M. Butterfly

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

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t brought more fluidity to the play. Lucia Hwong served as musical director for the Broadway production and live musician were employed: Hwong playing Pipa or the Chinese Lute, Yukio Tsuji playing percussion, and Japanese Flute, Jason Hwang on violin and percussion. Jamie H. J. Guan and his wife Michelle Ehlers choreographed the show. This was very important in order to address the intricate form of Peking Opera with the dancers and the part of Song Liling. Mr. Hwang feels that it is essential to Peking Opera performance to devote much rehearsal time to doing it right otherwise it will look silly in his opinion. A significant issue in the play is Song Liling's transformation from woman into man. This is done with a solo performance by Song Liling while the house lights are up during intermission. Although the audience would usually get up during this time as is accustomed on Broadway, it was a rare evening when anyone would leave the room during Song Liling's transformation. Dexter chose to stage the make-up change against a live musical performance in order to give the audience something else to focus on. That way if Song Liling's make-up change took too long, the audience was less apt to notice. A pivotal moment

Category: Arts - M