Opera audiences, it would seem, are developing a habit of booing reprehensible on-stage characters. When Marcelo Puente, cast as Pinkerton in the current Covent Garden revival of Madama Butterfly, took his curtain call, he was greeted with the kind of noise usually accorded a pantomime villain. This was despite giving one of the most complete and convincing portrayals of the role to be heard for some time: handsomely sung with a dark, bronzed tone; attractively laddish and irresponsible at the start; the remorse and moral cowardice of the final scenes wonderfully and empathetically realised. Some might argue that the response validates his characterisation, though whether it is a fitting acknowledgement for such a superb achievement seems to me debatable.
The whole evening is, in fact, outstanding. Ermonela Jaho, one of the great verismo interpreters, brings uncompromising veracity to the title role, and the combination of vulnerability and torrential emotion just tears you in two. Scott Hendricks’s fastidious Sharpless grows increasingly bewildered as the tragic situation spirals beyond his control, while Elisabeth DeShong admirably conveys both the inflexible pride and the affection lurking beneath Suzuki’s devotion to her mistress.
Always at his best in Puccini, Antonio Pappano conducts with passionate sincerity. The excesses of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production have been toned down since it was first seen in 2003. Irritations remain, such as the shocking-pink cherry blossom and the unimaginative treatment of the chorus in act one. But the intensity and integrity of the performance make them fade into insignificance.
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