Information for Madama Butterfly at Darlington Hippodrome (formerly Civic Theatre), Darlington (Opera or Operetta). Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly is one of the best-loved operas of all time. Julia Burbach's revelatory new production, inspired by Japanese folkloric ghost stories, premieres at Grimeborn 2015. Sung in the original Italian (with English surtitles) but radically reframed, this haunting psychological rendering of Puccini's masterpiece is alive with the mysteries of memory, mortality and the supernatural.