Stunning last moment of Detroit Opera 'Madame Butterfly' production drew gasps from audience

She dies in the end. Of course, you already knew that.

Or … does she, after all?

New questions are posed in Detroit Opera’s arresting production of “Madame Butterfly,” which still has two performances left on Friday, Oct. 13 and Sunday, Oct. 15. Though the piece is barely over a century old—fairly young for a classic in the opera repertoire — Puccini’s tragic tale of a young, Japanese woman has long been considered problematic for its unfortunate, stereotypical portrayals of Japanese culture and the abusive, dismissive, Western, male gaze through which the story is crafted.

This co-production between Detroit Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Utah Opera and Pittsburgh Opera strives to reframe that narrative in a way that comments on those issues. It mostly succeeds, though inherent flaws in the original storytelling, no fault of anyone here, hold it back from being a real home run.

The new framing device: A pudgy, dull, pajama-clad American man is obsessed with Japan. He has never actually been to Japan, but fetishizes its culture and, importantly, its women after a lengthy period of consuming Japanese media. His small apartment is wallpapered with manga posters and images and other decorative touches that evoke a fantasy version of the Far East.

Uninterested in (or perhaps incapable of) dealing with real life, he dedicates long hours and days to retreating into a virtual reality simulation of Japan. In this constructed universe, he is an American naval lieutenant (the ludicrously named Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton), complete with exaggeratedly broad shoulders to demonstrate his rugged brawn. During his time stationed in the Land of the Rising Sun, he woos and weds the delicate and winsome young Cio-Cio-San, his “butterfly,” in a whirlwind romance.

The marriage, though, isn’t real, and when he grows bored with the experience, Pinkerton “returns to America” and simply unplugs, losing interest in keeping up with the game. Meanwhile, the hopelessly naive Cio-Cio-San continues to await his return as weeks turn into months, and eventually three years have passed. He is also unaware that their fling has produced a son she has been forced to raise alone.

Even in his absence, the utterly selfish Pinkerton is still carelessly manipulating Cio-Cio-San’s destiny through his choices, and when he finally returns — with a blonde, American woman he’s since married for real and the nerve to request custody of the child — after much deliberation, Cio-Cio-San ends her own life, therefore ending the simulation as well.

But then, at that very last moment, something remarkable happens. Karah Son, the outrageously talented soprano playing Cio-Cio-San, slips out of her costume to reveal regular street clothes, steps out of the production’s set, and walks offstage. Cio-Cio-San was not a non-playable character, after all; there was a real woman being mistreated behind the façade. After a couple of hours watching her get kicked around, it’s a stunning commentary on the agency of women that drew gasps from the Saturday, Oct. 7 premiere audience.

But how great a triumph can it be after viewing and absorbing such negligence and abuse, and then seeing her choose suicide? Thinking too hard about it leaves questions as to whether Puccini’s piece, as written, can truly be updated and saved after all.

It’s quite a ride, however, packed to the rafters with marvelous music, marvelously sung. At the top of the performance, viewers were asked to extend grace to Karah Son, who was suffering from a cold, but not a flaw was detectable in her stellar turn that had the audience on its feet and screaming at curtain call. The structure of the story means the character of Pinkerton remains silent for long stretches — unfortunate, since Eric Taylor’s throbbing tenor is a joy to take in. His duets with Son provide the show’s most thrilling moments … that is, aside from Son’s jaw-dropping interpretation of Butterfly’s famous second-act aria.

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The supporting players are uniformly excellent, with Kristen Choi and Nmon Ford in particular racking up some great moments as Suzuki and Sharpless. The scenic design by the innovating collective known as dots effortlessly toggles back and forth between Pinkerton’s virtual reality and the almost equally fantasized reality in which he lives. And, best of all, Kensho Watanabe’s muscular conducting drove the Detroit Opera Orchestra to their inspired best.

The show’s weighty runtime of nearly three hours (including intermission) is felt in the third act, which sags under Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa’s endlessly repetitive libretto. It’s one of those sort of maddening situations where everyone knows what’s coming and the creators seem hellbent on delaying the inevitable — again, no fault of the current production — but then, there’s that wallop of a conclusion.

Detroit Opera’s “Madame Butterfly” must be heard to be believed, and the musical peaks are of a quality and richness befitting the reputation the institution has earned. It ultimately has much to say about the realities we choose to create for ourselves, how the consequences of our choices directly and indirectly affect others, and the way we treat women both here at home and around the world.

Just don’t think about that ending too hard.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Opera's 'Madame Butterfly' a must-see with remarkable ending