Turandot: An opera for New China

Turandot. Zhang Yimou. At the Bird’s Nest?

That’s what I thought when my friend told me over the phone and, curious, I asked her if we could get tickets. We did. We went. And as much as it was beautifully produced, it was also slightly odd.

Here’s why.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Turandot on stage, but I do know that the first opera I saw was Madame Butterfly at the open-air theatre in Holland Park in London. It was magical, with the great canvas roof swooping over the audience and, of course, the incredible music, singing as much as the very elaborate makeup and costumes.

I was probably ten years old at the time.

Madame Butterfly is by Puccini as is Turandot and, after being staged at the Forbidden City more than a decade ago, to returned to the Bird’s Nest this week in real style. Is the sports stadium our new ‘palace’? A contemporary equivalent to what the Forbidden City was to the emperors a century ago? It’s certainly beautiful enough, dramatic enough and stunning enough.

But watching opera in a mass space where someone sitting beside you is eating popcorn and soft drinks is a new experience and one that is far away from my first Madame Butterfly in London and the subsequent operas I have seen since. I don’t think it works and as much as I (and many people) believe that music should be brought to a much wider audience, I think it can also be taken too literally.

But let’s stay with the positive.

The performance was great. The acoustic were crystal clear. The singing, the stage, the costumes, the makeup and the flow between the artists were all very, very good. Zhang Yimou did a super job. As did tenor and soprano Dai Yuqiang and Yao Hong. And as much as I still believe that opera should be enjoyed inside a theatre where everyone respects the occasion by dressing their best, I also appreciate that opera should be for everyone.

That’s what I saw last night.

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