Shi Pei Pu, Singer, Spy and ‘M. Butterfly,’ Dies at 70
by cecile
The story of Shi Pei Pu and Bernard Boursicot is more proof truth is stranger than fiction.
Bouriscot, was a worker at the French Embassy in Beijing when he fell in love with Shi Pei Pu, an opera singer who was a man masquerading as a woman. Read the obituary for the incredibly strange story of love, espionage and music.
The play, M. Butterfly written by David Henry Hwang, was nominated for a Pulitzer in 1989, is also available on disc M. Butterfly.
One critic called the play “an inversion of Puccini's Madama Butterfly" and was not kind in the review. Maybe you'll agree with that opinion, but don't let it stop you from anything Puccini!
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