M. Butterfly

M. Butterfly (1988), a play by David Henry Hwang. [Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 777 perf.; Tony Award.] Sitting in a French prison, René Gallimard ( John Lithgow) looks back on how he destroyed his marriage and his promising diplomatic career. A lover of Puccini's Madame Butterfly, he long thought of Cho‐Cho‐San as his “feminine ideal.” This created problems when he was stationed in Beijing and fell madly in love with a beautiful Peking Opera actress, Song Liling ( B. D. Wong). Yet throughout their long relationship, Gallimard never realized (or chose not to believe) that Liling was actually a spy and a man. Convicted of conspiring with the Communists, Gallimard dresses as Cho‐Cho‐San and commits suicide just as she had. The drama, based on an actual event in the 1960s, was filled with stimulating ideas about East‐West cultural differences and the role of the male and female in each world. Vibrant performances, under the astute direction of John Dexter, helped make for a colorful, fluid, and fascinating piece of theatre, and the first Asian‐American play to become a mainstream hit.