Virtual Reality and ‘Madama Butterfly’: Matthew Ozawa on Challenging the Opera’s Orientalism

By Mingsi Ma

Pittsburgh Opera’s new production of the renowned Madama Butterfly that opens March 22, 2025, introduces a surprisingly modern twist — American Navy officer Pinkerton puts on a VR headset, and his affair with geisha Cio-Cio-San unfolds as a fantasy within a virtual reality game.

The 1904 opera by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, has long elicited mixed feelings and criticisms of its portrayal of race and gender. The controversy stems from Madame Butterfly’s portrayal of the exotic Far East and imperial arrogance, while also fetishizing Asian women, ultimately leading to Orientalist themes.

Asian-American playwright David Henry Hwang addressed the subject in his own play, M. Butterfly: “What would you say if a blond homecoming queen fell in love with a short Japanese businessman?”

Still, Puccini’s stunningly beautiful composition has made it one of the most performed operas in musical history.

Can this VR guide us with a more conscientious perspective? How can we make Madama Butterfly keep up with our time?

Pinkerton (Eric Taylor) wears the virtual reality headset he uses to escape from his real life in the new production of Madame Butterfly at Pittsburgh Opera. (David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera)

With these questions, I interviewed Matthew Ozawa, who conceived and directed this Pittsburgh Opera co-production, with Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera and Utah Opera.

He shared how this new production, created by an all-Japanese and Japanese-American creative team, consciously and creatively exaggerates problematic cultural representations in order to deconstruct them.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

MA: This production creatively incorporates VR as the main backdrop of the story. Why VR? And can you tell us about the context that leads to this idea?

OZAWA: I’ve been in the opera industry for over 20 years. For a long time, I was one of the only Asians in most of the rehearsal spaces and companies I worked with—and for a significant period, one of the only Asian opera directors in the country. Currently, I am the only Japanese American opera director in the U.S. I had to chart my own career in opera without a role model or representation of my community on stage.

However, some pieces, including Madama Butterfly and The Pearl Fishers, have become increasingly problematic in our modern age due to their history. The portrayal of characters by those outside of the ethnicity they represent sometimes reflects an outsider’s perspective of that culture.

I have directed several traditional productions of Butterfly, and for a long time, my goal was to determine whether the problematic elements stemmed from the opera itself or from the ways it has been presented.

When Cincinnati Opera invited me to direct a traditional Butterfly, I declined. At that point, I was no longer interested in directing works that misrepresented Asian cultures. They then asked me, ‘If you were to do your own version of Butterfly, what would you do?’

I said I would love to create a production that reflects my own lens as a fourth-generation Japanese American. Many Japanese aesthetic and movement traditions have influenced my work as a stage director and artist. My artistic identity is a confluence of East and West, and approaching Butterfly through that lens felt meaningful—especially with an all-female Japanese design team.

When I asked the design team if they saw themselves in Butterfly, they said, ‘NO.’ The opera’s depiction of a Japanese woman did not resonate with their lived experiences as Japanese women, particularly as Japanese women in America.

To address this issue and create an entry point for the most diverse audience possible — both those who love operatic tradition and those who have felt alienated by it — we decided to frame Butterfly as a fantasy within a modern-day construct. Our production is set in contemporary America, in Pinkerton’s apartment. This young, lonely American man’s way of envisioning a relationship with an Asian woman is by playing a game, Butterfly. True to the opera’s storyline, Pinkerton can “purchase” Butterfly and her home. He can possess her and, ultimately, dispose of her — just as he does in the original opera.

We began developing this concept during the pandemic, when VR was still relatively new. The expansion of technology allows people to escape reality in increasingly sophisticated ways. We wanted to explore this idea: for Pinkerton, his world with Butterfly is utterly real, even though the audience can see that it is, in fact, a fantasy within gaming and virtual reality.

Madame Butterfly’s Cio-Cio-San (Karah Son) and her relatives. (Image: David Bachman Photography for Pittsburgh Opera)

MA: Given the problematic Orientalism in Madama Butterfly, how does this production challenge that narrative? You mentioned the VR setting to call out the fantasy, but what about other aspects?

