《蝴蝶》双城记：仍然跨越不同文化的普契尼歌剧

司马勤

通常我们提起歌剧《蝴蝶夫人》，雅典不会是从脑海中冒出来的第一个城市。可是，《蝴蝶夫人》却在希腊国家歌剧院（Greek National Opera，简称GNO）常规剧目单中独占鳌头。1940 年秋天，正是《蝴蝶夫人》开启了该歌剧院的首个演出季（在当年早些时候，希腊国家歌剧院搬演了施特劳斯的轻歌剧《蝙蝠》）。尽管希腊国家歌剧院于2020 年已经推出过另一套《蝴蝶夫人》新制作，但今年6 月在希罗德· 阿迪库斯音乐堂（Odeon of Herodes Atticus）揭幕的雅典埃皮达鲁斯艺术节（Athens-Epidaurus Festival）上， 希腊国家歌剧院又搬演了一部《蝴蝶夫人》的新制作。

希腊国家歌剧院的艺术总监乔治· 库门达基斯（Giorgos Koumendakis）在节目册的文章里将问题一一解答清楚。首先，这个露天音乐堂，又称“奥德翁”（Odeon），可容纳5000 位观众，吸引的普罗大众要比只有1400 座位的室内场地——斯塔夫罗斯· 尼尔霍斯歌剧厅（Stavros Niarchos Hall）多好几倍。其次，2020 年由乌戈· 德· 安纳（Hugo de Ana）执导的《蝴蝶夫人》新制作遭遇了新冠疫情， 场馆关闭，演出被迫取消。因此，那年雅典的歌剧迷失望极了，他们与《蝴蝶夫人》失之交臂。

但依旧还有一些疑问悬而未决：希腊国家歌剧院为何邀请奥利维尔· 皮（Olivier Py）导演此剧？ 还有，到底是谁那么信任皮先生，将普契尼的作品托付给他呢？

平心而论， 皮导绝不是一位歌剧菜鸟。作为阿维尼翁艺术节的前任总监和巴黎夏特莱歌剧院（Théatre du Ch?telet） 的现任领导，2020 年皮导曾为希腊国家歌剧院执导贝尔格的《沃采克》（Wozzeck ）。但是，《沃采克》绝非那些大受追捧的热门歌剧。反过来说，《蝴蝶夫人》是歌剧剧目中备受爱戴同时又备受批评的作品之一。皮导坦然承认，这是他首次执导普契尼歌剧；坦白说，我也一眼就看得出来，因为他的这版《蝴蝶夫人》制作拥有得罪各类观众群体的多种元素。

一开始皮导就清楚地表明，他构思的制作中将没有浪漫的陈词滥调。“《蝴蝶夫人》通常被视为一部没有政治深度的通俗煽情剧，故事发生在奇幻虚构中的日本。”他在节目册中写道。

我不太清楚皮导过去几十年的具体艺术经历， 但我经常出入歌剧院，目睹着《蝴蝶夫人》是如何演变为歌剧界中最被“政治化”的剧目之一的过程。故事源自美国作家约翰· 鲁瑟· 朗（John Luther Long）在杂志所发表含有说教成分的短篇小说，后来在1988 年被黄哲伦解构为百老汇的制作《蝴蝶君》（M. Butterfly），剧本突出了反亚裔帝国主义思想。美国公众对该剧的反应介于两种极端之间：有人强调歌剧必须聘用亚裔角色以忠于故事情节，也有人鼓吹从今以后罢演《蝴蝶夫人》，让它永久下架。

皮导的制作好像完全忽略了过去35 年里公众对该剧的讨论，更谈不上对故事蕴含的历史背景有任何认知——尤其是那些19 世纪风靡一时的法国畅销小说。我也找不到皮导曾打开过普契尼总谱的任何证明。视觉上，该制作配合露天“奥德翁”的圆形建筑结构，无论布景还是服装都呼应了圆形和球形主题动机，跟圆形舞台与天空中的明月相得益彰。可惜皮导的叙事方式只是一些杂乱无章、不连贯的反美理念。它们与普契尼的音乐叙事与线条式的张力彻底脱节。就算你只看导演的戏剧手法，也找不到任何连贯性。

