New York Historical Society Museum and Library presents: Agnes Hsu-Tang talking with writer David Henry Hwang and composer Huang Ruo. Their collaborations include: AN AMERICAN SOLDIER and M. BUTTERFLY the opera.
M. Butterfly
Jin Ha Is A Breakout Broadway Star /
Sam Boyd's anthology rom-com series Love Life is one of several original series debuting on HBO Max, and Season 1 centers on the many loves of Anna Kendrick's Darby. Darby's first major (and thus, doomed) relationship is with Augie Jeong, a witty reporter she meets at karaoke. Love Life's Augie is played by Jin Ha, a Broadway performer who you may also recognize as Jamie from FX's mind-bending Devs. Here's everything you need to know about the Love Life star.
According to Jin Ha's website, Ha is a Korean-American actor and a graduate of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts MFA Acting program. Per NBC News, Ha originally intended on pursuing a career in finance, but he pivoted after acknowledging that acting was his true passion. After graduation, Ha hit the theater circuit, notably playing Aaron Burr in the Chicago company of Hamilton in 2017. He was also the understudy for King George.
He then performed as Song Liling in the 2017 Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly. (B.D. Wong, who originally played the role, won a Tony for his performance in 1988.) Unlike the problematic Madam Butterfly, which ends with the Japanese protagonist committing suicide because her white lover abandons her, M. Butterfly is based on a true story of a French diplomat who falls in love with a man masquerading as a female Chinese opera singer.
Mint Book Club: May Selection M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang /
May is Asian Pacific American History Month — an umbrella that encompasses way too many people, cultures and amazing books for a one-to-three-books-a-month book club to adequately cover.
This month, I chose three books that deal with the relationship between the East and the West. These books deal with cultures clashing, adjusting and changing. They offer insight into how many of us perceive Asian cultures and the problems with those perceptions.
As always, you’re required to read every book. I’ll know if you haven’t.
M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang
This one is a play, but honestly, I know you read Shakespeare in high school. Set up a Zoom call and act this one out if you have to, but we should all read more plays anyway.
French officer Rene Gallimard is stationed in China and falls in love with an opera singer. Fast forward twenty years and he’s in prison for treason. Throughout the course of this play Gallimard tells what led to this, how he should’ve seen it coming and why he didn’t.
It’s hard to talk about “M. Butterfly” without giving away spoilers. This play has a lot to say about the relationship between the West and Asia but again, it’s very hard to be specific without giving away the plot. I’ll just say that the relationship between Gallimard and Song Liling (the singer) has much more to it than you’d expect. Trust me.
The Santa Fe Opera Cancels 2020 Season /
The Santa Fe Opera's 64th Season was scheduled to present 39 performances of five operas, including the world premiere of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly; two company premieres, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Dvořák's Rusalka; Steven Barlow's inventive new production of Rossini's The Barber of Seville; the revival of Tim Albery's much-loved production of Mozart's The Magic Flute; and two Apprentice Scenes performances. The 2020 Season reflected the time-tested programming model pioneered by Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby: a balanced and varied repertory of new, rarely performed and standard works portrayed in a new light. All other activities and services, including theater tours, preview dinners, shuttles, tailgate picnics, prelude talks, opening night dinners, opera storytellers summer camp, adult learning seminars and the Tristan und Isolde symposium, have been canceled.
Julie Taymor on the stage magic of The Lion King, the real shock of M. Butterfly & more /
Julie Taymor on Show People with Paul Wontorek
It’s no secret that Tony-winning director Julie Taymor is a visionary icon. The talented creator is having a major moment: The Lion King, Broadway’s box office bursting king of the jungle that earned her two Tony Awards in 1998, celebrated its 20th anniversary on the Great White Way on November 13. She is at the helm of a resplendent revival of David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly, currently playing at the Cort Theatre. Taymor shows no signs of stopping her creative streak. Hear all about her days as a traveler full of wanderlust before hitting it big in show business, why she’s beyond ready to bring Across the Universe to Broadway and more on this week’s Show People with Paul Wontorek.
