M. Butterfly is David Henry Hwang's intriguing dream of love and intrigue. The producer of this particular play was Stuart Ostrow and according to Mr. Hwang, the idea was presented to Ostrow, who provided some start-up funding for the writing of the project. The project was based on a two-page treatment that Hwang sent to Ostrow. Ostrow kept the treatment and was able to reproduce it the night M. Butterfly won the Tony. Hwang was a bit inured by the fact that he had proposed a musical and Ostrow produced musicals. Upon confrontation, though, Ostrow was enthralled by the piece and insisted on taking it straight to Broadway rather than working it through a regional theatre program first as Hwang felt was necessary.
Ostrow suggested director John Dexter as the proposed director for this play. Dexter originally began acting while in the army during World War II. In 1957, he became a member of the Royal Court Theatre in London as an Associate Director. He moved on to the National Theatre in the 60's and 70's in between serving at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He went on to direct successful productions on Broadway and London's West End. His direction of M. Butterfly won him the Tony Award.
The play opened February 10, 1988 at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. It starred John Lithgow in the role of the Frenchman Gallimard and B.D. Wong in the role of Song Liling. It ran at the National Theatre until its transfer to the historic Eugene O'Neill Theatre in March, 1988. The play ran for 777 performances on Broadway. Some of the other cast members included John Getzand Rose Gregorio. It won many critical drama awards - The Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner and Outer Critics' Circle.
The costumes for M. Butterfly were designed by Eiko Ishioka and were awarded the 1988 Tony for Best Costumes. Ms. Ishioka is a ground-breaking Asian-American (Japanese) graphic design artist who had won awards in Japan for her ...