美国海军平克尔顿首次入场，衣冠不整、酒醉蹒跚。皮导的确熟读了剧本：平克尔顿与美国领事官夏普莱斯（Sharpless）干杯时喝的是威士忌，而不是茶水。还有，平克尔顿在台上从头到尾都有一瓶“杰克丹尼”牌威士忌在手边，让他随时唾手可得。第一幕的背景挂上了一大堆闪亮的企业标志，有福特汽车、脸书、麦当劳与星巴克等，连本地观众都觉得备受冒犯，在社交媒体上发起了一场运动，以批评皮导对希腊古物（这个音乐堂位于雅典最古老的卫城山麓）的亵渎。我还以为那些标志是艺术节的赞助，直至有朋友指出，背景上的图像代表了现代城市的景观以及美国霸权如何对亚洲进行商业化垄断。到了下半场，背景幕甚至挂上了长崎原子弹爆炸的黑白照片。

尽管皮导表示自己尊敬日本文化，但实际上他仅用了少量的日本元素。他强调选角时聘请了一位亚裔“蝴蝶”——不是日裔而是表现出色的韩国女高音孙知惠（Anna Sohn）——其他演员都没有依据族裔而定。饰演铃木是俄罗斯次女高音艾莉莎·克鲁索娃（Alisa Kolosova）。她穿上黑色长裙，看起来更像个穿丧服的希腊寡妇而不是个日本女佣。

即使是皮导为数不多的象征性导演手法也显得肤浅和不得体。帕特罗思· 马古拉斯（Petros Magoulas）饰演蝴蝶夫人的和尚叔父，虽穿着歌舞伎戏服，但从音乐或戏剧角度都没有特别的交代。几位剃光了头、周身敷抹着白粉的舞者——我猜， 导演借喻的是日本舞踏（Butoh）——在演出中偶尔出现偶尔消失，但舞姿与普契尼的音乐并不协调， 与发源自20 世纪后期的日本舞蹈形式也毫不相干。如果导演想表达美国军方轰炸日本与美国海军毁掉蝴蝶一生幸福的共通点，那么他肯定没有认真精读历史：当芳华正茂的蝴蝶夫人在台上花枝招展时， 何来二次世界大战后的一堆舞踏演员呢？

***

正如我所料，《蝴蝶夫人》在旧金山同样受欢迎。旧金山歌剧院有史以来搬演场次最多的剧目是《波希米亚人》，而《托斯卡》與《蝴蝶夫人》是并列亚军。1924 年，当旧金山首演《蝴蝶夫人》时，普契尼还活着。因为位于美国大量亚裔聚居的大城市，旧金山歌剧院自然也是热议“过时的帝国主义”与“忠于现实”表演方式的战场。因此，在庆祝旧金山歌剧院百周年庆时，旧金山歌剧院与日本东京二期会歌剧剧场（ Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre 联合委约 湖蝶夫人》的新制作，由宫本亚门（Amon Miyamoto执导，也就不足为奇了。

唯一令我惊讶的是档期的安排：宫本版《蝴蝶夫人》的旧金山首演刚好安排在皮导的《蝴蝶夫人》雅典首演的两天后。虽然我人在欧洲，却有机会看到旧金山歌剧院的网上直播。这两个版本的区别简直令人诧异。

这不是美国歌剧院第一次把目光投向日本。至少自20世纪50年代初，新建不久的纽约市立歌剧院（New York City Opera，创办于1943 年）与日本历史最悠久的藤原歌剧团（Fujiwara Opera，建立于1934 年）合作时，《蝴蝶夫人》就已经成为文化交流的一种方式。演员阵容方面，日本裔演员饰演日本角色，美国人演美国角色。舞台上呈现了正宗日本布景而不是东方情调的刻板印象。两团合作也颇具历史渊源：二次世界大战前，纽约市立歌剧院院长约瑟夫· 罗森斯托克（Joseph Rosenstock）曾指挥过日本爱乐乐团；而藤原义江在建立歌剧团之前， 曾在意大利接受过声乐训练并在那里的歌剧院演唱。

