The Barbican stage was set for an enthralling UK premiere this weekend as Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo’s chamber opera M. Butterfly took flight. Based on David Henry Hwang’s Tony Award-winning play of the same name, this cross-cultural work delves into the intricacies and illusions of East-West relations through the lens of a 20-year affair between a French diplomat and a Beijing opera singer.
Huang’s effective adaptation filleted Hwang’s original script into a libretto without losing the central, tantalizing question: who knew what, and when? The remarkable performances by countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim as Song Liling and baritone Mark Stone as René Gallimard kept the audience guessing until the final reveal.
A Musical Melting Pot
Huang’s score proved immediately accessible, blending tonal, lyrical passages with energetic rhythms and occasional bursts of sonic intensity. The fusion of Western instruments with distinctly Asian percussion timbres, from woodblocks to temple gongs, deftly transported listeners between Paris and Beijing.
While nods to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly surfaced subtly throughout, Huang’s musical language remained firmly rooted in the 21st century. Under conductor Carolyn Kuan, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers delivered a precise, captivating performance.
Staging Secrets and Lies
Director James Robinson’s minimalist staging, revived here by Kimberley Prescott, gained depth through Greg Emetaz’s evocative video projections. The production, a collaboration between the Barbican and BBCSO, wisely let the nuances of character take center stage.
Baritone Mark Stone imbued Gallimard with both heft and vulnerability, his journey from diplomatic sang-froid to emotional unraveling laid painfully bare. Countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim proved mesmerizing as Song, his potent vocal instrument and subtle physicality painting a complex portrait of an artist caught between worlds and identities.
Is Gallimard gay, or afraid he might be? Is Song Liling merely a manipulative chameleon, or has the diva actually fallen in love?
The opera keeps us guessing at every turn.
Cultural Assumptions Unmasked
While M. Butterfly‘s meditations on gender fluidity may feel less startling to contemporary audiences, its interrogation of cultural stereotyping remains bitingly relevant. As Gallimard projects his fantasy of the submissive Asian woman onto Song, his political naiveté is laid bare. A potent reminder delivered by Comrade Chin (the commanding Fleur Barron) that homosexuality was forbidden in Maoist China forces a reassessment of Song’s own vulnerability.
Though no longer possessing its original shock factor, Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly proves it can still enthrall and provoke in equal measure. This UK premiere marks both a worthy tribute to its source material and an invitation to examine the cultural lenses through which we view each other.
