The 200th performance of a well-loved opera will flutter onto the Hippodrome stage next week.

The Welsh National Opera's (WNO) production of Madame Butterfly is expected to draw packed audiences for performances on Wednesday, November 11, and Saturday, November 14.

This milestone comes 31 years after Joachim Hertz's groundbreaking version was premiered at the New Theatre in Cardiff, winning instant acclaim from national press.

In 1978, the new production was given the go-ahead after a fire destroyed the sets from a previous version. A sum of £15,000 was raised from NatWest 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. Madame Butterfly originally toured Oxford, Liverpool and Birmingham after opening in Cardiff. It was first seen in Bristol in the autumn season of 1979.

The opera Madame Butterfly is based on a short story by John Luther Long inspired by a true story. The opera is thought to have been Puccini's favourite and this version drew comments from the critics of the day for portraying an unusually brash Pinkerton and the restoration of some cuts made by Puccini following the original performances. A new translation of the libretto was also commissioned for this production from Peter Hutchinson. It has gone on to inspire the hit musical Miss Saigon, the 1988 play M Butterfly starring Anthony Hopkins and subsequent film starring Jeremy Irons, and more recently Rogue Theatre's Pathway to the Red Sun.