Presents

As part of the 2023–2024 Season

MADAME BUTTERFLY

by Giacomo Puccini

January 26 - February 11, 2024

MADAME BUTTERFLY.  Photo by Michael Bishop / 2024 Houston Grand Opera

ADVANCING DIVERSITY

Interview with Rodell Rosel as GORO for the Houston Grand Opera

By Theresa Pisula
Theresa@HoustonTheatre.com

January 20, 2024

MADAME BUTTERFLY.  Photo by Michael Bishop / 2024 Houston Grand Opera

In the 2024 Production of Madama Butterfly, the Houston Grand Opera is paving the way for increased Diversity in the industry.  Translated into English, Madame Butterfly is an opera in Three Acts by Giacomo Puccini.  The language is sung in Italian, even though the story is set in Nagasaki, Japan.  The title role of Cio-Cio-San or (the Japanese word for) “Butterfly” is performed by award-winning Soprano Ailyn Perez.  Ailyn was born in Chicago and is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.  She proudly displays her Latina heritage by using the hashtags #MexicanSinger, #LatinaWomeninOpera and #LatinosinOpera on her Instagram.  In the past, the character of the U.S. Naval officer named Pinkerton has been performed by blonde Caucasian males.  In this 2024 production, Pinkerton will be performed by Tenor Yongzhao Yu, whose hometown is Shanghai, China.  And the role of GORO is performed by Grammy-nominated Tenor Rodell “RoRo” Rosel.

Originally from the Philippines, Rodell Aure Rosel appears regularly in major opera houses which includes the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and the Royal Opera House.  He is primarily known for his superb portrayals of character roles: Monostatos, Mime and Loge, Basilio, Tanzmeister, Spoletta, and the Four Servants in The Tales of Hoffmann.  And of course, as GORO in Madama Butterfly.  He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier, opposite Renee Fleming, Susan Graham, and Sir Thomas Allen. He originated the roles of Ong Chi Seng in Paul Moravec’s The Letter at Santa Fe Opera, as well as Anthony Candolino in Terrence McNally and Jake Heggie’s Great Scott at Dallas Opera, which starred Joyce DiDonato and Frederica von Stade, conducted by Patrick Summers.

As Monostatos in The Magic Flute, he debuted in the David McVicar production at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, U.S.-premiered in the Barry Kosky production at Los Angeles Opera, not to mention the Julie Taymor production at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, he has sung the title role in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Britten’s Albert Herring, as well as Tamino in The Magic Flute and Don José in Carmen. He recently made his house and role debut as Calaf in Puccini’s Turandot with Opera Southwest, and will make his house and role debut as Beppe in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Austin Lyric Opera. He has collaborated with esteemed directors of both film and theater, including Michael Grandage, John Caird, Bartlett Sher, James Gray, and David McVicar, as well as world-renowned conductors James Conlon, Carlo Rizzi, Emmanuel Villaume, Sir Andrew Davis, Franz Welser-Möst, and the late Bruno Bartoletti.

Rodell was a grand prize winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competiton (formerly the National Council Auditions), and a prize winner in the Lotte Lenya Vocal Competition, Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and the Jose Iturbi International Competition. He was part of the Grammy-nominated cast of John Musto’s opera, Volpone. He is an alumnus of Santa Monica College and UCLA, attended the Music Academy of the West, and trained at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center (formerly Lyric Opera Center for American Artists.)

Having been born in the Philippines myself, I was fortunate enough to meet and interview “RoRo” for the Madame Butterfly opera.  When I arrived at the Stage Door of the Wortham Theater Center, I was welcomed by HGO Artist Services Coordinator Chloe Sue Baker on this cold Houston morning.  She greeted me with a warm smile and led me to the sixth floor to an enormous rehearsal room at the Wortham.  In this room, I met RoRo, where we talked about Madame Butterfly, the Grammys and everything else.

RODELL ROSEL. Click on the photo above to listen to some of his more monumental and significant performances.

MADAME BUTTERFLY.  Photo by Michael Bishop / 2024 Houston Grand Opera

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T:  You are a superstar. 

R:  I'm not, I'm not that word. I'm not a superstar like Vice Ganda, but it's okay.  I just want to be as famous, so all I can ask for, you know what would be cool is be like Vice Ganda in Showtime. 

T:  I don't watch that show. 

