First came Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, debuting at the La Scala in Milan in 1904.
Set at the beginning of the ever-so-hopeful 20th century it is the operatic story of Cio-Cio-San, a 15 year old geisha known as Madame Butterfly. She is “purchased” along with a lease house overlooking Nagasaki harbor by an American Naval officer, Lieutenant B. J. Pinkerton. He ‘marries’ her, fathers her child, abandons her to return to America and take a proper (white) wife. When he returns years later with the new Mrs. to take his son back to America Cio-Cio-San chooses death over dishonor and commits seppuku.
Madame Butterfly, like many early operas, has run afoul of today’s gender and racial politics; it is accused of committing the dreaded sin of cultural appropriation along with propagating racist stereotypes. Many would have it cancelled straight away as a hateful relic of the past. Now I’m not saying that’s the way the Japanese interpreted the play 117 years ago, nor am I saying there’s any direct connection at all but I will point out that Japan did attack our Naval fleet 37 years later.
Seventy years later and the elite artists and musicians still didn’t get it. On the heels of our most humiliating military defeat until this weekend, Boublil and Schönberg released their updated version of Madame Butterfly for the Vietnam generation: Miss Saigon.
The music was new, and unremarkable, but the story was as old as any cultural appropriated story could be: another tragic tale of a doomed romance between an Asian prostitute (Kim) and her G.I. lover (Chris). Like Pinkerton before him Chris father’s Kim’s child and abandons her - on the roof of the American embassy no less - to return to America and marry a proper (white) wife.
Scene from NY Met production of Miss Saigon
He too returns with his new little woman to snatch up Kim’s son and yes, she too kills herself.
Now, some 45 years later and 20 years in the making, we have yet a third remake in the series. This one will be called Mx Kabul. (Note: “Mx” is the new, approved gender-neutral title) This new musical will feature the combined talents of woke artists Bruce Springsteen, Lil Nas X, Beyoncé and Jay-Z and will be a hip -hop, rap, pop opera for the ages: completely cultural appropriation free and filled with inclusionary racial, sexual and cultural references.
For a change the abandoned lover will be neither geisha or whore but more likely a bacha bazi – one of the young boys forced to wear makeup and dance for men. Instead of the protagonist, the roles of whore and pimp will be filled by the producers and writers.
Mx Kabul
I dare not even guess who will birth the offspring. So stay tuned, it’s guaranteed to be a Grammy and Tony winner.
In the meantime, enjoy Maria Callas singing Puccini.
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