跟从前那些早期跨越太平洋的合作模式有别——当然与雅典的制作也大不相同——宫本的视野清晰，他也熟知歌剧的历史渊源。皮导把《蝴蝶夫人》坐落在一个“奇幻虚构的日本”，可是普契尼的故事是发生在有历史根据的明治维新时代。当年， 美国海军准将佩里（Commodore Perry）造访日本后， 让一个本来封建封闭的社会蜕变为工业发展的国家。歌剧中的角色冲突，无论是日本人与外来者，或是本国的传统主义者与革新者，都反映了当时一些真实的情况。无独有偶，宫本在国际剧坛声名大噪，也是由于他执导了斯蒂芬· 桑德海姆（Stephen Sondheim） 音乐剧《太平洋序曲》（Pacific Overtures）的日本语版本——故事描述的正是佩里的那次历史性征途。

宫本与皮导两人都巧妙地处理了《蝴蝶夫人》的时间线，但宫本移植且重构了已存在的歌劇材料， 而不像皮导那般贴上一些不合时宜的标签。帷幕一开，我们看到一个年迈而病入膏肓的平克尔顿卧在床上。站在他周围的有夫人凯特（Kate）、铃木与已长大了的儿子。平克尔顿拿出几页纸给儿子，大概是描述关于蝴蝶夫人往事的文字吧；音乐起拍， 儿子就闪回到歌剧的一开头，在舞台侧面观看每一个场景的来龙去脉。

从视觉上，宫本的叙事十分接地气。不单是蝴蝶夫人，故事中的日本角色全都由亚裔演员担纲。服装设计来自大名鼎鼎的设计师、三年前去世的高田贤三（Kenzo Takada，KENZO 品牌创始人），他把传统的和服元素现代化。有几个场景有意识地从标志性的日本艺术作品中摄取了灵感。

但是除了视觉上的有效性，制作十分尊重戏剧性互动。媒人五郎（Goro）或蝴蝶家人的演出都很严肃， 没有刻意逗人发笑。皮导的制作里只有孙知惠这位蝴蝶夫人拥有全面的人性；宫本所处理的人物无论大小都富有细腻感情，他们不只代表不同视角的简笔人物画（stick figures）。每一个人都生活在呼吸戏剧性的时刻，而不是无止境地浮沉于普契尼的音乐之中。

宫本所缔造的叙事层次——让蝴蝶夫人与平克尔顿的儿子见证整个故事——并不算创新。多年活跃于旧金山的乐评人约书亚· 科斯曼（Joshua Kosman）的文章提到，早在1997 年，导演罗恩·丹尼尔斯（Ron Daniels）就曾用上这类叙事框架。但宫本却更加重口味：让儿子从头到尾都在窥看故事的发展。有时候效果明显，尤其当观众察觉到台上有一双眼睛反映着（并确认）剧中强烈感情。有时候这位额外演员分散了歌剧情节本身的专注力，有时候却显得有点超现实：比如当儿子以成年的视角从远处看到自己3 岁的模样。你几乎可以预料两人可以走在一起，即兴来个二重唱。

普契尼没有谱写儿子二重唱，但旧金山在处理音乐时所下的功夫做得很精致。在雅典，指挥瓦斯利斯· 克里斯托普洛斯（Vassilis Christopoulos）像交警一般与乐手交流（希腊国家歌剧院乐团在舞台上，他们坐在演员后面奏乐）。韩国出生的旧金山歌剧院音乐总监金恩善把普契尼的旋律线时而拉紧时而放松，营造的感情充满自信。在希腊国家歌剧院的制作中，蝴蝶夫人是唯一跑完全程的角色；而旧金山歌剧院的演员们一气呵成，好似一大群人走在一起，不费吹灰之力冲到了终点。

Athens isnt the first city that usually comes to mind when people think of Madama Butterfly ， but Butter?fly seems to be at the top of the repertory list for the Greek National Opera. It was Butterfly that opened the companys first season in the autumn of 1940 （after an inaugural performance of Johann Strausss oper?etta Die Fledermaus earlier that year） and a new But?terfly production that opened this summers Athens- Epidaurus Festival at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in June—despite the company having recently presented a totally different production in 2020.

