One of the most beloved operas ever written, Madama Butterfly is the story of Cio-Cio-San, a young Japanese geisha who gives up everything to marry the American lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton. Yet when Pinkerton must leave Cio-Cio-San to return to America, the young lovers’ conflicting conceptions of fidelity and commitment become all too clear, and Cio-Cio-San finds herself facing an impossible choice. In the Met’s production, acclaimed film director Anthony Minghella draws on both Western and Japanese theatrical traditions to bring Cio-Cio-San’s story to life, while Puccini’s expansive music gives Cio-Cio-San’s vulnerability and courage a voice.

Watch Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the Met’s production, and use the accompanying Educator Guide to explore artistic representations of Japan around the turn of the twentieth century.