Madame Butterfly Tickets

Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly) is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera was based on a short story by John Luther Long which was made into a play by David Belasco.

The first version of the opera premiered February 17, 1904 at La Scala in Milan. It was comprised of two acts and was very poorly received. In four months, Madama Butterfly was re-released in Brescia. This revision split the disproportionately long second act in half and included some other minor changes. This time, Puccini's masterpiece was a huge success, moving to the Metropolitan Opera in 1907. Today, the opera is appreciated in two acts in Italy, while in America the three-act version is more popular. In fact, according to Opera America, Madama Butterfly is the most performed opera in North America.