Madama Butterfly, Royal Opera House, London, review: Ermonela Jaho is the best Cio-Cio-San London has seen in years

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The Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho took Covent Garden by storm with her electrifying performances in Puccini’s Il trittico, but although she’s sung his ‘Cio-Cio San’ to acclaim around the world, she’s waited until now to sing that role in London. And how poignantly she does it: the final scene in the Leiser-Caurier production is exquisitely understated, minimal tear-jerking stuff with the tot, and no clumsily symbolic meetings between East and West. This allows the staging to perfectly set off the pathos of Jaho’s performance.

Visually, this production is at the opposite pole from the opulent Minghella production at the Coliseum. Although its wonky Japonaiserie set my Japanese companion’s teeth on edge, the intimacy of its drama becomes compelling. Under Antonio Pappano’s baton, every nuance of the score’s tender-cruel refinement is brought out.

There are some fine performances, notably that of the Argentinian tenor Marcelo Puente as Pinkerton, whose endearingly old-fashioned acting in no way undermines the sustained beauty of his singing. Jeremy White’s Bonze is appropriately thunderous, Elizabeth Dershong is discreetly commanding as Suzuki, and Scott Hendricks makes a sympathique Sharpless.

Jaho alternates between vulnerability and feistiness, at times suggesting the fragility of a bunraku puppet with her body language. Her great duet with Puente cries to the heavens, and her long solo in which hope contends with fear has us hanging on every bar. She is the best Madama B that London has seen in years.