Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly) is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on the book by John Luther Long and the drama by David Belasco.

Influences on popular culture

• 1915: The opera was made into a movie. It was directed by Sidney Olcott and starring Mary Pickford.
• 1916: The song "Poor Butterfly", with music by Raymond Hubbell and lyrics by John Golden, depicted Butterfly waiting in her garden. The song became a standard.
• 1984: Malcolm McLaren based a U.K. top-20 single on the opera. It includes brief excerpts of the aria "Un bel dì" sung by the soprano Betty Ann White.
• 1988: In the play M. Butterfly, about the real-life story of a French diplomat and a Chinese opera singer, Butterfly is denounced as a western stereotype of a timid, submissive Asian.
• 1989: The Broadway musical Miss Saigon was in part based on the Butterfly story.
• 1996: The second album by Weezer, "Pinkerton," takes its name from this opera. The last song on the album, "Butterfly" tells the story of the opera, and there are a few other mentions of it. (E.g. Cio-Cio San is referenced in "El Scorcho.")
• 2004: On the 100th anniversary of Madama Butterfly, Shigeaki Saegusa composed Jr. Butterfly. The libretto was by Masahiko Shimada and the conductor was by Naoto Otomo. Tenor Shigehiro Sano performs Jr. Butterfly and soprano Shinobu Sato plays Naomi, his love. Jr. Butterfly is the story of what happens to the son of Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton. It is set before, during and after WWII. The half-Japanese half-American Jr. Butterfly is an intelligence officer for the Americans and falls in love with a Japanese girl. At the core of the story is the love story between Jr. Butterfly and the girl, but the opera covers a lot of ground such as the identity struggle of Jr. Butterfly's chanpon background and the intentions of the US vis a vis war with Japan before the war. With Madam Butterfly originally set in Nagasaki, the role of Nagasaki in the closure of the war ties it all together.