Wild Rice and Victorian Opera give The Butterfly Lovers a sexy retelling

SINGAPORE – Wild Rice’s founding artistic director Ivan Heng is a stalwart of the English-language theatre scene, so it may be a surprise when the 59-year-old reveals a lifelong love of Chinese opera.

“It’s a traditional art form that has inspired and grounded me as a theatre-maker and one that I have returned to throughout my career,” says the Cultural Medallion recipient who trained with the Chinese Theatre Circle and Leling Beijing Opera Troupe in the early 1990s.

It is a cultural asset Heng brings to his role as director of The Butterfly Lovers, an original English-language opera based on the classic Chinese folktale of star-crossed lovers Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. The opera runs at the Victoria Theatre from May 3 to 7.

Wild Rice’s first foray into opera is a collaboration with Melbourne-based Victorian Opera, whose artistic director Richard Mills has admired Heng ever since he saw the Singaporean perform in Emily Of Emerald Hill (2002) in Melbourne.

The 73-year-old composer Mills, who calls Heng “one of the great theatre-makers of Asia”, subsequently approached him in 2015 to direct an opera, to which Heng suggested: “Let’s make an opera.”

Heng proposed the tragic, subversive romance between Zhu, who disguises herself as a man to seek an education, and the scholar Liang. Heng notes that traditional tellings of the legend have been coy about Zhu’s play with gender and often sidesteps the complex feelings Liang has for his “sworn brother”.

In this fresh update, Heng adds: “We were also interested in the idea of what if Liang Shanbo was in fact struggling with his being and sexuality, and what if he had in fact fallen for a man? That ups the ante and raises the stakes.”

The Butterfly Lovers, which features an original score by Mills and a libretto by Singaporean playwright Joel Tan, had its world premiere in Melbourne in October 2022.

In March, the opera was nominated for three Green Room Awards – Melbourne’s premier performing arts industry awards – including for new Australian opera and outstanding costume by Singaporean designer Max Tan. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on May 29.

The three leads are played by Australian soprano Cathy-Di Zhang – who also received a Green Room nomination for outstanding lead performance – Chinese countertenor Meili Li and Chinese baritone Haotian Qi.

Zhang and Qi reprise their roles in the Singapore show, but New Zealander Austin Haynes replaces Li, who cannot perform due to a knee injury.

While Heng said he would have liked to cast Singaporeans in the lead roles, he says that “opera is still very young here” and that the roles were “very difficult to cast, very demanding and takes a long time to master”.

He adds: “Richard and I are convinced that we’ve got the very best singers.”

Nonetheless, for the Singapore premiere, the eight-member chorus comprises Singapore-based singers. Singapore-based musicians from Resound Collective and Concordia Quartet will also perform live.

The Singapore production also gave an opportunity for cast members to work with Gordon Choy from the Choy’s Brothers Opera Troupe to finesse their Chinese operatic movements.

This is the prolific composer Mills’ first time writing for the dizi (Chinese flute) and the pipa (lute). He prepared by studying with teachers including Dr Samuel Wong, founder of Singaporean music collective Teng Ensemble.

From his decade as artistic director at Victorian Opera, Mills says about opera’s future: “Yes, of course, it’s important to do things at the highest professional level. But it’s also important to make the art form available for people to enjoy through participation.”

Heng, on the other hand, is heartened by the enthusiastic response from the Singapore-based chorus. “They say, Ivan, thank you for this opportunity that inspires us in opera. Because it’s been very demoralising, the lack of support for the opera.

“This will really wake people up to the possibility of what opera has the capacity to do.”

“We mustn’t think about opera as an elitist art form,” says Heng, who expresses amazement that nine out of 10 tickets have already sold two weeks before the opera opens.

“Maybe this is the way to go. The Butterfly Lovers has a good story and very excitingly brings together artists in a story that is familiar but made new.”

Book It/The Butterfly Lovers

Where: Victoria Theatre, 11 Empress Place
When: May 3 to 6, 7.30pm; May 7, 5pm
Admission: $50 to $120
Info:

https://str.sg/iocS