‘Manon Lescaut’ dark but enjoyable
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, January 20, 2005
SEATTLE – Manon Lescaut wants it all – money, nice things and true love – and she wants it now.
But as we know, life doesn’t always work that way, and that’s true for the tragic heroine of the Puccini opera, the current production at Seattle Opera.
“Manon Lescaut,” Puccini’s first major success, has a melody-rich score and some juicy arias and duets for its principals, hallmarks of the great Puccini operas that would come later.
The story is pure melodrama, one that opens in high spirits but turns dark over the course of its four acts.
“Manon” is based on an 18th century French novel, and the sets and costumes (from Montreal Opera) are true to that period of powdered wigs, wide hoop skirts and ruffled shirts.
Manon Lescaut is 18. She’s pretty and from a good family, and she wants more from life than the convent her father has in mind and to which her brother, Lescaut, is taking her.
Fate intervenes: A poor student, Chevalier des Grieux, catches her eye. So does a rich old lecher named Geronte di Ravior. Manon opts for love and elopes with Des Grieux to Paris. But she quickly learns you can’t live on love, and Manon dumps Des Grieux and moves in with Geronte and the good life in Paris.
She’s living large, but bored with the rich old man and his friends. Des Grieux shows up again, Manon repents and their love blooms anew. As they sing of their love and plan their escape, Manon takes the sensible precaution of stuffing her bag with jewels.
It’s at this moment that the old man appears. The lovers are caught and Manon is arrested as a thief and a prostitute and sentenced to deportation to the wilderness of the Louisiana territory in America.
At the last moment, Des Grieux joins her on the voyage. The final act finds them wandering in a barren landscape. Manon dies from exhaustion and thirst, locked in a final lover’s embrace.
While the story darkens, the opera got better at Saturday’s opening night performance as the singers warmed up and the vocal challenges grew over four bracing acts.
“Manon,” with its dense orchestration, requires big voices that can carry above the orchestra and still caress Puccini’s lovely melodies. Seattle Opera has that in its principal singers: soprano Carol Vaness as Manon and tenor Jay Hunter Morris as her lover Des Grieux (with Victoria Litherland and Ted Lee singing the roles in the alternate-cast productions).
Vaness, whose long association with Seattle Opera goes back two decades, attacked the role with gusto in a performance that saw her go from a high-spirited girl to a tragic woman with superb acting, the work of a seasoned pro.
She was in full command vocally, too, handling all the top notes with ease, then sending chills down the spine with her burnished low notes, muted sobs that told of her misery.
Puccini wrote a famously difficult part for the lead tenor with lots of top notes. Jay Hunter Morris, while vocally up to the challenge, took some time to settle into and warm to the part.
The rest of the class was top notch: baritone Earle Patriarco as Lescaut, bass Arthur Woodley as Geronte and tenor Doug Jones, who handled three different roles with aplomb.
The Seattle Opera Chorus, one of the great treasures of this company, was in top form, and this production is doubly blessed by having conductor Antonelle Altermandi in the pit. The Milan-born conductor made the most of Puccini’s lyric score, making this opera a pleasure to attend even if you kept your eyes shut.
Rozarii Lynch photo
Carol Vaness and Jay Hunter Morris star in Seattle Opera’s “Manon Lescaut.”
Review
“Manon Lescaut”: A Seattle Opera production through Jan. 29 at McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. Sung in Italian with English captions. $40-$123, 206-389-7600, www.seattleopera.org.
Review
“Manon Lescaut”: A Seattle Opera production through Jan. 29 at McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. Sung in Italian with English captions. $40-$123, 206-389-7600, www.seattleopera.org.
