Lyric Opera of Chicago

This guide to the Lyric Opera of Chicago centers on the night of November 17, 1955, when soprano Maria Callas stepped offstage after a triumphant Madama Butterfly still in costume, only to be stopped by a US marshal serving a lawsuit from a former manager. It traces the photograph that caught her fury and gave her a nickname that followed her for the rest of her career, and the two years the case spent in court before a sealed settlement. Listen for it near the doors where singers still slip out after a performance.