Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini Vancouver Opera, 27 April 1991, Queen Elizabeth Theater (Vancouver, B.C.) We attended the opening night performance of Madama Buterfly with John and Miriam Larson, driving up from Seattle just in time for a quick dinner and dash to the theater. Because we couldn't attend any other night, we couldn't get good seats; as a result, we were seated far to the rear of the main level. Add that to an extremely noisey audience (one lady rustling her plastic package, and a man with a bad smoker's cough) and the result was that we didn't hear the performance well at all. Stronger singers would have helped, I expect. None of the principals had a powerful voice. Hiroko Nishida as Butterfly sang with clarity and had a sweet, pure tone. A Japanese singer in the role added realsim and she played the part with understated emotion-perhaps a little too understated-and was the best performer in the cast. Pinkerton was well-acted and competently sung by Franco Farina and Andrzej Dobber was good as Sharples. Sandra Graham sang Suzuki well. I never did feel the emotion that this story ought to generate. The whole production seemed restrained and a little too cool. I left the performance feeling glad to have seen it but not moved. I was struck again by the dilemma of the fan who (like me) mostly hears opera on recordings or broadcasts from the Met. Having learned Butterfly from the Renata Scotto/ Placido Domingo recording, this live performance seemed anemic. This is often the case. I don't know what can be done about it. I hear live performances so rarely-five or six times a year-that my opera landscape will probably always be dominated by classic recorded performances.