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On Sunday Mom and I hit our last opera of the season: Puccini's Manon Lescaut. I was surprised to find that I really, really liked it. Manon, of course, is an idiot of a character who doesn't appreciate what she's got and is really the one who screws up her own life. But the opera itself is fast-paced and full of action! So much better than the operas where some guy comes on stage and is like, "Boy I like springtime" for 20 minutes, and then three more guys come out just to say that they like springtime too, and you're like, can something happen now please? In this opera, by contrast, so much stuff happens that the description in the program looks to be in 6-point type and completely fills the page. The program notes say that Puccini based the story on a novel written in 1731, and novels do tend to be filled with action.
The singing was fantastic. Michelle Johnson was terrific as Manon, and Thiago Arancam really impressed me as Des Grieux. He just has the perfect voice for the empassioned tortured lover.
One thing we noticed was that sometimes the orchestra seemed to be drowning out the soloists, particularly in the first act. That got to be less of a problem once Manon and Des Grieux got going, but it was an issue with several of the other characters. We hadn't noticed that at the opera before.
Sets of course were lovely. There was one sort of mirrored wall that could serve to make the room bigger (during the inn courtyard party in Act 1 and in Geronte's luxurious Paris house in Act 2). It also kind of looked like a ship at dock in Act 3, and in Act 4, it just reflected back the desolation that our heroes found themselves in. I sort of liked how mangled destroyed versions of the furniture from Act 2 was cast about in Act 4, symbolizing how things have changed for Manon, but on the other hand the sets hadn't been symbolic at all up to that point, they'd been mostly realistic, so part of me was wondering what that broken gilded cabinet was doing in the middle of the wilderness. But overall, set success.
Reading the program notes, I saw that Puccini composed not only Manon Lescaut, but also Madama Butterfly and Tosca, two of my other absolute favorites. I'm thinking that I now have a favorite opera composer! This makes me even more excited about next season, because next season opens with La Bohème, one of Puccini's greatest hits.
The singing was fantastic. Michelle Johnson was terrific as Manon, and Thiago Arancam really impressed me as Des Grieux. He just has the perfect voice for the empassioned tortured lover.
One thing we noticed was that sometimes the orchestra seemed to be drowning out the soloists, particularly in the first act. That got to be less of a problem once Manon and Des Grieux got going, but it was an issue with several of the other characters. We hadn't noticed that at the opera before.
Sets of course were lovely. There was one sort of mirrored wall that could serve to make the room bigger (during the inn courtyard party in Act 1 and in Geronte's luxurious Paris house in Act 2). It also kind of looked like a ship at dock in Act 3, and in Act 4, it just reflected back the desolation that our heroes found themselves in. I sort of liked how mangled destroyed versions of the furniture from Act 2 was cast about in Act 4, symbolizing how things have changed for Manon, but on the other hand the sets hadn't been symbolic at all up to that point, they'd been mostly realistic, so part of me was wondering what that broken gilded cabinet was doing in the middle of the wilderness. But overall, set success.
Reading the program notes, I saw that Puccini composed not only Manon Lescaut, but also Madama Butterfly and Tosca, two of my other absolute favorites. I'm thinking that I now have a favorite opera composer! This makes me even more excited about next season, because next season opens with La Bohème, one of Puccini's greatest hits.