R:  It's on Showtime, it's a Philippine show because I have TFC (The Filipino Channel) okay?

T:  But I heard you sing Nessun Dorma. Oh my God!  My hair, literally, stood up on end.  I was like, blown away.

R:  The one I did in Arizona.

T:  you did that in Arizona. Okay. Yeah, you've been everywhere.

R:  Because we need Diversity.  Ever since 2020 we need Representation. We need Visibility.  We got to make sure that now we have the space for everyone.  We got to make sure every single person is represented and visible. Yeah, visually visible not just like, “oh they're visible,” but you can't really see them.

T:  absolutely. Especially Madama Butterfly.

R:  In Italian, it’s Madama Butterfly. It’s translated into English as Madame Butterfly.  Madame just means married woman. 

T:  Tell us about the part that you're playing.

R:  So, the part I am playing is, I have sung this a few times. Basically, Goro is his name

T:  Goro?  Is he the bad guy?

R:  He's not really a bad guy. It's a character where he is not really a bad guy because he doesn't kill anyone.  He's just a negotiator.  He is labeled as a marriage broker. A pimp.

T: (laughs)

R:  So basically, there are a lot of geishas and they are like, courtesans back in Italy.  They're not prostitutes.  They are not whores.  As they say, they are learned and they are educated. They have to know manners and they have to learn etiquette.  They have to know how to present themselves.  Beauty, educated, they know how to read. They know, how to sing, how to dance.  Everything they're learning, so they're like a prized kind of courtesan.  They’re elevated.  There’s a group of people that were trained like that because they entice possible partners.

T:  Wow.

R:  I’m not the one who trained them because there are always other people.  The same as we know, from Memoirs of a Geshia, the movie.  You know, there are people who train them, but there's always someone who comes in, who is ready to settle down.  Because there are certain men, the ones who are interested.  Someone who took interest in them.  And this is what I do.

I'm the one who arranges all those. So that is my character.  As Goro, I arrange everything. I want to make sure everything is perfect. Oh, they're going to live in this house. Like, I want to make sure that their dwelling, the place they will be living, will be really good.  I make sure the whole ceremony is good. It's like, I'm a marriage broker and a wedding planner. All in one. I'm the one who coordinates. I know when people come in, you know, the commissioner, the registrar, the other geishas, who play as bridesmaids, and then the relatives.  They're all there. I'm the one who organizes the whole thing.

Anything that happens, any problem as well, which also happens in Act Two.  If something doesn't work out, I'm gonna try to see if I can fix it.  But I'm not doing it for, you know, because I like doing it, that's the thing.  He's an opportunist. It's all about, how is it going to benefit me?  Like if someone's happy, then I get a referral.  Other people will find me.  They would be like, he’s someone they could rely on, right?  That's what happens on Act Two later on.

There's another person involved, like, you know, what if something happened?  There's a problem.  We can fix this by involving another person. You know what I mean?  I'm the fixer. It's like that.  One cannot be unhappy.  The ending has to be a happy ending.  And I want to make sure of that.  So later on, when I voice out my opinion, it feels like I'm a bad guy. 

But see, Goro being a bad guy in this one, it's debatable.  Because everyone has their own opinion, like either other people are ignorant per se, or uninformed.  Or they are in denial of the reality and I'm the one who tells them, this is reality. And when you convince someone what that reality is, and they don’t want to believe it, some people might think of me as a bad guy, it's like why are you forcing that person to believe that?  As Goro, I say, I'm just telling her the truth.  She wouldn't accept it.  So, I look like the bad guy.  It really depends on how people see it.  You have to have dimensions.  My goal is to make people Feel different, to have different feelings for me.  They can hate me.  They will love me.  They could find me reasonable.  They can find me unreasonable.  But you’ve got to listen to Goro.  It's like, oh, why did you do that?  You make them question what they're watching, because then you know they’re into it.

T:  Is this research you studied for the role? Or is this something you researched because you are part of this opera?

