MET Live in HD: MADAMA BUTTERFLY

Sunday, December 1, 2pm | Performing Arts Center SLO

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To order tickets by phone, call (805) 756-4849. Box office times here.

The title character of Madama Butterfly—a young Japanese geisha who clings to the belief that her arrangement with a visiting American naval officer is a loving and permanent marriage—is one of the defining roles in opera. The story triggers ideas about cultural and sexual imperialism for people far removed from the opera house, and film, Broadway, and popular culture in general have riffed endlessly on it. The lyric beauty of Puccini’s score, especially the music for the thoroughly believable lead role, has made Butterfly timeless.

Soprano Hui He takes on the heartbreaking title role of the doomed geisha, with tenor Bruce Sledge as the American naval officer who abandons her. Paulo Szot is Sharpless, alongside Elizabeth DeShong as Suzuki, and Pier Giorgio Morandi is on the podium for Anthony Minghella's sweeping production, a perennial audience favorite.

Sung in Italian with English subtitles.

ESTIMATED RUN TIME: 3 HRS 12 MINS, 2 intermissions

Sponsored by Denis and Leona Sullivan