Puccini's Problematic Madame Butterfly

You want to be politically aware, but with Madame Butterfly you have to shut your eyes and forget the words.by Rebecca BrownGreat art keeps saying new stuff forever. It says what it meant when it was made and it says what it means when you see it now. I'm thinking about this because of how Madame Butterfly, which I saw twice over the weekend at Seattle Opera, still says even more.The opera tells the story of an American man who buys a young Japanese girl for sex, etc., and the terrible things th