R:  Part of it is research, part of it is doing it many times and knowing the business of the Marriage broker.  You know, watching it from a lot of movies.  I don't read a lot of books but I watch a lot of movies.  And then seeing like, how do they do that? Also, the culture.  Like living and growing up in the Philippines. I always tell this to my friends, when we were in the Philippines, back in the 80s.  Because in the 80s, we still have black and white or monochrome TVs.  Even here in America, they already have colored TV in the 80s.  But for us, it's a little delayed.  So, I watched all these movies about like, you know, Japanese and Chinese. Not a lot of Korean movies though. But they're black and white. They talk about Shaolin, Kung Fu, Karate, but they have all these costumes and I've been watching that.  That's like second nature to me.  I know how they move. That's why most of the time I'm one of those people that when I do Asian, or Asian-premised plays or operas. They don't give me too many notes because they already see, and I already know how it is.  Because you may be an Asian person who was born here, but if you didn't grow up with that culture.

T:  Yeah. Culture or tradition, right? 

R:  Then you can only go by what you think, instead of what you know.

T:  What would you say the best opera you've ever done?

R:  My favorite opera technically, would be The Magic Flute to perform.

T:  The Magic Flute by Mozart.

R:  Yeah, I like it because you know it's fun.  Monastatos, yes.  And then of course, I love doing butterflies.

T:  Madame Butterfly by Puccini.  Yeah. I was watching Siegfried, the Houston Grand Opera production in 2016.  It blows your mind, I mean the sets, the costumes, and the singing.  It was incredible, fantastic.

R:  It’s just not that easy.

T:  Like, what do you mean?

R:  Not easy, it was not. It was, it was really worrying.

T:  We’re talking about Wagner.  It was so empirical and epic.  It was almost five hours long.  Are you talking about the costumes, the make-up, everything?  Because it was so over the top?

R:  Yeah, it was. It was big, big. I’m talking about the makeup, the weight of the costume, all of the sets, the moving pieces.  The singing part, you know, especially in Act One of Siegfried, where I didn't leave the stage.  The first half I was there the whole time.  I'm singing.  It's like a moment to myself, then a duet.  And then another moment to myself and another duet.  That was the whole thing for me.  It's like I was there the whole time.

T:  How long were you on stage for the first part?

R:  I don't know. Maybe, like, 40 minutes.  Mainly me, then other people, me, and other people.  But I didn't stop singing.

T:  Wow.  Yeah, Siegfried by Wagner in 2016 by the Houston Grand Opera was overly ambitious.  I mean, who does that?  HGO, that’s who.  That was incredibly amazing.

 
Rodell Rosel as Mime in Siegfried / 2016 Houston Grand Opera

T:  how many languages do you speak?

R:  I speak fluently, of course, Filipino Tagalog to be specific and then English.  I speak some Spanish enough to actually get by in Spanish speaking countries.  Touristy enough to survive with German, Italian and not a lot of French. So, Italian, French and German.  I know. I sing most of them. But, singing and speaking is different.  I sing all of them, right? I sing them very fluently.  But when it's speaking in conversations, Italian, German and French. They're just fair, to be able to ask questions as a tourist.  But with Spanish, more conversation. I can actually hang out with people and then understand and speak enough. Yeah.  So, it's like one, two, three, four, five, six,

T:  Six that’s a lot. That's a lot of languages.  That's good because if you ever get lost or end up somewhere, you know…..

R:  I can actually get out of a rut   I know enough to get out of a rut.

T:  Okay. Do you go to the Grammy's every year?

R:  No.  When I was nominated in 2010 and became a member, I had the choice of keeping my membership.  But the thing is, during that time, my management didn’t forward the mail that the Grammys sent out.  So, for like 13 years, I could have attended for free but I missed it that whole time.  I did the process application, and I got reinstated last year 2023, instead of 2010.  I'm a voting member again.  The cool thing about being a voting member, is not only can you vote, I also have access to chapters.  There's a Chicago chapter and then we would hold like, get-togethers.  I went to my first get-together and getting to know everything about the Grammy’s.  There’s the Grammy U, the university, and other Grammy stuff.  So, we learn more about the different sectors of Grammy chapters and also mentorship.  I can mentor young people that are assigned to me by the Grammys, whether they're performers or in the performing arts.  They could like, get in touch with me and then I can help whatever or however.  Because usually the mentorship, they're probably in early college or high school.

T:  I told my husband, “He's going to the Grammys. He's inviting people on Instagram to go to the Grammys.”  My husband didn't say yes or no, he just said, WOW.  Because that’s like, Huge.  Like really BIG time.

R:  It’s not like going to the grocery store.  The thing about it is, when I have access to tickets, I can only do the purchase once.  After I buy it, I cannot buy extra.