GNO artistic director Giorgos Koumendakis had an?swers for all that， conveniently distributed to audiences in the program book. First of all， the 5000-seat Odeon attracts a highly populist crowd， which needs a different approach from the GNOs usual audience at the 1400- seat Stavros Niarchos Hall. Also， the companys 2020 Butterfly by Hugo de Ana was cancelled during its run due to pandemic venue closings， so the citys diehard opera lovers never got their full Butterfly quotient.

But a couple of unanswered questions still hovered in the Odeons open air： How did the GNO decide to engage director Olivier Py？ And how the hell did any?one ever entrust him with Puccinis score？

Py is hardly an operatic neophyte. The former head of the Avignon Festival and current head of Pariss Thé?atre du Ch?telet， he had also previously directed Bergs Wozzeck for the GNO in 2020. But Wozzeck isnt exactly an audience favorite. Butterfly ， on the other hand， has a uniquely beloved and beleaguered place in the rep?ertory. Py admitted that this was the first time he had directed an opera by Puccini， and it showed. His But?terfly had something to offend everyone.

Right up front， Py stated that his production would be free of romantic clichés. “Madama Butterfly is generally considered a melodrama lacking in political depth， set in fantastical Japan，” he wrote in the pro?gram book.

I dont know where Py has been for the last few de?cades， but Ive been at the opera watching Madama Butterfly become one of the most politicized works in the repertory. From its roots in John Luther Longs moralizing magazine fiction to David Henry Hwangs 1988 play M. Butterfly deconstructing Puccinis opera as anti-Asian imperialist dogma， public reaction in America has veered between those who demand that the opera be done with authentic Asian representation and those who complain that its still being done at all.

Pys production showed little familiarity with the past 35 years of public discourse， even less knowledge of the storys original context—particularly its prece?dents in 19th century French literature—and practically no evidence of ever having opened Puccinis score. Visually， the production was quite strikingly tailored to the Odeons circular， roofless setting， with both sets and costumes filled with circular-globular motives that echoed both the stage area and the sky above. But Pys narrative approach was merely a string of disjointed anti-American tropes that neither followed or respond?ed to the linear descriptive power of Puccinis score nor converged into a coherent narrative of its own.

Pinkerton， the American naval officer， enters the stage disheveled and half-soused. Py takes his cue from the libretto， where Pinkerton and Sharpless （the American consul） toast with whiskey， and Pinkerton never moves without his bottle of Jack Daniels in easy reach. The backdrop throughout Act I， consisting of illuminated corporate logos from Ford and Facebook to McDonalds and Starbucks， managed to irritate even the Greeks， who instigated an angry social media campaign denigrating Pys production for desecrating antiquities （the Odeon is on the slope of the Acropolis， Athens most historic site）. The logos looked like festi?val sponsors until someone pointed out that they were supposed to represent an urban skyline and Americas commercialization of Asia. The rest of the opera pro?ceeded under an enormous black-and-white photo?graph of the atomic explosion at Nagasaki.

Despite citing his reverence for Japanese culture， Py didnt actually use much of it. Though he made a fuss about casting an Asian Butterfly—not a Japanese sing?er， but rather the superb Korean soprano Anna Sohn— none of the other characters were cast according to ethnicity. As Suzuki， the black-clad Russian singer Alisa Kolosova looked more like a Greek widow in mourning than a Japanese maid.

Even his few token gestures came through as su?perficial and undigested. Petros Magoulas played The Bonze （Butterflys uncle） dressed in a Kabuki costume with no musical or dramatic justification. A core of bald， white-painted dancers pranced through much of the show in a seeming reference to butoh， despite movements that fit neither Puccinis music nor the actual late 20th-century Japanese dance form. If the point was to draw connections between the American militarys bombing of Japan and an American sailors destruction of Butterfly， referencing post-War dance while Butterfly was still fluttering showed a fairly loose grasp of history.

***

Madama Butterfly—to no surprise， really—is equally popular in San Francisco， tying with Tosca as San Fran?cisco Operas second most-produced work （La bohème is still firmly number one）. The citys first local Butter?fly was in 1924， when Puccini was still alive. And being home to one of Americas largest Asian and Asian- American populations， San Francisco remains a key battleground between “outdated imperial” thinking and “authentic” representation. So its also little won?der that， in celebrating its centenary season， the SFO looked directly to Japan， co-producing a new Butterfly by director Amon Miyamoto with the Tokyo Nikikai Op?era Theatre.