OZAWA: From a design perspective, because this version acknowledges the fantasy element, we were able to heighten what has felt problematic in past productions. We catered to the traditional elements audiences love — falling cherry blossoms, kimonos, shoji screens — while exaggerating them to highlight their artificiality.

We amplified the colors of the kimonos and shoji screens, placed Mount Fuji on the screens (even though the opera is set in Nagasaki), and used bright pink lanterns and hyper-stylized imagery. These exaggerated elements mimic how people in the West often perceive Japan, through the lens of sushi restaurant décor or home décor items that aren’t truly Japanese, but rather a Western fantasy of Japan.

Another key element in challenging the narrative was our approach to the opera’s structure. We kept all of Puccini’s music and text but drew from his five different versions of Madama Butterfly, reinserting material from earlier drafts.

Some of the material we brought back highlights Pinkerton’s dismissiveness of Japanese culture, Butterfly calling Pinkerton a barbarian, and a significant scene between Butterfly and Kate Pinkerton that underscores how these two women’s fates are controlled by one man.

These added sections emphasize the power imbalance, the cultural miscommunication, and the imperialist viewpoint of Americans who saw themselves as superior to what they perceived as submissive and servile Japanese people.

Finally, because our setting is a video game, we introduced what we call “the glitch.” Whenever Pinkerton says something particularly offensive or problematic, the game glitches. The avatars freeze, and the lighting turns yellow and red.

The yellow lighting, in particular, is a reference to yellowface—a theatrical tradition where white actors wore yellow makeup to portray Asian characters. In these moments, we put everyone in yellow light, making the audience confront this legacy of misrepresentation.

MA: What are some of the challenges in reimagining such a beloved opera?

OZAWA: There have been many reimaginings of Butterfly, particularly by Asian artists. One of the key differences between my production and most others is that I haven’t changed any of the text or the music. I wanted to ensure this production could translate across different cities and over time, knowing it would be a co-production with many cities, spanning several years.

One of the challenges is that the piece is so beloved by those who cherish the tradition. My biggest fear was that, in reframing it, we would be hated and booed on opening night. I remember feeling the weight of responsibility. As a Japanese American, I felt a duty to all Japanese Americans and Asians to succeed. However, I believe people can sense the immense love and care I’ve put into the work.

MA: Since this production is created by an all-Japanese and Japanese-American creative team, how does the team’s cultural background influence specific artistic choices or aesthetics?

OZAWA: Our cultural background is infused throughout the designs and the staging. When I was talking to Kimie Nishikawa, the scenic designer, even though the colors and elements of the set design feel fantastical, a kind of fantastical version of Japanese design, she always points out that the dimensions of the tatami mat and other elements are actually appropriate, though expanded. All the design elements are inherently Japanese, but creatively, they’ve been turned upside down.

The same is true with the costumes and lighting. Every article of clothing is made from fabric sourced in Japan. So, it’s extremely authentic, even though the designs themselves have taken the form of a kimono, which has been amplified and made more fantastical. Yuki Nakase Link, the lighting designer, talks a lot about the contrasts in lighting design — Eastern lighting being more presentational and flat, while Western lighting has more shape, color and texture. She very purposefully juxtaposes these two worlds.

As a stage director, I also pay attention to the movements of specific characters. For example, Suzuki’s movement throughout the show is extremely authentically Japanese. But for the chorus, which is primarily non-Asian, I wanted to ensure they didn’t appear to be appropriating Japanese modes of movement. So, I infused their staging with Western hand gestures and caricature-like movements to emphasize that they are not Asian. All of this was very purposefully thought through and executed.

MA: What do you hope the audience takes away from this performance?

OZAWA: We hope audiences confront their perspective on how they view other people and the harm that these perspectives can sometimes cause to other communities. I think this production of Madama Butterfly brings to the forefront all the beautiful, gorgeous imagery, while also making people think throughout the production.

TICKETS AND DETAILS

Madama Butterfly is at the Benedum Center, Downtown, from Saturday, March 22, to Sunday, March 30, 2025. For detailed production information, tickets and more, visit Pittsburgh Opera.