Welsh National Opera will be performing its much-loved production of Madam Butterfly for the 200th time at the Bristol Hippodrome tonight.

This milestone comes 31 years after Joachim Hertz’s groundbreaking version was premiered at the New Theatre in Cardiff.

In 1978 the new production was given the go ahead after a fire destroyed the sets from a previous version. £15,000 was raised from Nat West Bank to help pay for it – WNO’s first sponsor. Because the production was so detailed, the director got an unprecedented eight-week rehearsal period. Madam Butterfly originally toured Oxford, Liverpool and Birmingham after opening in Cardiff. It was first seen in Bristol in the autumn season of 1979.