Italian bass Maurizio Muraro made his Royal Opera debut in 2010 as the Prince de Bouillon ( Adriana Lecouvreur) and has since sung Geronte de Revoir ( Manon Lescaut), Don Basilio ( Il barbiere di Siviglia), Jacopo Loredano ( I due Foscari) and Ferrando ( Il trovatore). I loved it.Maurizio Muraro as Ferrando in Il trovatore, The Royal Opera © 2016 ROH. Together they made a very romantic couple and brought the audience to applause over and over. Michael was intense and exciting as always. Ellie Dehn handled well all the changes of style of her role and sounded lovely. Our lovely French conductor kept the action moving and supported our romantic pair. They have created their own fate, far less depressing than Puccini where they both die in Louisiana. The couple get involved in gambling and are arrested for cheating. Manon has not forgotten des Grieux and goes to the church to seduce him away from his religious calling. This allows for the sexiest scene in all of opera: the scene at Saint-Sulpice. When des Grieux is kidnapped by his father, he goes into the religious life and orates on the meaning of life. I was worried she would have to sing from the flies, an acoustic dead spot. She is seen high above the stage holding a large bunch of balloons and then floats down to the floor. The staging of Manon's gavotte is the highlight of the production. After des Grieux's departure, Manon takes up with one of the old men. Massenet focuses on the relationship between des Grieux and Manon, a much more romantic and appealing approach. And when she attempts to escape her keeper, he has her arrested and shipped to America. In Puccini we go immediately to Manon living with one of the two old men as the result of her brother's dealings. In Massenet we see des Grieux and Manon living together and see that their separation was caused by the elder des Grieux kidnapping of his son.
There was just a lot of meaningless milling around until Manon and des Grieux arrive. In our production virtually all the characters are introduced in the first act but no effort was made to clarify who they were and how they relate to the story. In both versions there are rich old men who want Manon. In Puccini Lescaut is Manon's brother while in Massenet he is her cousin. In our production she looks like Eliza Doolittle. To begin Massenet's heroine arrives in town on the "coach" on her way to the convent.
I find it helpful to contrast the plot of this opera with Puccini's Manon Lescaut. Last night was the fourth performance of Massenet's Manon at the San Francisco Opera.
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