Opera japonica/Madama Butterfly for Schools

Madama Butterfly for High School Students

at the New National Theatre, Tokyo

Satomi Ikehata as Butterfly,
Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Five special performances of Madama Butterfly for senior high school students (typically aged 16 to 18), ended the 1999-2000 season at the New National Theatre in Tokyo in July. Tickets were only 2,100 yen each (about 20 US dollars) for the students. Members of the public were allowed to buy leftover tickets, but only on the day of the performance, at double the student price. All the performances started at 1 pm, immediately following the Japanese lunchtime.

Simon Holledge and Yasuhiro Miura attended the performance on 17 July, and afterwards interviewed Toshi Yotsumoto, Director of Planning and Production at the New National Theatre, about the project now in its third year.

Madama Butterfly at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, July 2000: Act One, the entry of Butterfly (Satomi Ikehata) and her friends

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Before meeting Mr Yotsumoto, Yasuhiro Miura interviewed some students (all young women) and two of their teachers from a senior high school in Yokohama (about 30 kilometres from Tokyo).

Yasuhiro Miura: Is this your first time to see opera?

First student: No. I've been to Madama Butterfly [the same production] before and Il barbiere [di Siviglia].

Miura: How was today's performance compared with last year's?

Second student: I already knew the story, so this time I could absorb more. I understood the background to the opera better.

Third student: It was my first time.

Miura: What impressed you most?

Third student: The voices reaching out to me from the stage. This was something I hadn't expected from watching videos.

Fourth student: I'm a member of the popular music club. It was my first time too. I was impressed by the beautiful singing . . . singing without microphones in such a big theatre.

Miura: It's rather long. Didn't you get bored?

Fifth student: No. Before the performance I read the synopsis in the program. But I found a lot happened despite the simple story, so I wasn't bored.

Sixth student: I play the piano and the French horn. I hope to go to a college of music . . .

Miura: So you were listening to what was happening in the pit?

Sixth student: Yes . . . I thought that opera was about singing, but it's a total art. I enjoyed listening to the orchestration. It was fun.

First teacher: My colleague encouraged us to come. He always insists that listening to music has a good influence on high school students!

Second teacher: . . . We have a 'Club for listening to classical music'. We normally go to one opera, one piano recital, one orchestral concert and one Beethoven Symphony 9 concert each year. Usually about 10 students go, though sometimes 20 or more ask to come with us. . .

Miura: Do you choose the concerts?

Second teacher: No, I leave it to the students to get the information and make suggestions. We started by going to local concerts in Yokohama, paying only 500 yen [about 5 US dollars] a ticket.

First teacher: We wondered whether the New National Theatre might be too far away. But it was a good opportunity to see a really good performance for a reasonable price. . . . we got the cooperation of the parents. Some of them are coming here to pick the students up. Some of them are attending the performance. . . . This lady is this student's mother. We hope she will write an article about this trip in the high school newspaper.

Miura: Will you come again next summer?

Second teacher: That depends on the students. . . Last year we asked the New National Theatre if they'd bring the opera to Yokohama. We have many opportunities of going to concerts locally but not operas.

Miura: Thank you very much.

Act One: Kazunori Ikemoto (Pinkerton) and Satomi Ikehata (Butterfly)

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Toshi Yotsumoto

As Director of the Planning & Production Division at the New National Theatre, Toshi Yotsumoto manages the planning, budgeting, and contracts for all performances at the New National Theatre, including opera, ballet, contemporary dance, and drama. Originally employed by Ministry of International Trade and Industry, his responsibilities included Japan-US automobile negotiations. In the mid 1990s he did a masters degree in international politics and economics at Colombia University. In 1996 he left the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and joined the New National Theatre, becoming Director of Planning & Production in 1998.

Simon Holledge interviewed him about the project. Yasuhiro Miura interpreted. Ms Hidemi Obata of the Public Relations Department was also present.

Simon Holledge: Are you building an audience for the future?

Toshi YOTSUMOTO: Yes, this is our intention. . . . We gave our regular opera audiences a questionnaire and asked them when they first started to listen to opera. Most of them replied that it was during their teens. So we think this project, focussing on high school students, is important. . . . I myself saw my first operas when I was at high school . . .

Holledge: Do Japanese school children have other opportunities to see the performing arts live? For example straight theatre, ballet, kabuki, no, bunraku etc.

YOTSUMOTO: Yes there are opportunities for almost everybody to see performances, but most go to straight theatre, kabuki etc. Opera is not so popular yet as the others. This is the first opera theatre in this country - so that's one reason. There have been are fewer opportunities for people to see opera than the other performing arts.

