Madame Butterfly illustrates opera with nightly fireworks
OK, lesson number one in populism for the good folks at Mercury Opera: if you’re going to explain an addendum to your plot, don’t give away the ending in doing so.
Of course, this is Madame Butterfly, not the line outside the Empire Strikes Back, so perhaps there’s an expectation that ye olde opera buffe already knows this thing is a tragedy. (Not that it’s in the title, like with Shakespeare, who REALLY knew how to kill a late plot twist.)
Anyway, the folks at Mercury are staging the opera in a huge tent nightly Aug. 24-27 in in Giovanni Caboto (that’s John Cabot to you bloody colonialists) Park, and each night are holding fireworks designed to symbolize the characters’ personal traits.
Like, “mood fireworks.”
No, really. In the opera’s own words:
Pinkerton – Silver to Colour
Pinkerton is characterized by silver, which is bright, flashy and attractive, but also superficial and ephemeral.
Sharpless – Study in Blue
Sharpless is characterized by shifting shades and expressions of blue, representing his moral ambiguity.
Butterfly Red to Colour – Homage to Butterfly
Blood red symbolizes Butterfly’s vivacious, full-blooded approach to life, her courage and her honour, as well as her inescapable and tragic end.
August 27: Closing Night
Fun and crazy fireworks with a grand finale close Madame Butterfly’s final performance.
Oookay there. We’ll just pretend the darkness of the night sky behind the fireworks doesn’t represent the void in our wallets left by the $65 tickets. (We kid, that’s actually pretty good for this calibre of opera. We are merely cheap.)
