Northern Stage Presents M.Butterfly Thru 3/4

Based on a true story that shocked the world, the Pulitzer-nominated drama M. Butterfly takes audiences from Paris to Beijing and back again.

About the show: "A French diplomat’s 20-year affair with a Chinese opera singer leads to international intrigue in which East meets West, man meets woman, and ancient traditions collide with the modern world. When the story’s stunning secret is revealed, you won’t believe your eyes. French diplomat René Gallimard, stationed in Beijing, is faithful to his wife of eight years, but his world is forever changed when he witnesses a performance by a Chinese opera singer at a diplomatic event. From there, he finds his way into a swirling world of smoky clubs, diplomatic intrigue, and increasing obsession."

M. Butterfly, written by David Henry Hwang and directed by Catherine Doherty, runs live on stage at Northern Stage at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction, VT, through March 4. For tickets and information, call 802-296-7000 or visit www.northernstage.org. This play contains adult content and nudity.

This play, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won three Tony Awards including Best Play, and picked up three Drama Desk Awards during its Broadway run, features Drew Taylor as René Gallimard, the diplomat whose life is turned upside down. Taylor, who returns to Northern Stage after starring in The History Boys and the World Premiere musical Take Two, has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden, Annie and The Sweet Smell of Success with John Lithgow (who, coincidentally, playEd Gallimard on Broadway). He is joined by Broadway actress (and Northern Stage newcomer) Sung Yun Cho, along with a trio of actors from the recent Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Shu-nan Chu, Michael Guess and Alexis Hyatt ) and other returning favorites Robert Boardman, Kyle Knauf and Regan Thompson. Devin Ilaw from the Toronto revival of Miss Saigon portrays Chinese opera singer Song Liling.

Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5:00 p.m., except for the Opening Night performance on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m., with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on Thursday, Feb. 23. The show is sponsored by McGray & Nichols, crafters of quality homes.

M. Butterfly is based on real-life events. In 1986, over dinner, a friend asked David Henry Hwang if he had heard the story of French diplomat Bernard Boursicot, whose involvement with Chinese opera singer Shi Pei Pu had created an international scandal. When he read a brief newspaper story about Boursicot, he realized that Boursicot’s statements about the modesty of Chinese women aligned with certain Western stereotypes about Asian gender roles. Hwang was intrigued, but he specifically avoided doing further research into Boursicot’s story because, as he said, “I was not interested in writing a docudrama. Frankly, I didn’t want the ‘truth’ to interfere with my own speculations.” He initially envisioned writing the story as a musical—in his words, “some great Madame Butterfly-like tragedy.” He asked himself, “What did Boursicot think he was getting in this Chinese actress? The answer came to me clearly: He probably thought he had found Madame Butterfly.”

The play touches not only on relationships between men and women and between Westerners and Asians, but strikes at the heart of today’s testy political, economic and cultural relationship between the U.S. and China. If the real-life Boursicot and the fictional Gallimard could go for so long without understanding the basic nature of their relationships with their corresponding opera singers, what does that tell us about our ability to understand China?

At the urging of his producer, Stuart Ostrow, he aimed directly for Broadway, rather than developing the play regionally. The production was first staged at The National Theatre in Washington, DC. The play moved to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on March 20, 1988, with John Lithgow in the role of Gallimard. The run extended for777 performances and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, won three Tony Awards including Best Play, and picked up three Drama Desk Awards. Hwang later adapted the story for the screen; the 1993 film starred Jeremy Irons.

About the Author

Born in 1957, David Henry Hwang, the son of first-generation Chinese-Americans, grew up in California, studied at Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama, and currently makes his home in New York City. His play FOB, originally staged at Stanford during his senior year there, was further developed at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference and presented at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theater in 1980,where it won an Obie Award. The Dance and the Railroad (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize), Family Devotions and a pair of one-acts—The House of Sleeping Beauties and The Sound of a Voice—were also produced at the Public. Rich Relations premiered at New York’s Second Stage in 1986. M. Butterfly was also a Pulitzer finalist. Golden Child won another Obie Award in 1997, and Hwang picked up a Tony nomination after the play’s transfer to Broadway. His controversial play Face Value, about the casting of Jonathan Pryce in a Eurasian role in Miss Saigon, closed during previews; the experience led to the semi-autobiographical Yellow Face, which also ran at the Public, earned Hwang a third Pulitzer nomination and a third Obie. His most recent play, Chinglish, recently closed in NewYork.

His forays into musical theater include co-writing Aida, writing the libretto for Tarzan, and substantially rewriting the book of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song for a successful revival, which earned him another Tony nomination. He is currently working on three musicals, as well as a new straight play, Daughter of Shanghai. He has also written librettos for operatic versions of Alice inWonderland and The Fly. Hwang has been awarded Guggenheim, Rockefeller, NYSCA, Pew Charitable Trusts and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships.

About the Director
Catherine Doherty is now in her eighth season with Northern Stage, with an impressive list of comedy directing credits, including The 39 Steps, Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Lend Me A Tenor. She has also directed The Elephant Man, Doubt, A Chorus Line and Of Mice and Men here, as well as numerous shows at Saint Michael’s Playhouse. Catherine’s credits include co-producing several Off-Broadway productions with Padua Playwrights and Random Acts Theatre Company (of which she is a member). She was the assistant director and production stage manager of the Lincoln Center production of Normal Heart. Catherine has also worked with Paper Mill Playhouse (Milburn, NJ), The John F. Kennedy Center and Arena Stage. She is on the advisory board of the Instant Theatre Company in Highlands, NC. While in Los Angeles, she worked in a variety of capacities with television networks CBS, ABC and Fox. Catherine holds an MFA in Performance from the University of Georgia and an MFA in Film Direction from the American Film Institute. Her short film, Family Portrait, received the prestigious Ida Lupino Award for Outstanding Film Direction from the Director’s Guild of America.

About Northern Stage
Northern Stage now stands as one of the most prestigious and fastest-growing regional theaters in New England. Founding Artistic Director Brooke Ciardelli brought the company to the Briggs Opera House in 1997; since then, Northern Stage has offered 100 productions, including World Premieres such as The Shrew Tamer, Ovid: Tales of Myth & Magic and A Christmas Carol: The Musical. Other highlights include a staged reading of Who’s Afraid of VirginiaWoolf? with Patrick Stewart and Lisa Harrow and a reading of Resurrection Blues,with the playwright, Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller, in attendance. The company has been honored with Moss Hart Awards for Excellence in Theater from the New England Theatre Conference five times, for productions of To Kill A Mockingbird (1999), All My Sons (2004), Les Misérables (2008), Hamlet (2009) and Amadeus (2010), as well as an Addison Award for The Shrew Tamer (2004) and 2010 Owl Awards for Best Actress and Best Musical and 2011 awards for Best Comedy Theater and Best Artistic Director.

Community support has enabled the company to sell over 35,000 tickets in downtown White River Junction in the last year to enjoy entertaining and thought-provoking professional theater and theater education here at the crossroads of northern New England. They have also reached out to offer residencies and workshops at over a dozen area schools; initiated “Project Playwright,” a literacy program for fifth and sixth graders; and conducted a statewide literacy program, The Big Read, under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For information or tickets, call 802-296-7000, e-mail boxoffice@northernstage.org, or log on to www.northernstage.org. The Box Office at the Briggs Opera House is open beginning two hours before all performances; tickets for all shows are available by phone or at the Northern Stage administrative office at 76 Gates Street, White River Junction, Monday-Friday from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m.

To post a comment, you must register and login.