Now the diplomat and the diva - the Western man and the “delicate Chinese girl,” the Traitor and the Spy - return to Broadway in M. The play is based both on Puccini’s romantic (and deeply problematic) tragedy of an opera, Madama Butterfly, and on the real-life affair between the Beijing opera singer Shei Pei Pu and French diplomat Bernard Boursicot, who for 20 years believed his male lover to be a woman. It also ran for almost two years - a remarkable feat considering its thematically ambitious, stranger-than-fiction story. Wong in a career-making turn as the Chinese opera singer Song Liling). Butterfly made its Broadway debut almost 30 years ago, it took home the Tonys for Best Play, Best Direction, and Best Performance by a Featured Actor (B.

This exciting, and innovative, opera is a world-first.When David Henry Hwang’s memory play M. Some may be familiar with Ivan from the Australian tour of the play, Emily of Emerald Hill.įeaturing the Australian premiere of countertenor Meili Li who joins Victorian Opera from the Royal Opera House and the Bavarian State Opera baritone Haotian Qi, who's recently been heard as soloist with Opera Australia and soprano Cathy-Di Zhang in her debut for Victorian Opera, and renowned for her performances with Pintchgut Opera.

It also combines the talents of some of Australia's finest opera makers and performers with Singapore’s Wild Rice theatre (world renowned as one of the best theatre companies in Asia) led by their intrepid Artistic Director Ivan Heng. The Butterfly Lovers tells the tale of identity and societal repression based on a traditional Chinese folk story.

Richard is well known for his melodic and dynamic operatic works, such as The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Batavia and The Love of the Nightingale. Victorian Opera is thrilled to present a brand new opera, The Butterfly Lovers, composed by one of the country's most distinguished composers, Richard Mills AM with a libretto by Joel Tan.

Butterfly wong chinese opera