The only surprise， in fact， was in the timing， with Miyamotos production opening in San Francisco two days after Pys production premiered in Athens. I managed to catch a live stream from San Francisco later that week and a bigger contrast between the two could hardly be imagined.

This is hardly the first time an American opera com?pany has looked to Japan. Madame Butterfly has been a means of cultural exchange at least since the early 1950s， when New York City Opera （founded in 1943） partnered with the Fujiwara Opera， Japans oldest opera company （founded in 1934）. In that production， Japanese singers played the Japanese characters and Americans played Americans， the visual approach replacing Orientalist stereotypes with some Japanese authenticity. The partnership had a certain authentic?ity as well， since NYCO general director Joseph Rosen?stock had led the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra be?fore the Second World War， and Yoshie Fujiwara （before founding his company） had trained and worked as an opera singer in Italy.

Unlike that early trans-Pacific collaboration—and certainly in contrast to the display in Athens—Miya?motos production came with a clear vision and his?torical context. Contrary to Pys notions that Madama Butterfly exists in “a fantastical Japan，” Puccini set his opera in the very real Meiji era， the period after US Commodore Perrys historic expedition marking Ja?pans rocky transition from feudal isolation to modern industrialization. Tensions in the opera， both between Japanese and outsiders and between traditional and modern factions within the country， reflected real-life concerns. Appropriately enough， Miyamoto had first come to international attention after directing a Japa?nese-language version of Stephen Sondheims Pacific Overtures —a musical recounting the Perry expedition.

Like Py， Miyamoto plays with Madama Butterfly s timeline， but he shuffles and reframes existing material in the opera rather than simply grafting on anachronistic ideas. The curtain opens on a very sick Pinkerton surrounded by his wife Kate， Suzuki and his son （now an adult）. Pinkerton hands his son several pages， presumably a diary detailing accounts of his Japanese mother; as the music begins， their son experiences the story in flash?back， watching each scene from the sidelines.

Visually， Miyamoto kept the story grounded. Not just Butterfly but indeed all of the operas Japanese characters were played by perform?ers of Asian descent. Costumes （by the late Kenzo Takada， founder of the eponymous fashion brand KENZO） were modernized from traditional kimono styles. Several scenes consciously adapted imagery from iconic Japanese artworks.

But beyond its visual validity， the production em?bodied greater gravitas in its dramatic interactions as well. Neither Goro the marriage broker nor Butterflys family members were played for laughs. Compared to Pys production， where Anna Sohns Butterfly was the only character with a full range of humanity， Miyamoto dealt with a parade of finely shaded personalities， not stick figures representing different points of view. Each lived and breathed in the dramatic moment， rather than wafting in perpetuity within Puccinis score.

Miyamotos narrative layering， with Butterfly and Pinkertons son witness to the proceedings， is not entirely new. As longtime San Francisco critic Joshua Kosman pointed out， director Ron Daniels used a simi?lar framing for an SFO production in 1997. But unlike Daniels， Miyamoto keeps that voyeuristic presence throughout. Sometimes it works， particularly when audience members can see their own emotional reac?tion to the story being reflected （and authenticated） by a third party on stage. Sometimes it doesnt， when that added presence ends up diluting the scenes dra?matic focus. Sometimes it becomes uncharacteristi?cally surreal， as when the adult observes his 3-year-old self from a distance. You almost expect the two to burst into a spontaneous duet.

Puccini offered no music for that， but what he did write received ample attention. Unlike Vassilis Chris?topoulos， who needed the skills of a traffic cop to negotiate his musical forces （the Greek National Opera Orchestra was placed behind the stage， rather than in front）， San Francisco Operas Korean-born music direc?tor Eun Sun Kim pushed and pulled Puccinis musical line with expressive assuranceexpressive assurance， without the need for additional staging logistics. Com?pared to the GNO， where only Sohns Butterfly was prepared to go the distance， the SFO cast made it to the finish line without vocally breaking a sweat.