OPERA REVIEW : A Traditional ‘Butterfly’ in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO —  Supertitles can be cruel.

Early Saturday evening, the translation projected above the proscenium at the War Memorial Opera House described the heroine of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” as a “delicate flower.” A few moments later, Cio-Cio-San fluttered in, and looked like the whole greenhouse.

To those who insist on visual credibility, Nikki Li Hartliep was at an obvious disadvantage. Physically, she simply could not convey the conventional image of the instantly irresistible, tragically vulnerable child-bride.

But she did convey that image vocally. Unlike many a sylph before her, she floated rapturously to the optional D-flat that crests the entrance aria. She caressed and shaded the line sensitively. She suggested sweetness, purity and fragility by musical means.

She managed to make “Un bel di” a poignant affirmation of deluded hope, not a showy aria. She sang the little lullaby to her child in the last act with arching tenderness. In the emotionally precarious suicide scene, she never crossed the line that separates pathos and bathos.

Hartliep’s voice is not huge. She could not make a mighty exultant impact, for instance, at the climactic sighting of Pinkerton’s ship. She is too intelligent and too resourceful, however, to resort to forcing for effect.

She scored her points tellingly, on her own expressive scale. This was a brave, enlightened performance.

The soprano found a sympathetic ally in John Fiore, the young American conductor who led this revival in place of the ailing John Pritchard. Fiore accompanied the singers carefully, never losing propulsion or climactic stress in the process. He conveyed Puccini’s passions without bombast, his sentiment without goo. It was a considerable accomplishment.

Apart from the protagonist, the cast proved solidly routine. Vyacheslav Polozov, the former Bolshoi tenor, turned out to be a blustery Pinkerton with a tendency to sing sharp. Gaetan Laperriere, the Canadian baritone, repeated the well-mannered, well-manicured Sharpless he introduced to Seattle last season.

Robynne Redmon served as a robustly attentive Suzuki whose voice blended beautifully with Hartliep’s in the Flower Duet. Douglas Perry was properly sly as Goro, Philip Skinner properly menacing as the Bonze, LeRoy Villanueva properly dejected and strikingly mellifluous as Yamadori.

Essentially, this was pretty much a business-as-usual “Butterfly.” At least it was a pretty “Butterfly.” Toni Businger’s decors offer no dramatic illumination, but they also offer no distortion. Matthew Farruggio’s stage direction savors tradition without pausing to think about theatrical comment.

The production, now 23 years old, has served its purpose honorably. It is time, however, for some probing reassessment.