Holledge: What you were taken to see when you were at high school?

YOTSUMOTO: Music was not a required subject in school, so I wasn't taken to anything by my school.

Holledge: Miura-san? Obata-san?

Hidemi OBATA: I went to concerts by myself, but not with my school.

Yasuhiro MIURA: Me too.

Holledge: What kind of priority does opera have with regard to the other performing arts? Is it regarded as a 'foreign' art form? Is it still regarded as somehow less legitimate than purely instrumental music?

YOTSUMOTO: Yes, it is regarded as a foreign art form. Many people like classical music in Japan, but fewer like opera.

Act Two: Kyoko Moriyama (Suzuki) and Satomi Ikehata (Butterfly)

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Holledge: How did this particular project start?

YOTSUMOTO: Education was one of the primary reasons for establishing the New National Theatre. In the discussions leading up to its creation, many people said that the theatre should be used for educational purposes. So this project did not start after the physical building of the New National Theatre, but before it.

Holledge: When did the project begin?

YOTSUMOTO: In autumn 1996. . . resulting in two performances in July 1998, four performances in July 1999, and five performances this July. So this is now the third year of the project. Every year Madama Butterfly has been chosen.

Holledge: So this is your first educational project?

YOTSUMOTO: Yes, indeed.

Holledge: Do you have a project like this for ballet?

YOTSUMOTO: No. We haven't considered doing this for ballet. The tickets prices are different. Ballet and straight theatre tickets are much cheaper and it's easier for young people to come to ordinary public performances. Many school groups come, so there is no necessity for a special project like the opera one.

Holledge: Why was Madama Butterfly chosen rather than a Japanese opera, say Yuzuru? Given that the cast are entirely Japanese, why was it decided to perform in Italian rather than Japanese?

YOTSUMOTO: When the project started in July 1998, the theatre had only been opened nine months earlier (October 1997) and we only had six productions available: Aida, Lohengrin, Die Zauberflöte, Nabucco, Takeru (a Japanese opera), and Madama Butterfly.

We chose Butterfly because the story was simple for students to understand. High school students sometimes have difficulty concentrating when the opera begins. In the case of Madama Butterfly, it is easy to understand even if they only start to pay attention during the second act.

Holledge: And it was the cheapest of the six to produce?

YOTSUMOTO: Well yes, it was a special project so money was of course a factor.

Act Two, Butterfly shows her child to Sharpless: Satomi Ikehata (Butterfly) and Ikuo Oshima (Sharpless) with 'Sorrow'

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Holledge: How is it organized? Do the children buy tickets individually or does their school or class buy them?

YOTSUMOTO: Most come in school groups, although it is possible for individuals to buy tickets. This particular time in July was chosen because it is immediately after the major examinations, just before the beginning of the summer vacation. Many schools have a short break now while the teachers are marking exams.

Holledge: How many high school students are lucky enough to see Butterfly? The New National Theatre is serving an area with a huge population. South Kanto has about 30 to 35 million people, doesn't it?

YOTSUMOTO: This project was co-organized by the Education Departments of Metropolitan Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama (South Kanto). We are issuing invitations to all the senior high schools in this region: there are 1,136 of them with a total of 967,000 students, that's for three years of schooling [when they are 16, 17, and 18 years old]. This year we have 9,000 seats available for students to see the opera. Whether or not students have the chance of coming really depends on their teacher's initiative.

Holledge: Are there any other activities planned in conjunction with the performances? Have any students been able to see rehearsals? Do you give high school students backstage tours?

YOTSUMOTO: On request we mail the schools information and we arrange for lecturers to go to schools to give talks. We also invite teachers (though not students) to dress rehearsals. We haven't arranged any special backstage tours for them, although they are welcome to join the public tours that are organized four times a month.

Holledge: Do you have video tapes available?

YOTSUMOTO: A digest version of the opera is available for loan to schools. For copyright reasons etc. we can't lend out video tapes of the whole opera, though these can be seen in our library.

Holledge: How have the children responded? Have they filled in any questionnaires?

YOTSUMOTO: Yes, we distribute questionnaires to the audiences, and report the results. We won't have this year's report until mid September, but we have last year's ones. A lot of students responded and the reaction was very enthusiastic. You can see the report . . .

Holledge: Have you talked to any of the children? Do you have any feeling about their reactions? Is it an emotional experience for them? Do some of them come out in tears?

YOTSUMOTO: I have been to every performance since the project started. Every time at the end of the opera you can hear the audience sobbing.

