Michael Hendrick, who sings the role of Pinkerton, knows why Lim is perfect for Butterfly. “She sings like a goddess,” he says. Hendrick, a tenor, is also making his Syracuse Opera debut. He has sung with L’Opera de Montreal, Utah Opera and the Washington Opera.
By Frank Herron Staff writer
No, thanks.
Not yet.
Thanks, but …
That’s how soprano Jee Hyun Lim used to greet invitations to take on the title role of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly.”
“I kept saying no to “Butterfly’ offers for 10 years,” she says.
As a Korean-born soprano, she knew how easy it would be for her to become trapped in the role of Japanese geisha Cio-Cio-San.
Lim simply wanted to avoid being typecast. She knew she would sing it eventually, but she didn’t want it “too fast or too early,” she says.
“Vocally, it’s one of the most demanding roles,” she says.
In the meantime, her musical interest has been elsewhere.
“French repertoire is my biggest love,” she says.
Now, France has yielded to Italy (and Japan), at least temporarily. About two years ago, Lim decided to sing in “Madama Butterfly.”
And, just as she thought, the roles have fluttered her way.
It started with a role in London. She made her U.S. debut as Butterfly in Indianapolis in the fall. Her performance this weekend in the Syracuse Opera production of “MadamaButterfly” is one of five this season. She has split time this month between her rehearsals inSyracuse and performances in the same role in Manhattan with the New York City Opera.
In late May, she will sing it again in Tokyo with New York City Opera.
The story links Butterfly, also known as Cio-Cio-San, a teenage former geisha in Japan, with Lt. Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, an American officer who takes their relationship far less seriously than she, even after they are married. After their wedding night, he abandons her. She has a child and awaits his return, unaware that he has married someone else. The lieutenant returns three years later, with his new wife. The fate of Butterfly and her son hang in the balance.
The story was the inspiration for “Miss Saigon.”
Lim, who is making her Syracuse Opera debut, says other aspects of the role are more important than the look.
For one thing, Lim is 41, and she portrays someone who is less than half her age.
The movement is the key, she says.
“It all comes from muscle coordination and speed of movement at that age,” she says.
Her background in athletics helps. She specialized in the 60-meter dash and the high jump.
Then there’s the voice.
Michael Hendrick, who sings the role of Pinkerton, knows why Lim is perfect for Butterfly.
“She sings like a goddess,” he says.
And then there are the dramatic components of the role.
“My real enthusiasm was in acting,” Lim recalls.
The movement, singing and acting all come together in shows such as “Madama Butterfly,” she says.
“Opera integrated all my interests.”
Hendrick, a tenor, is also making his Syracuse Opera debut. He has sung with L’Opera de Montreal, Utah Opera and the Washington Opera.
Other first-timers are Sahoko Sato as Butterfly’s servant Suzuki and Joseph Hu as the marriage broker Goho.
Timothy LeFebvre, who sang Giorgio Germont in “La Traviata,” portrays the U.S. diplomat Sharpless in this production.
The youngest cast member is 6-year-old Garrit Peck, a kindergartner at Onondaga Central’s Rockwell Elementary School.
He portrays the son of Butterfly and Pinkerton. The boy’s stage name is Trouble, although Garrit has been anything but that in rehearsal, cast members say.
The details
What: “Madama Butterfly,” produced by Syracuse Opera. The Puccini opera is set in Nagasaki, Japan, in the early 1900s. Conducting is Daniel Hege, music director of the SyracuseSymphony Orchestra; David McCarty directs. It’s sung in Italian with projected English translations.
When: 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater, John H. Mulroy Civic Center, 411 Montgomery St.,Syracuse.
Tickets: $15 to $136.
Information: 476-7372 or syracuseopera.com.
CAPTION(S):
PHOTO
Dick Blume/Staff photographer
MICHAEL HENDRICK (from left) as Lt. Pinkerton, Jee Hyun Lim as the geisha Butterfly and Garrit Peck as their son star in the Syracuse Opera production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera”Madama Butterfly.” The story was the inspiration for the musical “Miss Saigon.” Six-year-old Peck is a kindergartner at Onondaga Central’s Rockwell Elementary School.
PHOTO
Dick Blume/Staff photographer
MICHAEL HENDRICK says his co-star, Jee Hyun Lim, is perfect for the part of Butterfly in “Madama Butterfly.”
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