THE MUSIC It’s a strange hybrid harmony that Puccini makes happen. JACOB LUCAS
Great art keeps saying new stuff forever. It says what it meant when it was made and it says what it means when you see it now. I’m thinking about this because of how Madame Butterfly, which I saw twice over the weekend at Seattle Opera, still says even more.
The opera tells the story of an American man who buys a young Japanese girl for sex, etc., and the terrible things that happen. The week before I went to see Madame Butterfly, the Seattle Times published “Busted,” a story about a prostitution ring based in Bellevue for American men who pay to have sex with young Korean girls.