Review of Manon Lescaut  Opera in Four Acts. 

Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre Cardiff

Music: Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Ruggero Leoncavallo, M.Praga, D.Oliva,L.Illica, G.Giacosa and G.Riccordi

After the novel by Abbé Prévost

Director: Mariusz Trelinski

Conductor: Lothar Koenigs

Reviewer: Barbara Michaels  Third Age Critic

Ratings:  [4.00]

Grand opera does not always translate well into modern times; social attitudes have changed.  So perhaps it is hardly surprising that, although technically excellent, this co-production with Teatr Wielkie – Opera Narodowa, Warsaw, and the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, fails to cut the mustard in this respect.  This despite the technology employed in fast-moving and highly-coloured video backdrops which I, for one, found interruptive to the narrative – an intrusion rather than an asset.

     This is a pity, as an immense amount of research by WNO has gone into this, the first of its three-tiered opera feste ‘Fallen Women’ (the others are the less well-known ‘Boulevard Solitude’ and ‘Traviata’ – a revival, but popular as ever).   That having been said, the wonderful music, under the baton of conductor Lothar Koenig, is a pleasure not to be missed,  as is the singing, which is also of the high standard that we have come to expect from the Welsh Nation Opera.

     Manon is no innocent in Trelinskis’production of this story of self-destruction and obsession, but a prostitute who wears high heels, a mac and dark glasses and who flaunts her body unashamedly.  Unlike Puccini’s other heroines – the virtuous Butterfly of ‘Madame Butterfly’ or the consumptive Mimi of ‘La Bohème’ - it is hard to find sympathy with a Manon who is manifestly out for what she can get from start to finish.  Fortunately for the audience, the singing of soprano Chiara Taigi as Manon is superb.  Taigi maintains a level of expertise throughout, particularly evident in the duets with her lover Des Grieux– the  penniless lover who remains faithful to her despite her abandoning him for the wealthy old roué Geronte,  sung by Welsh tenor Gwyn Hughes-Jones . Again Trelinski has chosen to translate Des Grieux from the penniless student of Puccini’s original into a city-suited business man, thus making him more of a middle-aged failure than the poor student of the original version.  However, Hughes-Jones strives, and in part succeeds, in gaining our sympathy with a melodic tenor that peaks in the great tenor aria of the opera ‘No..pazzo son’ (“No..I am mad!” Act III), and in his duets with Taigi, who matches him with a soaring soprano that copes well with  both the inherent technical difficulties and the emotional complexities of her role.

     As with all operas, there has to be a ‘baddie’ of the piece, and while historically this  is Geronte,  sung here by bass Stephen Richardson, who at times seems to be holding back from full throttle, in Trelinski’s production it is  Manon’s brother Lescaut, sung by the charismatic David Kempster, who dominates the action as the true villain of the piece.  Kempster  brings out the deeper nuances of the role in a resonant baritone full of meaning,, manifesting as a kind of Rothbart, able to manipulate both Des Grieux and the all too easily persuaded Manon, and eventually causing her downfall.

    Much to recommend it, then – but we must also question what, at the end of the day, has been gained from departing from the modus operandi of the original - Puccini’s first great opera, and an all too seldom performed masterpiece in its own right.

Runs: Until February 27^th, then touring.

Tags:  Manon Lescaut, Puccini, Lothar Koenigs, Mariusz Trelinski, Chiara Taigi, David Kempster, Stephen Richardson, Welsh National Opera, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.