Manon Lescaut

by Giacomo Puccini
The Metropolitan Opera House

Doesn't this picture say it all: frills and passion, beauty, fully involved, but distant? Swept up, but maybe vain?

The soprano Karita Mattila at the Met, in any role, shouldn't be missed. Unbelievable in nearly everything she's tackled in the past few years, she was amazing again this past Wednesday. Her Janacek is off the charts, but her Manon Lescaut was certainly nothing to sniff at.

I hadn't heard of this opera, not really. Apparently, it was the one that put Puccini on the map. In the program notes it mentioned that it was a story he really wanted to do. As there was already a popular Manon out there, he was encouraged to just leave the story alone and find something else. But, he persisted...and the rest is history.

A quick synopsis:

Act I, Manon Lescaut is a young, beautiful woman on her way to becoming a nun when she stops off at a hotel for the night in a small village in France. Her beauty is remarkable and she is instantly wooed by a young student named, in short, Des Grieux. There is instant attraction, more on his part, but I suppose not any less on her part. Another suitor appears, an older, rich man who plans to sweep her away at the end of the night. Hearing of the plan, the two young lovebirds run away together to Paris on their own.

Act II opens in Paris in Manon Lescaut's lavish bedroom. She spent several months with the student, but was finally seduced away by the older, rich man to become his lover and in exchange she is amply rewarded. Her vanity is clearly on display, as is her youthful impertinence and undisguised greed for luxury. She has sold out true love for her present life. Her brother stops by and decides to stir up some trouble and send over Des Grieux to watch how it will all play out. Des Grieux comes over and they make up, and just as they are making up in her bed the rich, old man comes in and catches them. They must leave, but not before Manon tries to take everything with her. In her greed, she packs up too late and the Paris police come in and find her to be a thief.

Act III finds her in prison, Des Grieux and the brother are planning her escape. But, alas they are too late. She is to be sent off to America. Des Grieux makes an excellent case that his life is over without her and he, too, gets on the ship to America.

Act IV, Manon and Des Grieux are in the middle of an American desert where Manon will slowly die, a victim of her vanity and love of luxury, with the loving Des Grieux by her side.

Matilla gave this performance a full body effort. Every word is accompanied by a fully committed movement or gesture. And, from where I was sitting--she is ageless, but very, very young.

I suppose as I was writing this out I realized that many people feel they make this choice of love or money often with their jobs. There is a modern dilemma in her choice and we make it all the time (some of us) even though we don't see it as a choice between the handsome, dashing and loving young man vs. the older, established, doting but not loved older man. We choose financial safety and the allusion of security over some of our more exotic dreams about what we could be doing with our time, only at the end to never fully live in one realm or the other.

Some side notes about the production, the sets were quite nice. This production is obviously one of the older ones, but the attention to detail in the first three acts was tremendous. The bedroom scene deserves a special word, as it caused a deserved gasp when the curtain came up. It was really breathtaking.

I tend to almost constantly think the Met choir could use some work. They never sound like one voice to me, it almost always sounds sloppy next to the soloists. I have failed to be impressed at anything the choir has done in recent years. The sheer number of extras on the stage serves as a distraction the first few times you see them in one of these big productions, but musically you never walk away saying, "Weren't they grand?"

This was an operatic treat overall. I've made no mention of the tenor who played Des Grieux who had a really fine voice, even after an announcement at the beginning of the opera that he was feeling sick and hoped that the audience would grant him some sympathy if things didn't work out. No sympathy needed, his singing was strong, although his acting wasn't up that of Mattila. I long to see the singer who is. But, his singing was quite companionable, even when sick.

Sorry for you if you missed it. Maybe, next year when hopefully this great soprano will find another way to do some more Janacek.