Read more at Broadway.com
Clive Owen on Broadway starring in revival of 'M. Butterfly' /
Actor Clive Owen is usually recognized for his roles in TV and movies, but now, he is starring on Broadway in the show "M Butterfly."
See the video of his interview on abc7ny.com
11 Asian-American Shows to Watch For in the 2017-18 Season /
David Henry Hwang will be collaborating with Jeanine Tesori on Soft Power, to receive its world premiere in Los Angeles next year.
(© Joseph Marzullo / Tristan Fuge)
"With Asian-American theater off to a fairly strong start in 2017, we put together a list of the productions (from New York to Los Angeles and places in between) to look for throughout the rest of the 2017-18 season."
Read the full story at Theatermania.com
This 30-Year-Old Play About Gender And Asian Identity Is More Relevant Than Ever /
Jin Ha as Song Liling. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
When M. Butterfly premiered on Broadway in 1988, audiences were stunned to discover that the central character, Song Liling, was actually a man. Nearly 30 years later, as the revival runs at the Cort Theatre, the cat is out of the bag.
The story of M. Butterfly, which won three Tony Awards including Best Play, is now more well known than the real-life story it was based on — the affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Peking opera singer Shi Pei Pu. The culture has also progressed, and with it our language and sensitivity surrounding gender identity: The reveal of a character’s gender as a surprise twist, once a feature of M. Butterfly, now seems like a dangerously regressive relic.
That’s something playwright David Henry Hwang was well-aware of when he set about revising his play for a new production directed by Julie Taymor. In revisiting his seminal work, Hwang undertook a heavy rewrite, one in which Song’s gender is addressed early on — and the themes of toxic masculinity and Asian gender stereotypes are as clear as ever.
Read the full story at Buzzfeed.
Photo Flash: David Henry Hwang and Julie Taymor In Conversation At Asia Society /
On November 3rd, Asia Society presented an illuminating conversation with Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang and director Julie Taymor, moderated by Asia Society Director of Global Performing Arts Rachel Cooper.
Check out photos from the event at Broadwayworld.com
Metamorphosis From Madama Butterfly to M. Butterfly and Miss Saigon /
Clive Owen and Jin Ha star in Julie Taymor's 2017 Broadway revival of M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang.
(© Matthew Murphy)
A rare species of theatrical achievement can be discovered in New York City this month by the most intrepid of audience members. On Friday, November 17, spectators at the Metropolitan Opera will see one of the most popular operas ever written: Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. A day later, on November 18, the same viewers can watch two Broadway shows, back-to-back, that are inspired by this foundational work: David Henry Hwang's Tony-winning drama M. Butterfly and Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's musical Miss Saigon.
Read the full story at Theatremania.com
David Henry Hwang: How the Trump Presidency Gave 'M. Butterfly' Fresh Relevance /
photo by Lia Chang
Nearly 30 years after its debut, M. Butterfly is back: A new revival, featuring an updated script by Hwang and direction from Julie Taymor, debuted on Broadway on Thursday. Though much of the story remains the same, the America of 2017 — one in which Donald Trump is president and conversations about race and ethnic identity dominate the national discourse — has changed. So, too, has the world, one in which China's ascendance to superpower status was scarcely assured in 1988.
Asia Blog recently caught up with Hwang to talk gender, ethnic identity, and explore why the election of President Trump has given M. Butterfly fresh relevance.
Read the interview at asiasociety.org.
Interview with M. Butterfly star Clive Owen /
Photo by Tom Millward
The New York Theatre Guide recently caught up with Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Clive Owen. The British actor is currently starring as Rene Gallimard in the first-ever Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award-winning play M. Butterfly, directed with a stylized, Brechtian touch by Tony Award winner Julie Taymor. Mr. Owen made his Broadway debut in September 2015 as Deeley in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times at the American Airlines Theatre. We were curious to find out what keeps bringing him back to the stage and how he developed the intimate connection with his co-star Jin Ha...
