Nevada Opera Theatre to present ‘Madama Butterfly’

Friday, June 11, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

What: "Madama Butterfly."

When: 8 p.m. Saturday (pre-opera lecture at 7:20 p.m.).

Where: UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.

Tickets: $15, $25, $35, $45.

Information: 895-2787.

For 100 years audiences have fallen for Cio-Cio-San and her despair caused by the callous Lt. Pinkerton. And for the next 100 years audiences will likely return to the story.

That's the mastery of Giacomo Puccini and "Madama Butterfly," the popular and frequently presented tragic opera considered to be one of Puccini's best works.

"It holds you," said Eileen Hayes, general director and founder of Nevada Opera Theatre. "The story carries well, but mostly it's the lovely lead Cio-Cio-San."

On Saturday the Nevada Opera Theatre will present "Madama Butterfly" at Artemus Ham Hall. The production ends the company's 18th season, which included its inaugural Opera Festival at MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas.

"It was time to produce it," Hayes said of "Madama Butterfly," referring to the production celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. "We hadn't done it in 10 years. That's a long time. Most production companies bring it in every five years."

Set in Nagasaki around 1900, Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, insincerely weds Japanese geisha Cio-Cio-San, aka Madama Butterfly. (His insincerity is unknown to Cio-Cio-San, who gave up her religion to marry the American). Soon Pinkerton is gone, leaving Cio-Cio-San to await his return.

Three years later, with Pinkerton's ship on the horizon, Cio-Cio-San anticipates introducing Pinkerton to his son. When the lieutenant walks in with his American wife, the tragedy further unfolds.

Playing Cio-Cio-San is soprano Suzan Hanson; mezzo-soprano Sahoko Sata, a native of Japan, performs the role of Suzuki; and Stephen Plummer is Pinkerton. Frank Fetta will conduct the Nevada Opera Theatre orchestra and chorus.

"I've produced three 'Madama Butterflies' in my lifetime, performed in two. This is the best 'Madama Butterfly' I've worked with," Hayes said of Hanson, a Minnesota native who performed her first "Madama Butterfly" in July.

Nevada Opera Theatre has 26 adult chorus members and 18 children's chorus members. Its seasons have been sporadic, with the company occasionally providing only individual performances.

But the company has loyal supporters, and Hayes, an opera singer who moved to Las Vegas from Portland, Ore. in 1980 and formed the Nevada Opera Theatre in 1985, said, "We've never been for want for people to attend our performances."