In Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” a naive Japanese teenage girl falls victim to the forces of American imperialism, giving her life over to a heedless naval officer who turns out to conceive of their romance as nothing more than a casual fling.
It’s a story that has become increasingly uncomfortable — or, let’s say, problematic — with every passing year. Many opera companies have tried to find ways to reinterpret the action, while others have simply put it on ice.
What keeps “Butterfly” in the repertoire is Puccini’s elegant, shimmering score, a creation of such breathtaking beauty that it can seem hard to do without.
West Bay Opera opens its season with a revival featuring the excellent soprano Toni Marie Palmertree (well remembered for her time as an Adler fellow at the San Francisco Opera) in the title role. Alongside her are tenor Tom Mulder as the faithless Pinkerton, mezzo-soprano Mariya Kaganskaya as Suzuki and baritone Daniel Cilli as Sharpless. José Luis Moscovich, the company’s general director, conducts.