Read the interview at NewYorkTheatreGuide.com
M. Butterfly is Back and Better Than Before /
Frank H. Wu, Contributor
Author, Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White
"Playwright David Henry Hwang is not aware of this, but as a journalist I have long looked up to him as an older brother type figure. That would be appropriate in the Chinese culture from which we both are descended, and even in the American culture to which each of us has assimilated. He is not only a bona fide writer; he is a commercially successful one. Hwang’s big hit, M. Butterfly, has been revived on Broadway with a touched-up script, directed by Julie Taymor of Lion King fame and Spiderman infamy, starring Clive Owen, the cerebral action hero in movies such as Children of Men and the BMW short ads. I saw it immediately, and I was impressed. What follows is an appreciation, not a proper review. Hwang and I have had maybe a half-dozen conversations since as a student a decade younger I invited him to speak on campus, and he told me as I drove him from the airport that his parents had wanted him to become a lawyer. We are friendly enough I would not presume to evaluate his work. His achievement deserves admiration though: he has expressed what many of us have thought halfway but not been able to put into words clearly. There is nobody else doing what he does."
Read the full article at Huffingtonpost.com
How Broadway's Groundbreaking Play 'M. Butterfly' Has Transformed for a New Generation /
Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic - From left, playwright David Henry Hwang, Jin Ha, director Julie Tamor and Clive Owen
M. Butterfly has transformed for a new generation.
The first major New York revival of the Tony-winning play stars Clive Owen as a married French diplomat who has a 20-year relationship with a beautiful opera performer who spies on him for the Chinese government. Directed by Julie Taymor, the staging has an updated script by original playwright David Henry Hwang.
“It’s an amazing play, but it was written 30 years ago and things have changed,” Clive Owen told The Hollywood Reporter after Thursday’s opening night performance at the Cort Theatre. “It’s still a story about two people who created a world for themselves that worked for them, and when it became public, everything came crashing down and they were vilified. The heart of the play is still there — it had a huge impact and hopefully it still will.”
Read more at Hollywoodreporter.com
Jin Ha Earns His Wings in New M. Butterfly Broadway Revival /
Photography: Daniel Seung Lee
There are Broadway debuts, and then there are Broadway debuts that merit their own reaction GIF. Enter Jin Ha. Two years ago, he was studying acting at NYU, and now he’s been chosen by Julie Taymor to star in her revival of M. Butterfly, one of the most anticipated shows of the year.
“Trust me, it’s unbelievable,” says Ha, sitting at a French bistro in Manhattan’s theater district. “If I were to hear this third-person, I’d be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ "
Read more at Out.com
David Henry Hwang updates Tony Award-winning ‘M. Butterfly’ /
Clive Owen, left, and Jin Ha in "M. Butterfly." Photo Credit: Josef Astor
"Nearly 30 years later, after turning down various offers to revive it, Hwang has updated the script, and a new production — directed by Julie Taymor (“The Lion King”) and starring Clive Owen as the diplomat, Gallimard — will open at the Cort Theatre on Thursday, Oct. 26."
Read more at Newsday.com
New Flight for 'Butterfly' /
Clive Owen as a French diplomat in the Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly.” Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
Read Laura Collins-Hughes interview with David Henry Hwang about the revival of his Broadway hit M. Butterfly, directed by Julie Taymor, starring Clive Owen.
From the New York Times
Behind the Scenes of the Long-Awaited Revival M. Butterfly /
M. Butterfly co-stars Clive Owen and Jin Ha, photographed in London.Photograph by Julian Broad.
"The succès de scandale of the 1988–89 Broadway season, David Henry Hwang’s M. Butterfly tells of a French diplomat whose politically ill-advised affair with an androgynous performer in the Chinese opera takes him places he never imagined, including prison. Deftly exploring Western stereotyping of Asians, M. Butterfly won the 1988 Tony Award for best play and ran for an astonishing 777 performances."
Read more at Vanityfair.com
Julie Taymor Once Again Pushes the Boundaries of Theatre With M. Butterfly /
The Tony-winning director transforms David Henry Hwang’s play physically and emotionally for its first Broadway revival.
Read the full story at Playbill.com.
Talk With Playwright David Henry Hwang /
David Henry Hwang will talk about the story and themes behind his award-winning play M. Butterfly, and the artistic approach of its new Broadway production to open this fall. He will be interviewed at the China Institute by NY1’s theater reporter Frank DiLella, the host of the weekly program “On State.
Find out more at TribecaTrib.com