David Dukes, Anthony Hopkins, Tony Randall, and John Rubinstein played Gallimard at various times during the original run.
[6] An audio recording of the play was produced by L.A. Theatre Works, with Lithgow and Wong reprising their Broadway roles along with Margaret Cho.
[8][9] David Henry Hwang made changes to the original text for the revival, mostly centering on the issue of intersectional identities, but also for clarifications.
Gallimard is unaware that all female roles in traditional Beijing opera were actually played by men, as women were banned from the stage.
The first act ends with Gallimard returning to France in shame and living alone after he asks his wife, Helga, for a divorce, admitting to her that he's had a mistress.
For the Julie Taymor-directed revival in 2017, Hwang revisited the text to incorporate further information that had emerged about the Boursicot case, and address intersectional identities.
[11] Taymor and Hwang wanted their new approach to consider “present public discussion and awareness of nonbinary genders, the growth of China as a superpower, and details about the true story.
One reviewer said the story “has taken on new resonance in an era shaped by the MeToo movement, China’s geopolitical might and a more widespread understanding of gender identity issues.”[15] Regarding the long-debated questions of Song and Gallimard’s intimate relations, another reviewer said “Song’s defiant explanation to an over-curious French judge struck me as Hwang wanting to put an end to the prying once and for all.”[16] Hwang adapted the play for a 1993 film directed by David Cronenberg with Jeremy Irons and John Lone in the leading roles.
One reviewer expressed mixed feelings about the performance, questioning the longevity and adaptability of M. Butterfly in a world of continuously evolving attitudes.
[18] The production also played for one night at the Barbican Centre in London in October 2024 with Mark Stone and Kangmin Justin Kim reprising their roles, re-staged by Kimberley S Prescott.
[23] In an interview with David Henry Hwang, the playwright states: “The lines between gay and straight become very blurred in this play, but I think he knows he's having an affair with a man.
Therefore, on some level he is gay.” [24] In a 2014 review for the Windy City Times, Jonathan Abarbanel states that Song Liling “may be gay but it's a secondary point raised only as a way by which Chinese government agents can control him.