My Dim Butterfly.

The response to my post, “His Girl, Tosca” (10/7/09) has been virtually deafening. (Virtual as opposed to real.) The applause has been deafening. (I still can’t hear it.) So, for my encore, I offer this synopsis of another great Puccini opera. That magnificent, multi-culti melodrama about a legendary, lady Lepidoptera, “Madame Butterfly.”

ACT I

American sailors carouse through the streets of a Japanese city in 1904. They sing the lusty, Tokyo, Tokyo, Una Citta Como Inferno (“Tokyo, Tokyo, It’s A Helluva Town.”) Their leader is the young and handsome Lieutenant Pinkerton. He explains why he loves Japan in Cosi Fan Tutti (“I Dig Chicks With Fans.”) He’s about to make a pacific overture to a three hundred pound bar girl when a beautiful, young woman enters the saloon asking for directions. He immediately approaches her and sings Que Una Bella Ragazza (“Hello, Gorgeous.”) She hides behind her fan, giggles and responds with the enchanting Che La Luna (“I’d Love To Kiss You, But I Just Washed My Happi Coat.”) Pinkerton realizes he’ll get nowhere without marrying her, so he proposes on the spot. Marry Mio Domani, Okay-o? She says yes. That night, Butterfly is too excited to sleep. Instead, she sings the joyous Allegro Mon Non Topo Gigio (“I Couldn’t Be Happier If I Was An Italian Mouse.”)

ACT II

The wedding day arrives and both the townspeople and the sailors celebrate with the spirited Libiamo (“Who Cares As Long As The Drinks Are Free.”) On the first day of their honeymoon, Pinkerton declares that he must return to the U.S. to join his father’s detective agency. Butterfly begs him to stay in the famous aria, Un Bel Di Dramamine (“I’d Go With You, But I Get Seasick.”) He responds with the equally well-known, Volare (“I Can’t Wait For You To Invent The Airplane.”) He leaves.

ACT III

Butterfly waits for him to return. And keeps waiting. So its not a total loss, she waits in the bar where they first met. As months drag into years, Butterfly sings the touching lament, Uno For My Bambino And Uno For The Autostrada. Finally, Pinkerton returns, but he is accompanied by an American wife. Butterfly is so heartbroken, she threatens to kill herself. The lieutenant waxes philosophical in Que Sera Sera. That night, Madame takes her life by eating poisonous blowfish sashimi. Before she dies, she gives forth with a last, tragic aria – the thrilling, “Fugu? I hardly know you.”