The City Council is organizing a free opera festival featuring performances of the opera *Madama Butterfly* and the zarzuela *Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente*

The Teatro Lírico Andaluz theater company will stage these two plays, directed by Pablo Prados, on July 24 and 25 at 9:00 p.m. at the Estepona bullring

The Estepona City Council announces that it has organized an Opera Festival so that residents can enjoy free performances of an opera and a zarzuela at the bullring.

Specifically, next Friday, July 24, Puccini’s opera *Madama Butterfly* will be performed, and on Saturday, July 25, Federico Chueca’s zarzuela *Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente* will be performed. Both works will be performed by the Málaga-based company Teatro Lírico Andaluz, directed by Pablo Prados, and will begin at 9:00 p.m. Admission to these performances will be free until capacity is reached.

“Madama Butterfly.” This is Puccini’s (1858–1924) first exotic opera. Its premiere at La Scala in Milan in 1904 was a resounding fiasco, likely orchestrated in part by his critics. However, after some revisions, this opera went on to achieve resounding success that continues to this day. 

It is an opera in three acts (originally in two acts) with music by Giacomo Puccini and an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. Puccini based his opera (which premiered in 1904) partly on the short story “Madame Butterfly” (1898) by John Luther Long, which was adapted for the stage by David Belasco. Puccini also drew on Pierre Loti’s novel *Madame Chrysanthème* (1887). According to one scholar, the opera was based on events that actually took place in Nagasaki in the early 1890s.

“Agua, azucarillos y aguardiente” is a one-act zarzuela with a libretto by Miguel Ramos Carrión and music by Federico Chueca (1846–1908).

Asia, a frivolous young girl, and her mother, Doña Simona, have moved to Madrid, where they lead a miserable life, owing money even to their landlord. A letter from her uncle advises them to return to their village (Valdepatata), where her cousin is eager to marry Asia. But she dreams of Serafín, the son of a former minister.