Metropolitan Opera Archives

Manon Lescaut received eight performances this season.

FUNDING:
Production a gift of Mrs. Donald D. Harrington

Review 1:

Review of Robert Jacobsen in OPERA NEWS:

The new "Manon Lescaut" (March 17) had an old-style lushness and eye-filling realism that had the public is ecstasies. Desmond Heeley's designs capture the milieu of the rustic Amiens square complete with spectacular coach and horse), the lavish rococo home of Geronte (with a downy bed for the love duet, as in Visconti's staging) and the vast timbered harbor of Le Havre. This is a handsome show that fills the stage to the point of overwhelming its inhabitants but giving a true sense of time and place; the costumes, too, ravished one's vision. James Levine's romantic bent could have no greater outlet than this effort of the young Puccini, and he lead a dramatic, heart-on-the-sleeve reading that went to its very core, allowing passion and melodrama with grand melodic sweep -qualities in which his players appeared to revel.

Menotti's hand did not always look as if he had ironed out all the traffic details in the crowd scene, but it did allow his cast to develop striking personalities, which they socked to the public. In Act II, however, he permitted Renata Scotto - now apparently entering a new era of mannerisms - to get out of hand in sheer fussiness of acting as the spoiled Manon. Her exaggerated attachment to jewelry turned much of the action into unintentional comedy in the manner of Feydeau. Having Manon appear so tough, petulant and unpleasant tended to drain whatever sympathy one could muster for her - and Puccini demands sympathy. In the last act, Miss Scotto supplied singing and acting of hypnotic pathos, wrenching every bit of emotion out of the long death scene. Previously, she had not been in good voice, her screamy high notes a trial, the voice sounding tired and wiry. Placido Domingo, looking slim and handsome, acting with conviction, found it hard to achieve Des Grieux's lyricism, belting out the score with often thrilling results. Since the tessitura lies high, one felt Domingo pushing his tenor to achieve these ends (after Act I he was announced as ill), but his passionate outburst to the Captain in Act III was overwhelming. Pablo Elvira made a dashing, handsome sounding Lescaut.

Production photos of Manon Lescaut by James Heffernan/Metropolitan Opera.

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