T:  But that's amazing.  When you were there in 2010, who did you see?  Who are like, your idols that you've always wanted to see, that you met during that time?

R:  It was, you know, of course, there was a lot of American Idol stuff.

T:  Did you ever try for American Idol?

R:  No, I didn't because in 2004, I said, okay, this is the last year.  I can try out for American Idol because their cut off is 29 years old.  At that time, I was going to audition for the Lyric Opera of Chicago Training program.  I said, I’m going to Audition here.  If I don't get into the program then I'm going to drive to Las Vegas and audition for American Idol. It just so happened that I got a call back to go to the finals.  And then after the finals, I got into the program that's like, yep, that was what I did.

So, when I was in the Grammys in 2010, it was actually a memorable Grammys, too. That's the year where they celebrated when Michael Jackson just died.  So, they did a whole Tribute to Michael Jackson.  I saw that live.  I think it was important, what you had to wear.  It was a tribute where we had to wear 3D glasses.

T:  Oh, were you onstage?

R:  We were in the audience, like the bleachers, right?  We had to wear it from the audience point of view.  That was the year where Lady Gaga and Eton John did a collaboration.  And that's the one also, when Beyoncé was there.  That’s the year where Pink was, for the first time, when Pink was on a harness and they lifted her up and she was spinning.  And then she was dipped in water and then suddenly they raised her back up again….

T:  yeah, while she was singing.

R:  Exactly. And lastly, it was the year where Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks had a duet.  It's an amazing time, the 2010 Grammy's.  Yeah. So, this year's Grammys, I'm excited because I haven't been in a while.  It’s been over 10 years, it's a different feeling when you know you're nominated and it's also a different feeling where you're a voting member.  It'll be a lot easier for me to even mingle and meet other Grammy nominees, because I can say, hey, what are you like?

I can ask what their category is and then trying to see, because I can't vote for all categories.  You know, as a voting member, you're given like, oh you can vote for at least six main ones. Classical, the musical theater and Rock. It's up to you, but there's a limit to it. So, it'll be nice to be able to like meet the nominees in person.  Because we can only see names and we can only see their pictures or music videos, right?  But this year, we'll be able to see like, what you know, how they are, but you get to see everything. I mean everything, performances onstage.  I voted for Olivia Rodrigo. 

So, the awards happened during the day, because there's like, about a hundred categories. 

You know, they only televise anywhere between six, eight or the big ten.  That's it.   They're going to do most of it between 12 and four. So, that's when we'll see who shows up.  Most of the big artists, they don't really show up when everybody comes, because they have to make appearances later that night.  However, in 2010, the only big artist who won awards, and who was there to accept was Taylor Swift. Yeah, so we saw Taylor Swift, right there.

So, for me, I'm excited because there are the really, really big Artists.  It'll be nice because I think, you know, there's going to be some K-Pop groups who's going to be performing. There were no K-Pop groups in 2010.  So, it'll be nice for me to see that because like I said, it's Representation and Visibility.  It will be kind of nice to see people like us, someone out there who look like us onstage, is very important.

T:  Yeah.  You are amazing. You’re as big as Nora Aunor.  I don’t even think she was ever nominated for a Grammy. 

R:  As Inday Badiday always say, “Careful, careful!”

T:  When you were nominated for a Grammy award, what was that experience like?

R:  It was great.  I was nominated back in 2010. We did the opera in 2007.

T:  So, the Grammy nomination was for the album.

R:  Yeah.  So, we did it in the Wolf Trap Opera in Virginia. I was one of the supporting role characters, but it was nice because I was one of the main soloists.  That's the cool thing about this. Like if you're nominated, it would be great if you're one of the main soloists, then you get to be personally invited.  The Grammy nominees were the main soloists and the conductor. So, we were nominated for Best Opera recording in 2010. 

That's how they do the whole thing, we did the recording in 2007 because that's when It was the live recording, by the way.  I think it wasn't released until 2009, right?  It was recorded live, patched.  Patched random things here and there, but we didn't really patch it offside.  It was live, it was live, everything. We didn't schedule a separate off site patching session after the performance.  For example, we have to patch it.  It would be after performance, or during a rehearsal kind of thing or the Refresher rehearsal, that kind of thing. So, we did that in 2007.  Of course, they did the post recording productions of that and I think it was released it was released in 2008 to 2009, so we were in that Grammy calendar for the awards in 2010.  

