In today’s opera world, many opera companies are anxious to seek out theater directors to flesh out the story lines of the operas they are presenting; opera impresarios are overjoyed when they can find a director who can excite their audiences. From the reviews some of these productions receive online and in the press, the results can be a mixed bag. There was no doubt, however, from the Met’s encore telecast of Madame Butterfly on March 18th, that Anthony Minghella’s production of Puccini’s favorite operatic heroine was a stunning success. Assisted by his wife, choreographer and director Carolyn Choa, the couple’s impressive artistic production deserved the praise it received when it opened the Met 2006 season. A great sorrow has accompanied the production’s success since the sudden passing of Mr. Minghella last year, made more tragic because this was the director’s only opera production.

This viewer attended the telecast with a prickly foreboding. After Gary Halvorson’s edgy, dizzying filming of the Lucia di Lammermoor telecast, I wondered if his lack of cinematic restraint would resurface. What unfolded, however, was a beautiful representation of Minghella’s production. One could hardly believe it was the same video director. He deserves praise for capturing the many touching moments Minghella and Choa infused into the opera, as if the camera, along with the rest of the production team, were in love with the opera.

But who wouldn’t think of visually capturing as much of Mr. Minghella’s classic Japanese production as possible. The pleasure of watching Minghella’s work unfold came from the combined artistic choices of his production team.

The costumes by Han Feng, the lighting of Peter Mumford and the set constructed by Michael Levine coalesced into a mosaic of color. The reds, greens and blues flowed into pastel shades of pinks, creams and off whites giving the vivid colors a subdued texture capturing the essence of the Japanese personality. Interwoven in this mosaic was an Eastern sense of design, so clean and orderly, but full of exotic imagery. The work of Feng, Mumford and Levine appeared integrated and yet stood out in crucial ways.

Among the many examples of the care these three artists put into their work, three stood out as representative of their artistry. Minghella turned Goro, the marriage broker, into a man of stature with Feng outfitting him in a kimono and headdress worthy of a Japanese gentleman instead of a money grubbing opportunist as he is usually portrayed. And again, in Act Two when the wealthy Yamadori comes to offer Butterfly marriage, Feng dressed him in a luxurious cream-colored tunic laced in red velvet, a visual testament of the character’s high place in Japanese society.

Levine used four white sliding panels as part of the set’s basic unit, quietly moving them to indicate Butterfly’s changing moods. For the duet which ends Act One, the designer used white papier-mache lanterns that moved slowly through streams of rose petals that appeared to hang from the sky. And Mumford’s lighting filled the pitch black sky with stars that glowed as brightly as Butterfly’s growing love for Pinkerton, continually matching the musical expanse of Puccini’s love duet.

Soprano Patricia Racette had the benefit of building her Butterfly with Minghella while he was staging the production’s premier. Naturally her characterization fit smoothly into the production, but her performance went well beyond that. Not since Renata Scotto’s interpretation have I seen and heard a soprano who expressed Butterfly’s interior life in so complete a manner. Racette could sing the role in a concert version and still get the same results. Scotto did that in Central Park in 1975.

Racette’s voice filled every vocal detail in the many dramatic phrases Puccini composed for his Cio-Cio-San, Puccini’s emotional counterpart. In an interview during the first intermission, she said that her vocal production was a comfortable fit for Puccini’s music and her performance proved it. She sang every piano, mezzo forte and forte with ease which gave her the opportunity to slide her emotional convictions into the abundant line readings of Puccini’s heroine.

Racette was ably partnered by tenor Marcello Giordani who sang Pinkerton with steady vocal control and expressive execution. Because the duo faced no vocal challenges, they were able to express all the romance and sexual longing the composer’s musical imagination could divine.

Besides Greg Fedderly’s proper Goro and David Won’s elegant Yamadori, Minghella made Suzuki more than a servant. Mezzo soprano Maria Zifchak acted as Butterfly’s emotional companion showing the same reactions to the dramatic events as Racette did. Zifchak ample vocal resources easily covered every commiserating moment Puccini wrote for Butterfly’s faithful friend.

As for the characterizations of Sharpless, the American counsel and Kate Pinkerton, the naval captain’s American wife, Minghella and Choa chose a different dramatic path for them. Baritone Dwayne Croft sang Sharpless in a straight forward manner, but lacked the vocal vibrancy we like to hear in this role. Choa put all the emotion into Croft’s acting. By the time Act Three rolled around, Sharpless was knee deep in empathetic gestures that moved beyond Puccini’s idea of concern to one of mutual heartbreak. Also Minghella and Choa made mezzo Edyta Kulczak’s Kate lean too far into Butterfly’s desperation by having her nearly embrace Butterfly every time she interacted with the heroine. Puccini did not want the three American characters to feel Butterfly’s interior suffering. The composer wanted that experience all for himself. Fortunately for the audience, the production’s artistic choices were so beautifully represented these dramatic lapses became ancillary.