Five-year-old boynets role in opera

Tyler Jones from Macclesfield will be treading the boards at Buxton Opera House on Monday, February 8.

He has landed the role Madam Butterfly’s son.

Tyler’s CV to date includes attending classes at Stagecoach Youth Theatre, playing dress-up, being very expressive and asking lots of questions, and his key skill ‘won’t stop talking’” – all necessary characteristics for an actor.

On tour around the country, the production involves a different child in each of its venues.

Madam Butterfly is staged by Russian State Ballet and Opera House and is sung in Italian with English surtitles. The cast is accompanied by a 30-piece orchestra.

Known for being one of saddest and most beautiful operas Puccini ever wrote, Madam Butterfly tells the story of a doomed love affair between an American naval officer and his young Japanese bride.

The opera includes well-known arias such as One Fine Day, Love Duet and the Humming Chorus.

Madam Butterfly was premiered in La Scala, Milan, in 1904. A group of agents provocateurs had been paid to jeer and catcall and intimidated the audience to such an extent that the finale was received in utter silence. The opera was subsequently withdrawn by Puccinin for revision.

Three months later the new version was premiered at Brescia to rapturous applause.