See if the album is released late 2008 to late 2009, then the awards would be in 2010.  Yeah, so we got nominated and it was great when you got nominated, that’s what decides who gets to go.  So, the main soloists can go and we were there. We were excited.  We had guests and we went.  Of course, there's always the merits awards.  There are the soloists and the conductor. Of course, everyone is recognized. They get a certificate saying you are part of the recording you get that certificate. If you're one of the principal soloists and the conductor then not only do you get an invitation to attend.  There are merit awards which happens the day before the Grammys the night before, and that's where they would actually give you your medallion, you get a medallion saying this.  If you didn't attend the merit awards, it will be mailed to you. But you get the medallion and then you get to see everyone else.

It's kind of like a Pre-awards day.  A mixer.  And then there is the producer, that classical music producer as well. We also got nominated for classical producer of the year.  Classical because there's always a classical and a non-classical.  It was great when we get there. So, experience-wise, we got there and we went through the daytime awards.  Because that's where you know, we didn't win.  I think Billy Bud won that year in 2010.  It's either the Met production or the San Francisco production, so they won that one, but we had a great experience. And after that, we went to one of the big rooms in the convention center in LA.  And then we went to the convention center itself.

Yeah, we enjoyed it.  A lot of it was a really fun night. And after that, it's the post show party because they used a lot of the rooms in the convention center.  A lot of food.  A lot of drinks.  Yeah, and then we saw Taylor Swift.  I remember Jamie Fox performed in one of the stages in one of the rooms.  Yeah, it was great. It was great.  We didn't go to the after-after party, we just went to an after party.  Because I know there's like certain celebrities have their own after-after parties.  But at least you know, it was great, great experience.  So, if you get nominated, you have the chance to go.  Because, the Grammys is not open to the public.  It is only open to nominees and they could invite whoever they want.  There's a limit on who they can invite, but they have access to admission.  Just like any voting member, we have access to it.

T:  See, ordinary people like me, don't know any of that.  You’re saying there's an after party? Like whaaaat?  I mean, to us the Grammys IS the party, that you can only watch on TV.  

R:  There's an after-party.  I mean, you were just, like, looking around.  In 2010 the iPhone just came out in 2008.  No, the thing about it is, those power banks.  Where I was like, oh my God, we're running out of juice.  We were running out of battery because it's like you're there and you want to show everything that’s happening around you.  We should have brought a charger.  But it was great, it was a good experience. It was very memorable.  My husband was there, we took, like there are photo booth moments where you take a picture, you know one of those photo sections where you take a picture and then you put hats on and there's a Grammy, like bang! There are these people who will take pictures and then, you know they email it to you they get you a printout. 

T:  So, like Jamie Foxx is over at the baby grand, playing the piano…

R:  There's were so many rooms.  I remember Tia Carrera, we met.  Yeah, there is one of the winners of Top Chef. There were random people.

T:  why would the winner of Top Chef be on there?

R:  because they got invited.  You know somebody got inside or something because you know he just won that year. Or some or two years ago.  So, why not invite them?

T:  How fun is that!?!  Okay, what are your fondest memories of the Philippines?  When did you find out you can sing?

R:  When I was 12, maybe 11.  Maybe 1988, I was 12, so it was before that.  Yeah, I was either 11 or 12.  So 1988 I was singing for tips.  You know, kids always sing, it was around 1987 in the Philippines.  There are always certain villages, certain towns.  We lived in Las Piñas during that time.  My parents are from Cavite.  I was born in Makati, when I was around six, we moved to Las Piñas and that's where I grew up.  I went to school in Las Piñas and Parañaque because it's easier.

T:  My grandmother lived in B. F. Homes, Parañaque.

R:  It's like, you know, where Saint Andrews and Saint Paul's is on Cariño Avenue, we were in that section.  I went to Saint Andrews for high school.

T:  Oh my God!  I went to St. Paul’s all-girls school.  Was Saint Andrews an all-boys school?

R:  Back then, but now it’s co-ed.  That's high school.  You know, elementary school I went to St. Joseph's academy, the bamboo organ.  Also, the Saint Michael's Institute. So, I went to three schools. Um, so….

Rodell Rosel as Monastatos in The Magic Flute / Seattle Opera