Backdrop of new musical theater work Butterfly Photo: Courtesy of NTC

Cross-cultural musical closes gap between continents

 

For Chinese audiences, the butterfly has long been taken as a symbol of love, the best example being the classic folktale Butterfly Lovers (Liang Zhu) that has impressed people for centuries.

Now a new love story, Butterfly, a co-production by Chinese and Australian musical producers, is fluttering onto Chinese stages, bringing a similar tragic love story.

The musical is a remake of the 1988 Butterfly, an English language musical by Australian writer Daniel Keene. It was adapted from Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly (1904) and premiered in 1988. The current version is bilingual, and is performed by actors from both China and Australia.

Except for the love story, which is inspired by Madama Butterfly, all other elements including the style of music, stage setting and manner of performance are totally different from the classical opera, according to Peter Wilson, director of the musical.

"And compared to the 1988 English version, the bilingual one now also has many changes, like the story is set to take place in Shanghai, and we add a lot of new music," Wilson told the Global Times.

Besides reflecting the sad tone of the story, the music must also accommodate two different languages. "This is a great challenge since audiences must be deeply attracted by the music and not distracted by the difference of the languages," said Cheng Jin, composer of Butterfly.

Lovely melody for love's malady

Scheduled to premiere on January 17, 2013 at the National Theatre of China (NTC), the bilingual Butterfly is now busy in rehearsal. Entering the room, a burst of beautiful music flies into one's ear.

The lyrics "Someday...someday...will remind you," are heard as Australian actors sing in English to express the regret of leading character Pinkerton who at that point in the story has left his Chinese wife Cho Cho to go back to America. Meanwhile, Chinese actors follow closely with their singing, literally meaning "the moon is slowly climbing." The lyrics and rhythm purposefully resemble Chinese folk songs.

Set in Shanghai in the 1930s, the story is about the doomed love between a Chinese girl named Cho Cho (another name for butterfly) and an American naval officer called Pinkerton. At the age of 15, Cho is sold to Pinkerton to be his wife by her uncle and aunt.

Despite the dirty deal behind the marriage, Cho quickly falls deeply in love with Pinkerton. On the other hand, Pinkerton, who has a superiority complex partly because he is from the US, takes the marriage to Cho as just a bit of fun. Not long after their marriage, he leaves her and returns to his home country.

In the US, Pinkerton remarries. After three years, he learns that Cho is the mother of his child. He then returns to China with his current wife to get the child. Cho is hurt so deeply that ultimately, she commits suicide.

However, Pinkerton's life isn't all that easy when he and his wife return to the US. He thought he didn't have any feelings for Cho, but after missing her endlessly, he realizes he had been deeply in love with her for a long time.

Puppets and puppeteers

Widely known for his use of puppets in different plays, Wilson also makes use of two puppets in this musical. "That's why I like to call it musical theater instead of a pure musical," said Wilson, "90 percent of the play is driven by music, but there are other parts completed by other things."

The two puppets in the play represent Cho herself and her child. The story is told in flashbacks starting with Pinkerton's return to China with his American wife three years after the child's birth when Cho is 18. So the younger Cho who marries Pinkerton at the age of 15 is portrayed by the puppet.

In a scene that reflects how Cho misses Pinkerton after he leaves, the actress who plays Cho sings the lyrics, while the younger Cho, represented by the puppet, dances to express her inner feelings.

"Puppets can do a lot of things that actors can't do," said Wilson. And the puppeteers, those who operate the puppets, will also appear on stage and be part of the play. "They are witnesses of the whole thing, with no acting and no facial expressions, just witnesses," said Wilson.

As they watch a tragic love story unfold that entails misunderstanding, betrayal and loss between two people with different cultural backgrounds, the puppeteers' roles as witnesses seem to sympathize with those in the audience.

Cross-culture communication

 "The love tragedy in this musical is caused by misunderstanding and disrespect due to cultural and language barriers," said Wang Ziyin from Playking Productions, an Australian company that is one of the producers of the musical Butterfly.

As seen from the rehearsal room, it is no simple task for the producers and actors from both sides to go through the musical quickly and smoothly. To practice one line and one aria well, all of them need to start over and over again, dozens of times more often than not.

"We are doing something cross-cultural, and in the process we need to understand each other and learn new things together," said Wilson.

Actually in recent years, co-productions including films, plays and art performances between China and other countries are increasingly seen. "When I was in Australia, China was a buzzword that appeared in all kinds of media almost every day," said Wang.

"Co-productions like this can facilitate mutual understanding, not just in the final work, but also throughout the process," said Wang. "Although each day in the rehearsal room we encounter various misunderstandings and difficulties due to cultural and language differences, when it is finally accomplished, everyone feels rewarded," she told the Global Times.