Manon Lescaut – York Theatre Royal

Music: Giacomo Puccini

Libretto/Director: Jude Christian

Conductor: Gerry Cornelius

English Touring Opera mount two extended tours a year, each taking two operas to towns and cities which, by and large, are not serviced by an opera company. In recent years the company has frequently shone in original takes on traditional operas, but surely things have gone too far with a version ofManon Lescaut which left the bemused York audience appreciative of the performers, but unsure whether they had actually seenManon Lescaut.

In fairness to Jude Christian it is an opera which leaves huge holes in Abbe Prevost’s story for the audience to fill. Act 1 is the first meeting of Manon and her brother with the two men she becomes involved with, Des Grieux and Geronte, the name a give-away for the elderly man of influence. We leave out the months she spends with Des Grieux and move on to Act 2 where she is living with Geronte at which point a resumption of her liaison with Des Grieux results in her arrest. In Act 3 she is in prison and transported, Des Grieux insisting on joining the crew, and in Act 4 she dies accompanied by Des Grieux in the deserts of North America.

Perhaps the fact that some five librettists were involved may explain a lot, but they were headed by the distinguished Luigi Illica, so often Puccini’s librettist. It does seem presumptuous for Christian to assume sole authorship, particularly when her libretto is hardly a success. Some lines are barely singable, some crashingly banal (was that “Hang on! Manon!”?), and she makes no attempt to impose some structure on the whole. For instance, the first scene is moved from a town square with inn to a swimming pool, but there are still enquiries as to whether people are staying overnight.

But the major problem lies in the direction. Christian is obsessed with water (Manon dies through lack of….), so the opera begins with an unfortunate chorus member being drenched with the contents of a huge flask, the television at Geronte’s shows water cascading from fountains, etc., and there in the desert Des Grieux drags on a trolley with six carboys – empty of water, wouldn’t you know? There is also heavy symbolism with gold – ornaments, curtains, whatever. The chorus members are all in fancy dress and inclined to scurry about like little furry animals. Eventually Manon and Des Grieux are alone in the desert and the final scene can be played straight – except for an appearance by Manon’s doppelganger and then, at the very end, the return of the chorus with flowers for Manon – still as grotesque a mix as ever.

So is there anything to enjoy? Musically the evening offers a great deal more. Gerry Cornelius inspires a splendidly animated reading, the orchestra always lively and precise and all the principals delivering worthwhile performances. Jenny Stafford as Manon has to fight against a blue wig and an unfortunate dress, but delivers exciting singing in the opera’s telling moments, even if she makes less mark in the quieter passages. Aidan Edwards (Lescaut) and Edward Hawkins (Geronte) give sterling performances, though it’s impossible to take seriously a Geronte in a pink suit and wide-brimmed hat. In the early stages Brenton Spiteri makes his mark as a lively Edmondo stirring up the chorus. Best of all is Gareth Dafydd Morris, fielding a splendid Puccinian tenor and seeming to take the whole thing seriously.

It’s by no means uncommon to come out of an opera feeling that the musical values could have been better served by a different production, but seldom is the disparity between music and drama as marked as here.

Reviewed on 19th April 2024. Touring nationwide.