Holledge: Tickets are very cheap. How much of the cost is born by the New National Theatre, how much by the local governments? And commercial sponsorship?

YOTSUMOTO: I am not sure about this year yet, but last year 24 percent of the cost was covered by ticket sales, 22 percent by the local governments, 31 percent by the New National Theatre and 23 percent, by commercial sponsors.

Holledge: What kind of relationship is there between commercial sponsors and the New National Theatre? How do you go about encouraging them to give money for opera? Are there tax advantages for sponsors in Japan?

YOTSUMOTO: The New National Theatre has many regular sponsors, but we had special ones for this project. . . We know which companies are likely to be responsive, but they don't get anything out of it except public recognition and their names in the programme, We invite them to see the performances. Asking them to help us is a gradual process. There are some tax advantages for sponsors in Japan, but not like in America.

Act Two: From left to right: Kyoko Moriyama (Suzuki), Ikuo Oshima (Sharpless), Aya Yamaguchi (Kate), Satomi Ikehata (Butterfly),

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Holledge: Can we talk about the future? Would it be possible to have regular matinées for schools, perhaps of each of your productions instead of just doing one opera each year? Perhaps one matinée for schools of each production, or is this logistically difficult?

YOTSUMOTO: We'd like to attract organized groups of students to the regular performances but it's difficult because of the high prices.

Holledge: The theatre is underutilized, isn't it?

YOTSUMOTO: Well, compared with last year we have had more performances. In the near future we expect to present a total of 12 operas and six ballets each season.

Holledge: Do you have any plans to 'tour' in future, using those theatre facilities, equivalent to those of the New National Theatre, that exist in cities outside Tokyo.?

YOTSUMOTO: We have done regular opera tours to Nagoya, Toyama and Hamamatsu. Ticket prices there have been about the same as Tokyo. They are decided by the local government based on our estimates. However we have no plans to tour with this project. We have no budget for it.

Holledge: Would you like to expand this project into junior high schools and elementary schools in future?

YOTSUMOTO: No. Our priority is to concentrate on senior high schools. Next year we may do Tosca instead of Butterfly.

Holledge: It's an excellent project. Thank you very much.

Conclusion of Act Two: Butterfly kills herself and is received by the merciful bodhisattva Kannon in the sky above. Satomi Ikehata as Butterfly

Photo Chikashi Saegusa

Report on Questionnaire Responses, July 1999

Number of responses 3,463 (four performances, maximum capacity 7,256 seats)

Question 1: Have you ever seen opera live before?

Answer: 'yes' 17%, 'no' 83%

Question 2: If you answered yes to Question 1, what opera(s) have you seen?

Answer: Yuzuru/Twilight Crane (Ikuma Dan) 50, Madama Butterfly 28, L'elisir d'amore 28, Die Entführung aus dem Serail 26, Aida 25, Carmen 22, Il barbiere di Siviglia 22, Le nozze di Figaro 17, Die Zauberflöte 15, Die Fledermaus 15 (individuals)

Note: Yuzuru/Twilight Crane, L'elisir d'amore and Die Entführung aus dem Serail have all been presented as Nissei Theatre Youth performances. Madama Butterfly was presented for schools in 1998.

Question 3: Did you know about Madama Butterfly before this performance?

Answer: 'Had seen or heard it' 20%, 'only knew the name' 44%, 'didn't know about it' 36%

Question 4: How was the performance?

Answer: 'Good/interesting' 66%, 'indifferent' 31%, 'bad/boring' 3%

Question 5: If you answered 'good/interesting' to Question 4, what was good, what was interesting?

Answer: 'the music' 1718, 'the story' 1281, 'the singers' 1035, 'stage design/costumes' 828, 'others' 129 (individuals)

Question 6: If you answered 'bad/boring' to Question 4, what was bad, what was boring?

Answer: 'it was too long' 52, 'difficult to understand' 46, 'the story' 42, 'the music' 17, 'the singers' 17, 'stage design/costumes' 15, 'others' 56 (individuals)

Question 7: Would you like to see opera again, and under what circumstances?

Answer: 'Yes, buying my own ticket' 20%, 'yes, coming in a group' 69%, 'no' 8%, 'other' 3%

Question 8: If you answered Question 7, 'Yes, buying my own ticket', how much can you afford?

Answer: 'up to 2,000 yen' (about 20 US dollars) 37%, 'up to 5,000 yen' (about 50 US dollars) 47%, 'up to 10,000 yen' (about 100 US dollars) 10%, 'up to 20,000 yen' (about 200 US dollars) 2%, 'other' 4%