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- ConnectionsRemake of The Metropolitan Opera HD Live: Massenet: Manon (2012)
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She is charming
Re-watching Massenet's operas over-time, am still of the opinion that his best are 'Werther' and 'Manon' in terms of both story and music. Massnet's music is always well worth listening to, and all his operas are worth at least one-time watches no matter the state of the stories ('Le Roi De Lahore' for example doesn't have much of one). 'Manon' has amazing music and while Puccini's 'Manon Lescaut' is always well worth the watch, Massenet's 'Manon' has always struck me as more plausible and coherent later. Just my view though.
Saw this Laurent Pelly-directed production back when it appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012. Personally wasn't crazy about the overall performance back then, loved it musically (mostly, thought though that Anna Netrebko was inconsistent) but the visuals and staging didn't do much for me. Seeing that it was being revived, but with a different cast, expectations were mixed. When seeing late last year, it is an improvement with a much better Manon and the cast generally are superior but again the overall production wasn't quite to my taste.
Will start with the numerous great things with this 'Manon'. The cast are the production's biggest strength. Lisette Oropesa makes her role debut as Manon and for me her performance was one of the best of the 2019/2020 season of the 'Metropolitan Opera HD Live' series. Knew from her charming Sophie in the Met's wonderful 2014 'Werther' that she could sing Massenet well, and her angelic purity in her voice that she had there is still here while also with a more mature and expressive quality. She is especially good in "Adieu, notre petite table", and she is just as great in the acting stakes as well. Each act requires a different side to her and she nails all five of them and gives them plenty of variety. Also thought very highly of Michael Fabiano's Des Grieux and thought them both intense and poignant together especially in the last two acts. Fabiano's voice is rich and powerful while also full of expressivity and varied colours done sensitively, no sign of straining, shouting or singing too on one volume. He is a strong actor too, not seen enough with tenors today seemingly. There is some great passionate intensity in his acting and his softer edges are done with moving vulnerability, his shining moment vocally and dramatically being "Ah, fuyez douce image".
All the supporting cast turn in great work too. The biggest standout being Artur Rucinski's Lescaut, who possesses a firm and warm voice intelligently used. Dramatically, he is one of the most complex and nuanced Lescauts, amusingly playful, sympathetic, tense and at times suitably wild. Carlo Bosi is suitably snake-like and Kwangchul Youn is an authoritative father figure. The opening scene is performed with great zest. The production is mostly very good musically. The orchestra provide agility (in the more Bel-Canto-like passages), beauty of tone, power and grace. The woodwind section particularly excel. The chorus are engaging, mostly well balanced and full of enthusiasm, their acting has come on so much over the years and is more subtle here than it was in 2012's 'Manon'. The costumes are dazzling and sumptuous. The staging often involves, with enough entertaining and poignant moments, the St Sulpice scene working a lot better this time.
However, the production values mostly didn't do much for me. The sets were too spare, too tacky and too vertical, the time and place being vague to begin with. The presence of the omnipesent staircase felt heavy-handed and not needed a lot of the time, one does understand what it is trying to represent fairly early on and having it near-throughout had a beating around the head feel. Also felt the seedy, pull no punches side to the male characters early on on the overdone side too, an interesting and refreshingly unapologetic approach but a bit too extreme.
Generally the staging works better here than in 2012's 'Manon', but again some of it is heavy-handed and a bit chaotic in the bigger-scaled moments. Maurizio Benini's conducting to me was uneven, sympathetic and authoritative enough in most places but other parts could have done with a lot more delicacy and some of it was slightly rushed too.
Overall, an improvement with much to be impressed by but still doesn't completely come off. 7/10
Saw this Laurent Pelly-directed production back when it appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012. Personally wasn't crazy about the overall performance back then, loved it musically (mostly, thought though that Anna Netrebko was inconsistent) but the visuals and staging didn't do much for me. Seeing that it was being revived, but with a different cast, expectations were mixed. When seeing late last year, it is an improvement with a much better Manon and the cast generally are superior but again the overall production wasn't quite to my taste.
Will start with the numerous great things with this 'Manon'. The cast are the production's biggest strength. Lisette Oropesa makes her role debut as Manon and for me her performance was one of the best of the 2019/2020 season of the 'Metropolitan Opera HD Live' series. Knew from her charming Sophie in the Met's wonderful 2014 'Werther' that she could sing Massenet well, and her angelic purity in her voice that she had there is still here while also with a more mature and expressive quality. She is especially good in "Adieu, notre petite table", and she is just as great in the acting stakes as well. Each act requires a different side to her and she nails all five of them and gives them plenty of variety. Also thought very highly of Michael Fabiano's Des Grieux and thought them both intense and poignant together especially in the last two acts. Fabiano's voice is rich and powerful while also full of expressivity and varied colours done sensitively, no sign of straining, shouting or singing too on one volume. He is a strong actor too, not seen enough with tenors today seemingly. There is some great passionate intensity in his acting and his softer edges are done with moving vulnerability, his shining moment vocally and dramatically being "Ah, fuyez douce image".
All the supporting cast turn in great work too. The biggest standout being Artur Rucinski's Lescaut, who possesses a firm and warm voice intelligently used. Dramatically, he is one of the most complex and nuanced Lescauts, amusingly playful, sympathetic, tense and at times suitably wild. Carlo Bosi is suitably snake-like and Kwangchul Youn is an authoritative father figure. The opening scene is performed with great zest. The production is mostly very good musically. The orchestra provide agility (in the more Bel-Canto-like passages), beauty of tone, power and grace. The woodwind section particularly excel. The chorus are engaging, mostly well balanced and full of enthusiasm, their acting has come on so much over the years and is more subtle here than it was in 2012's 'Manon'. The costumes are dazzling and sumptuous. The staging often involves, with enough entertaining and poignant moments, the St Sulpice scene working a lot better this time.
However, the production values mostly didn't do much for me. The sets were too spare, too tacky and too vertical, the time and place being vague to begin with. The presence of the omnipesent staircase felt heavy-handed and not needed a lot of the time, one does understand what it is trying to represent fairly early on and having it near-throughout had a beating around the head feel. Also felt the seedy, pull no punches side to the male characters early on on the overdone side too, an interesting and refreshingly unapologetic approach but a bit too extreme.
Generally the staging works better here than in 2012's 'Manon', but again some of it is heavy-handed and a bit chaotic in the bigger-scaled moments. Maurizio Benini's conducting to me was uneven, sympathetic and authoritative enough in most places but other parts could have done with a lot more delicacy and some of it was slightly rushed too.
Overall, an improvement with much to be impressed by but still doesn't completely come off. 7/10
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- TheLittleSongbird
- Jul 10, 2020
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