NEW YORK—The death at age 54 of Anthony Minghella, the director of “The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” and “Cold Mountain,” among others, was a significant loss for the film world, but he is also mourned by the opera world. His production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” is currently revived at the Met.
Minghella’s production is a tearjerker with exquisite music derived from a once-popular play by David Belasco. It uses an evocative but spare set by Michael Levine, summoning mid-19th-century Japan with a mirrored ceiling and puppets from London’s Blind Summit Puppet Theatre and choreography by Minghella’s wife, Carolyn Choa. The colorful costumes are by Han Feng.
