Overview

To a U.S. naval lieutenant and his Japanese bride, a marriage contract has drastically different meanings. What begins as an idyllic partnership splinters into a three-year separation, where Cio-Cio-San and her son, Trouble, wait patiently for Lieutenant Pinkerton’s return. Upon his return, the fact that he has returned with an American wife is first discovered by Cio-Cio-San’s maid. When Cio-Cio-San guesses the truth, she agrees to give up her child, if Pinkerton returns for the child. The poignant tragedy ends as Madama Butterfly makes a heartbreaking decision. Closing our 50th anniversary season, we present the work that opened the Edmonton Opera in October 1963.