Manon Lescaut

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Image courtesy of Liceu

Manon Lescaut was Puccini’s third opera and the work that brought him his first major success. It earned him lasting fame and marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa with whom he would later create three masterpieces: La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904).

When Manon meets the young student Des Grieux, they fall in love and run away together. But when the elderly Geronte offers Manon a life of wealth and luxury, she hesitates and chooses pleasure. Unable to forget Des Grieux, they attempt to escape again, but Geronte has Manon arrested. They flee once more, unknowingly heading toward disaster. Manon collapses from exhaustion and dies in Des Grieux’s arms, confessing her love for him. All efforts are in vain.

The score, sumptuous and rich in color, is marked by youthful vitality and filled with glorious melodies: from the passionate duet of Des Grieux and Manon, “Vedete? io son fedele” to the overwhelming desolation of Manon’s final aria, “Sola, perduta, abbandonata” including “Donna non vidi mai” in Act I and “In quelle trine morbide” in Act II.

Àlex Ollé’s staging, originating from the Frankfurt Opera, situates the story in a contemporary context. In the introductory videos, Manon and her brother Lescaut cross a border fence as undocumented immigrants. The harassment she suffers because of her beauty and physical allure leads to abuse and exploitation. With Lluc Castells’ urban costumes and Alfons Flores’ set design, Ollé moves the characters—torn between love and doubts over virtue and pleasure—through a bus station, a pole-dance club where Manon is the star and claustrophobic cells as a prelude to deportation. The constant presence of giant letters spelling LOVE serves as a reminder of the opera’s unpredictable romantic passion.

Asmik Grigorian, one of today’s finest sopranos, stars in a remarkable vocal and dramatic performance. Innocent and vulnerable, the Manon envisioned by Ollé expresses, alongside American tenor Joshua Guerrero, both frivolity and steadfast passion with intense emotion. A true highlight of the Gran Teatre del Liceu’s season.

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