OPERA on the MAINSTAGE
music by Giacomo Puccini
libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica
Friday / October 2, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday / October 3, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday / October 4, 2026 at 2 p.m.
STEINMETZ HALL
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
generously supported by Elizabeth Conklin and the National Endowment for the Arts
Sung in Italian with English and Spanish supertitles.
Estimated run time of two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.
age advisory: PG-13
Ooooh…love is never what it seems
A pre-show talk for all ticket holders will be held on stage 50 minutes prior to each performance.
Student rush tickets will be available to students up to two hours before each performance. Valid for up to two tickets per valid student ID.
Opera Orlando presents the enduring story of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. The story of a young Cio-Cio San navigating an impossible intersection of imperialism, infatuation, and maternal instinct. She is newly married to an American naval officer who then immediately heads back to the States. She is certain he will return to her and waits three years to find out if she is right. Cio-Cio San's devotion and selflessness remain constant as she leverages her limited power to protect her child.
Enjoy Puccini’s glorious music at the world-renowned Steinmetz Hall and see the opera that served as the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical Miss Saigon. Soprano Yeawon Jun makes her Opera Orlando debut in the title role, joined by tenor Isaac Hurtado singing the role of Lt. Pinkerton, a role for which his “passionate intensity” has been praised. Conductor Kalena Bovell and stage director Rebecca A. Herman make their Company debuts leading an exquisite cast featuring the Opera Orlando Youth Company, Apprentice and Studio Artists, and Chorus on stage with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit.
cast
production team
synopsis
Nagasaki, Japan | 1904
Lt. B.F. Pinkerton, a U.S. Navy officer stationed in Nagasaki, arranges to marry Cio-Cio San (Madame Butterfly), a young girl from a once-prominent family, through the broker Goro. Pinkerton treats the marriage lightly, dismissing the American consul Sharpless's warning that she may take it more seriously than he does. Cio-Cio San, for her part, has secretly converted to Christianity for her new husband and believes in the marriage completely. When her family learns of her conversion, her uncle, the Bonzo, publicly denounces her, and her relatives abandon her. Pinkerton comforts her, and the two consummate their marriage.
Three years later
Cio-Cio San waits faithfully for Pinkerton's return. When Suzuki voices doubt that he will ever come back, Cio-Cio San answers with unshaken certainty that one fine day, his ship will appear on the horizon.
— Intermission —
The next day
Sharpless arrives with a letter from Pinkerton but struggles to deliver its news. Goro interrupts the proceedings, bringing a wealthy suitor, Prince Yamadori, to see Cio-Cio San. She refuses the Prince, revealing she has a young son by Pinkerton, Dolore. When a ship's cannon signals Pinkerton's arrival, she and her servant Suzuki joyfully prepare the house for his return.
But the ship also brings Kate Pinkerton — his American wife. Cio-Cio San realizes she has waited three years for a man who stopped waiting long ago. The fine day she promised herself has arrived, and it is not what she imagined. With very little left to hold onto, she must choose.
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