[Met Performance] CID:128360
Madama Butterfly {249} Metropolitan Opera House: 03/11/1940.
(Review)
Metropolitan Opera House
March 11, 1940
MADAMA BUTTERFLY {249}
Cio-Cio-San.............Licia Albanese
Pinkerton...............Charles Kullman
Suzuki..................Lucielle Browning
Sharpless...............John Brownlee
Goro....................Alessio De Paolis
Bonze...................Norman Cordon
Yamadori................George Cehanovsky
Kate Pinkerton..........Maxine Stellman
Commissioner............Wilfred Engelman
Conductor...............Gennaro Papi
Review of Francis D. Perkins in the Herald Tribune
Puccini Opera Begins Final Week of Season
"Madama Butterfly" Is Given at Metropolitan
The last week of the regular season at the Metropolitan Opera House began last night with the fourth and final performance of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly." Licia Albanese repeated her effective impersonation of the title role with Charles Kullman as Pinkerton and John Brownlee as Sharpless, a part which he had first sung here last month. Vocally it was well phrased, while varying in tonal roundness. Dramatically, in the second act it deserved praise for its expressive conviction. The Consul's sympathy for the plight of hapless Cio-Cio-San was communicatively realized. Lucielle Browning, a commendable Suzuki; Maxine Stellman and Messrs. De Paolis, Cehanovsky, Cordon and Engelman sang the other roles under Gennaro Papi's direction. <