A Night at the Opera – Madama Butterfly

Sun 07 Sep 2014, 7 pm
Hanoi Cinémathèque

From the organizer:

Come to the screening of a classic version of Madama Butterfly by the composer Giacomo Puccini. (Check out his other opera Tosca last year in 2013)

Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly) is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera was not well-received at its premiere, whereupon Puccini re-wrote the composition and it was a great success thereafter. It has been a staple of the opera repertory since Puccini altered the original composition.

The story is set in Nagasaki in 1904. A U.S. Naval officer named Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton rents a house on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan, for him and his soon-to-be wife, “Butterfly”. She is a 15-year-old Japanese girl whom he is marrying for convenience. He intends to leave her once he finds a proper American wife. The story continues with Pinkerton departing to the USA and returning three years later to claim his son from Butterfly, of course ending in tragedy.

Language: The opera will be screened in the original Italian with English subtitles.

For those with membership at the Cinémathèque, make a reservation as usual by phoning the Cinémathèque, daily between 14:00 – 21:00 at 3936-2648. A limited number of tickets are also available through the Opera Guild, send an email to [email protected]. A donation of VND 60,000 is suggested.