Kim was born in South Korea, grew up in Chicago and studied music and computer science at Northwestern University. Butterfly doesn’t insist on proper casting for Asian countertenor, what other chance ?”Ĭasting Liling seems like a big ask: You need a man who can be a convincing woman, sing both like a man, and a woman who's also Asian.įortunately, the Santa Fe Opera found countertenor Kangmin Justin Kim. “I want to create a famous, important singing role for Asian countertenor. Butterfly." (Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera)īut Ruo also wanted to provide casting opportunities for singers who are often overlooked. Ensemble and Kangmin Justin Kim as Song Liling) in "M.
Hwang uses that myth to illuminate how the West often misunderstands the East and how the misunderstanding could have led to French and American failures in Vietnam. Butterfly is so much about East and West, so much about racial and sexual conflicts.”įor example, Hwang subverts the stereotype that “Madame Butterfly” perpetuates: The submissive Asian woman who exists only to serve the needs of a white man. When it came to casting the role of Liling, Ruo wanted a countertenor, a man who can sing in a high register, to play the role “because,” he says, “an opera like M.
Butterfly” and Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo wrote the score. Hwang wrote the libretto for the opera version of “M. In Hwang’s play, the diplomat is renamed Rene Gallimard and his lover, Song Liling. During the trial it was revealed that Shi, who Boursicot long believed was a woman, was actually a man. In 1983, Boursicot and his Chinese lover Shi Pei Pu were arrested and charged with espionage. But he was inspired to write the play by the incredible but true tale of French diplomat Bernard Boursicot. Hwang does weave “Madame Butterfly” into his work. Butterfly,” based on a Tony-winning play by David Henry Hwang, will take a final bow. Butterfly,” you might think it means Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly.” But at the Santa Fe Opera Wednesday night, the cast of the world premiere of “M. Butterfly." (Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera)
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