On June 8, the Los Angeles Opera concluded their mainstage 2023-24 year with a thrilling production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot.” David Hockney’s fantastic, imaginative stage design was combined with an exciting cast for a pyrotechnic rendition of the beloved opera.

Now, at the start of the 2024-25 season, L.A. Opera returns to Puccini, this time with the devastating 1904 work “Madame Butterfly.” In the vision of director Mario Gas, this production takes a subtler, more layered approach — but one that proves to be equally as moving.

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“Madame Butterfly” follows the tragic fate of its titular character, Cio-Cio-San, a young geisha from Nagasaki. Cio-Cio-San, or Butterfly, falls desperately in love with the United States naval officer Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton after entering into an arranged marriage. The affection is severely unrequited: Pinkerton takes the marriage unseriously, with plans to one day enter a “real” relationship with an American wife. Pinkerton returns to the United States, abandoning Butterfly with her newborn son. When the officer arrives three years later with a new wife, Butterfly is crushed — and dies by suicide in the closing moments of the opera.

The calamity of Cio-Cio-San’s doomed devotion to Pinkerton is one of the most moving stories in the entire operatic repertoire. As Puccini himself noted, he succeeded most when putting “great sorrows in little souls,” a symptom of his participation in the larger verismo movement of Italian opera that emphasized realistic representations of society.

For all the emotional power of “Madame Butterfly,” parts of this work hold profound prejudice: like many other composers in the period, Puccini presents Japanese society in an unnuanced and degrading light, exploiting a spirit of orientalism prevalent in contemporary European attitudes toward Asian cultures. And though Puccini does villainize the main American character, Pinkerton, he otherwise does little to criticize the U.S.’ imperial activity in Japanese affairs since the Perry Expedition in 1853.

In this respect, Gas’ direction benefits the opera tremendously. In his “Madame Butterfly,” the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion becomes a 1930s soundstage, complete with boom microphones, large dollies with old-school film cameras and a large host of cigarette-toting production assistants. In this stroke of metafiction, the opera becomes an early Hollywood melodrama — distancing itself from its colonial legacies while also calling attention to the entertainment industry’s history of exploiting and appropriating foreign cultures.

This adaptation provides ample room for the cast members to deliver a fresh rendition of this time-tested classic … little is left to be desired. From top to bottom, they provide high-powered performances that befit Puccini’s gushingly romantic score.

Karah Son is wonderful as Cio-Cio-San, with a spectacularly bright tone and sweetness that ideally complements her character’s personality. Her vocal warmth sustains throughout the evening, genuinely transfixing the audience in the famous aria “Un bel dì, vedremo.” After over 300 performances as Butterfly, Son’s singing is still suffused with passionate intensity.

Yet for all Son’s charm, Jonathan Tetelman steals the show as B.F. Pinkerton. His vocal power is immense, easily projecting glowing sound over even the densest passages of the score. He matches his singing with a suavity and charm onstage, making his absence throughout the second act all the more difficult to stomach. When he returns in the final act, audience members may feel real sympathy for his remorse and agony — in spite of his blatant treachery earlier in the opera.

The supporting cast members also make significant contributions. Michael Sumuel is very winsome in his role as the American consul, Sharpless, booming through the baritone tessitura with fluidity. Hyona Kim shines as Cio-Cio-San’s maid, Suzuki, and proves to be a quick crowd favorite, delivering a golden mezzo-soprano tone. Kim’s stage presence is outstanding: Suzuki’s care and concern for Butterfly becomes palpable, sharing the pain vicariously throughout the last two acts.

True to its Hollywood theming, the cameras are actually rolling throughout the performance, using real-time onstage footage and projecting it with the supertitles above the action. While this device seemed initially gimmicky, its effectiveness manifested itself with increasing clarity over the course of the evening.

Magnifying the facial expressions of the singers intensified the drama in several crucial moments. Son’s wide-eyed performance as Butterfly registered with enhanced clarity, reminiscent of the self-delusions of classic Hollywood characters like Norma Desmond. And in the camera’s side profile of Pinkerton in the anguished third act trio, his wounded expression gives a feeling of world-ending agony.

All this transpires over the orchestra with James Conlon leading zealously at the helm — a conductor as at home with Puccini as anyone.

“Madame Butterfly” is a must-see in the hands of this stellar cast.

Remaining performances for “Madame Butterfly” are Sept. 26 and 29, and Oct. 5, 9 and 13. Student Rush Tickets are available for $25 on the day of performances.