Updating a pair of ‘Butterflies’

Downtown Los Angeles will offer audiences the chance to observe two species of “Butterfly” this year.

In February and March, Los Angeles Opera will present theater artist Robert Wilson’s production of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. And in June and July, the East West Players will present David Henry Hwang’s play “M. Butterfly.”

Wilson’s austere staging, with a set design featuring such natural materials as wood and stone, seems likely to lend a contemporary feel to Puccini’s opera. And East West’s “M. Butterfly” at the David Henry Hwang Theater in Little Tokyo promises a few updates as well.

When the play, based on a true story, premiered on Broadway in 1988, its surprise ending -- demure Chinese opera singer Song Liling is not only a spy but actually a man in women’s clothing -- truly was a surprise. But 16 years later, says East West producing artistic director Tim Dang, audiences may already know the story.

So in the new production, to be directed by Chay Yew, the French diplomat protagonist still won’t know that the lovely Song Liling is a man until the end -- but theatergoers will be clued in from the get-go. “We thought we would not hide that fact,” Dang says.

“We are not asking David [Hwang] to do any kind of rewrite. What we do want is to present a show that’s different in its concept,” he says. “With very minor cuts and additions, we will keep the words the same.

“The original show was very beautiful, delicate and mesmerizing. We wanted to do a very gritty, un-beautiful presentation of the show which shows the French diplomat as somebody who is totally blinded

And, Dang adds, Song Liling was actually eight years older than the diplomat, so in the East West production, “there might be a lot more showing of age, as opposed to seeing this beautiful butterfly.”

-- Diane Haithman