The National Grand Theatre's second Olympic special, Madame Butterfly, held its final rehearsal on Wednesday for the opera's three-day performance starting May 8. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

The National Grand Theatre's second Olympic special, Madame Butterfly, held its final rehearsal on Wednesday for the opera's three-day performance starting May 8.

Vocalists dressed in delicate costumes warmed up the opera house for the big opening.

With primary artists from the Central Conservatory of Music, China's top music institute, the Chinese version of "Madame Butterfly" has long been in the spotlight.

"Madame Butterfly is a piece by composer Giacomo Puccini that carries exotic flavor, and this time, we will add eastern musical elements to his work," music conductor Li Xincao said during an interview with sina.com.cn in April.

The opera is famous for the heroine's dramatic shift in emotions and voices throughout the performance, and Chinese soprano Zhu Ailan will take up the challenge this time. The vocalist has been performing on the international stage for over twenty years, and "Madame Butterfly" is her debut show in the National Grand Theatre.

Gary Burgess, a renowned music producer and patron of the world's major opera houses, was invited to guest direct the show.

Another feature that characterizes the opera is the stage design. To recreate the setting of Nagasaki Bay in late 1900, the set design team set up a forest of blooming cherry trees in front of a Japanese-style wooden house as the primary backdrop for the show.

And to enhance the tragic mood of the last scene, in which the heroine commits suicide, an artificial rainfall using an estimated four tons of water will fall on the stage.

Gary Burgess is optimistic about the Italian opera's interpretation by Chinese artists.

"I am inspired by the stage design. It is so dreamy, yet rich in variety," he said.

"Madame Butterfly" tells the tragic romance of a Japanese geisha named Cio-Cio-san and B.F. Pinkerton, a U.S. lieutenant temporarily stationed in Japan.

Cio-Cio-san married Pinkerton when she was only 16 years old, and enjoyed a brief period as her husband's "little butterfly" before Pinkerton returned to the States. Three years later, the lieutenant returns with an American wife and takes Madame Butterfly's son, the only person who has gived her a reason to live.

In grief and indignation, Madame Butterfly ends her life in a legendary act of love that shot Puccini to the peak of his musical career.

2008 marks the 150th anniversary of Puccini's birth, and Chinese artists are bowing to the master with "Madame Butterfly."