User Reviews

This is another of the Met's European imports. Laurent Pelly's production of Manon was seen at Covent Garden in 2010. Pelly has a way of making expensive productions look cheap. He uses an expressionist set, designed by Chantal Thomas, with miniature houses and distorted perspectives. It works in Act I, where, instead of the hustle and bustle of a courtyard in Amiens, we get an almost bare stage. The lack of visual distraction lets the audience concentrate on the interaction between Manon and Des Grieux. Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala really make this scene work as ingénue and ingénu.

Things start to get silly in Act II when Manon and Des Grieux appear to be living in a tree house in Paris. Act III is worse, reminding me of a Morcambe and Wise Christmas special. As Anna Netrebko is trailed by a crowd of lecherous men in top hat and tails all I could think of was Angela Rippon dancing with TV weathermen. Apologies to non-British readers who will have absolutely no idea what I am talking about.

The scene in a rather wonky Saint-Sulplice is more successful. Netrebko is a force of nature during the seduction. Beczala can only stare at her like a frightened rabbit. Her thrilling "N'est-ce plus ma main?" ends with her on his bed, lifting her skirts to show him what he is missing.

The final two acts of this opera are always the least plausible. Pelly's expressionist gambling salon and road to Le Havre do nothing to help us suspend our disbelief. Still, Netrebko and Beczala acquit themselves honourably. Netrebko's finest moment comes during her big number in the gambling scene when she has a jewellery malfunction. One earring suddenly drops off. Without missing a beat, she realises what has happened. She casually removes the other earring, waves it around her head and tosses it over her shoulder.

As much as I do have a soft spot for Thais for the final scene, I consider Manon Massenet's masterpiece, and although Puccini's Manon Lescaut has some of his most beautiful music(ie. Intermezzo, Donna Non Vidi Mai, Sola Perduta Abbandonata), Massenet's opera I do find more plausible in the final act especially.

This Met production of Manon has one too many moments when it was inconsistent, but in other ways it was effective. A lot of the best things about this Manon was musically rather than visually, with the orchestra nuanced and the conducting from Fabio Luisi crisp and efficient especially in the Cours La Reine and Hotel De Transylvanie scenes. The chorus are vocally superb with their shining glory being the Cours La Reine scene, and the final act is very poignant.

I had little to fault the principal singing either. Piotr Bezcala is a suitably ardent and dignified Des Greiux with a very honeyed, classy tone. Paolo Szot is an amusing Lescaut, and Bradley Gavin as De Bretigny was very professional and energetic. The likes of Jennifer Black and Anne-Carolyn Byrd dazzled and the smaller roles are effective. As Count Des Grieux, David Pittsinger is authoritative, biting yet with a sympathetic element. He and Christophe Mortagne in the role of Morfontaine were the most stylish and had the crispest French diction of the entire cast.

Anna Netrebko had impressive moments in the title role, but she had inconsistencies too. With a supporting cast that was so strong I couldn't help thinking of the cast overall that she was the weak link. The voice is dark and expressive, she has a beguiling stage presence and her acting is sexy and moving. However, her diction and colouratura aren't as strong, with her consonants lacking clarity and her vowels too dark and unidiomatic, and while she has the style to sing the colouratura complete with at least two sour notes her intonation is patchy at best.

But it was the sets and staging that spoilt this Manon for me. The costumes are wonderfully glitzy, but the sets were too vertical and tacky for an opera that I often see performed as visually sumptuous, an approach I much prefer and much more suited to the basic story of the opera. The staging had the odd moment, such as the final act and the inspired Madonna/Material Girl-like part, but there are other times where it felt heavy-handed, with the St Sulpice scene lacking in sensuality and the Act 3 quartet having a chaotic nature to it. And while the chorus are great vocally, dramatically they are not so convincing, coming across as mugging at times.

Overall, inconsistent but also effective. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Manon is a very nice opera with a touching final scene. This production thiugh was a mixed bag for me. Visually,it is not the best. There is very little sensuality or intimacy and can come across as too crowded. Piotr Beczala is very good as Des Grieux. His singing and acting is very nice. Anna Netrebko has both shining moments and inconsistencies as Manon. Overall,this Manon was a mixed bag.6/10.