Like thousands of other New Zealanders, the Wellington cartoonist "Mack" recently spent a night at the Opera. He took his sketch-pad and pen back-stage, to record something of the tremendous bustle and activity (and the apparent chaos and contusion, as it seems to a layman) during a performance, of "Madame Butterfly." He wandered at will among the flats and platforms, peeped into dressing rooms, studied the features—natural and made-up—and the costumes of the cast. His composite impression of the Dack-stage scene shows, in the top left-hand corner, Lieutenant Pinkerton (Leo Piccioli) putting on the finishing touches, and Sharpless (Aldo Ferracuti) just starting on his transformation. The figure at top left centre (hand to chin) is Bruno Nofri, the stage manager, who moves about behind the stage, carrying the musical score and humming the melody throughout. the performance, in the top right-hand corner, Sharpless, dressed tor his part, takes a glass of what could be either property wine, or the real thing. Gazing out to sea with the telescope (lower centre) are Madame Butterfly (Mercedes Fortunati) and Suzuki (Maria Huder). Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton appear again in characteristic poses at the lower right of the illustration. The back-stage atmosphere is completed by sketches of the players of minor roles, the electricians, stage-hands, floodlights and pieces of property seen on either side of the illustration. The autographs are those of Mercedes Fortunati, Leo Piccioli, and Aldo Ferracuti

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 515, 6 May 1949, Page 25

Like thousands of other New Zealanders, the Wellington cartoonist "Mack" recently spent a night at the

Opera. He took his sketch-pad and pen back-stage, to record something of the tremendous bustle and activity

(and the apparent chaos and contusion, as it seems to a layman) during a performance, of "Madame Butterfly." He wandered at will among the flats and

platforms, peeped into dressing rooms, studied the features—natural and made-up—and the costumes of

the cast. His composite impression of the Dack-stage scene shows, in the top left-hand corner, Lieutenant Pinkerton (Leo Piccioli) putting on the finishing

touches, and Sharpless (Aldo Ferracuti) just starting on his transformation. The figure at top left centre

(hand to chin) is Bruno Nofri, the stage manager, who moves about behind the stage, carrying the musical score and humming the melody throughout.

the performance, in the top right-hand corner, Sharpless, dressed tor his part, takes a glass of what could

be either property wine, or the real thing. Gazing out to sea with the telescope (lower centre) are Madame Butterfly (Mercedes Fortunati) and Suzuki

(Maria Huder). Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton appear again in characteristic poses at the lower right

of the illustration. The back-stage atmosphere is completed by sketches of the players of minor roles, the electricians, stage-hands, floodlights and pieces of

property seen on either side of the illustration. The autographs are those of Mercedes Fortunati, Leo

Piccioli, and Aldo Ferracuti,