographed a visually stunning piece for renowned dancer Yumiko Niimi. The audience was entranced by Niimi's hypnotic and graceful dance movements.

Spanish prodigy and pianist Sergio Martínez Zangróniz led the string quartet of musicians drawn from the New Asia Chamber Music Society. On Violin I was Sophia Su, Violin II: Morning Huang, Viola: Joelle Hsu, and Cello: Jane Lee.

This event was made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, supported by the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Huntington Arts Council.

To learn more about Ashley Galvani Bell and Divaria Productions, visit their website: https://www.divariaproductions.com/mission-history.

Cindi Sansone-Braff is an award-winning playwright. She has a BFA in Theatre from UCONN and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She is the author of "Grant Me a Higher Love," "Why Good People Can't Leave Bad Relationships," and "Confessions of a Reluctant Long Island Psychic." Her full-length Music Drama, "Beethoven, The Man, The Myth, The Music," is published by Next Stage Press. www.Grantmeahigherlove.com.