'Manon Lescaut' is not one of Puccini's finest operas, have much more of a personal preference towards 'Tosca', 'La Boheme', 'Madama Butterfly' and 'Turandot'. Its story, while entertaining and moving, is implausible in places and due to so much of the original story being skipped also jumpy and not as coherent as Massenet's take on the opera.
Puccini's music however is simply gorgeous, the Intermezzo, deportation scene, Des Grieux's "Donna non vidi mai" and Manon's "Sola Perduta Abbandonata" being the highlights. This production gets my vote as the second worst production of 'Manon Lescaut' on DVD, with only the 2007 production being worse. For a better representation of 'Manon Lescaut', see the 1980 Met 1983 ROH productions instead.
There are good things here, all of it musically. The orchestra's playing throughout is impeccable, lush in tone and multifaceted, while Antonio Pappano wrings out every nuance of the beautiful music, like every good conductor should he lets the music breathe (important for a score that has a lot of intimate moments) yet ensures that the drama never loses lustre, bringing some fantastic energy when needed. The chorus are well-balanced and sound splendid, and while individuality in chorus work is always welcome their stage direction is overdone (particularly in the far too busy Act 1) and their acting comes over as gimmicky unfortunately.
Coming off best out of the performances are Maurizio Muraro's lecherously repellent Geronte with very characterful singing and Christopher Maltman's stylish Lescaut. Video directing and picture quality are good, sound unfortunately is unbalanced and not as resonant as it ought.
Kristine Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann have both given better performances. They both sing well, apart from Kaufmann sounding uncharacteristically strained and over-parted at the end of Act 3, but their characters are so poorly directed often, especially in Act 2, that their acting skills don't come through. Opolais has a gleaming dark beauty to her voice, which is used and phrased with great intelligence, and is heart-wrenching in the last two acts especially her harrowing "Sola Perduta Abbandonata". She however particularly suffers from bad stage direction, the innocence and girlish naivety are nowhere in sight and instead Manon comes over as too tawdry and tarty. Kaufmann has his usual chocolatey baritone-like warmth, but he seems rather reserved and too passive for Des Grieux.
Only in the last act do they show any chemistry, the final scene is heart-wrenching and the only scene that works staging-wise. The first act is too busy that they are practically apart, and both look uncomfortable in the very grotesquely staged Act 2.
Visually, this 'Manon Lescaut' is rather garish and ugly. Even for a supposedly deliberately ambiguous (morally) setting, it was very difficult ciphering when and where the production was meant to be set in without prior knowledge, and there is little in the staging that represents the period the production is set in. Personally also think that 'Manon Lescaut' is one of a number of operas that doesn't work well in modern dress, the period is quite specifically depicted in the libretto and Act 3 in particular would not be plausible by modern day standards.
Jonathan Kent's (responsible for a fine production of 'Tosca' just three years previously at the same house) staging is the biggest downfall. It only works in the last act, and even then it feels too little too late. Act 1 is far too busy that the focus of the drama is lost, Act 2 is grotesquely vulgar and Act 3 is just one big implausible anachronism. Like the recent Met production, not the same production but the same problems with that production's staging applies here too, there is a complete lack of emotional impact outside of Act 4, parts veer on the silly and bizarre, parts are irrelevant to the libretto and anachronistic to the setting of the production and in context to the story (which is set in a very specific time period), parts like the stage business during the deportation scene are gimmicky and pointless and nothing is done to make the story or setting clear to the audience. It's just empty, tacky and vulgar for no real reason and cohesion is definitely not a strong suit here.
All in all, a misfire of a 'Manon Lescaut' that promised a good deal, but delivered on very little. 4/10 Bethany Cox
