Opera Australia – Massenet’s Manon. February 13, 2010.

Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Circle (Seat N25, A$115).

Story. Manon, on her way to a convent, is persuaded by Des Grieux to run off with him to Paris. They are eventually tracked down by Manon’s nephew Lescaut and admirer De Bretigny. They tell Manon Des Grieux will be kidnapped by his father who disapproves of their relationship, and De Bretigny promises Manon a life of luxury. Manon chooses not to warn Des Grieux and goes to De Bretigny. Des Grieux intends to become a monk at St. Sulpice. Manon goes to visit him and persuades Des Grieux to abandon his vows and rejoin her. When Des Grieux runs out of money he inherited from his mother, Manon gets him to gamble agains Guillot de Morfontaine. Guillot de Morfontaine accuses Des Grieux and Manon of cheating and calls the police on them. Des Grieux is saved by his father, but Manon is detained. On her way to deportation to the colonies, Manon is rescued by her cousin Lescaut who bribes a guard. She reunites with Des Grieux but dies in his arms.

Conductor – Emmanuel Plasson; Guillot de Morfontaine – Kanen Breen, De Bretigny – Richard Anderson, Manon – Amelia Farrugia, Le Chevalier Des Grieux – Julian Gavin.

We were hoping to eat a reasonable dinner before seeing this opera. Unfortunately I woke up from my (jet-lag) nap a bit too late, so we had to rush to the Opera House and gulped down a meat pie and a sausage roll (between the two of us) in a hurry. I did get a whopper afterwards though.

There were quite a few empty seats in the hall, which was surprising as all the other operas I attended at the Opera House were quite full. In fact we moved up three rows after the intermission. I wonder if it is the economy (supposedly Australia has a very low unemployment rate), the time (Saturday evening), or the relatively obscurity of the Opera (relatively well-known, but who knows, after all this is the first time I see it.)

The sets are quite elaborate. There are quite a few changes in scenery, all done efficiently and quietly.

Both lead players (Manon and Des Grieux) have great voices. However, most of the time they seem to need to belt out their lines. There were a few exceptions in Manon’s case, so we know she can capture the audience with soft high notes, but somehow she doesn’t do it enough (in my opinion, many passages call for it.) Even seated in the second to last row in the theater, we could hear the singers very well. Either the place has great acoustics, or they have some sound enhancement system at work. Local write-ups seem to say Farrugia is an up and coming Australian singer; and I can see that.

The story must be well-known enough that at least a couple of operas have been written based on the play. However, what we see during the opera doesn’t quite hang together well enough to get complete audience engagement. As I put it, “a lot of things are happening offstage.” Or there just not enough time to develop the characters so one can understand why they do the things they do. Also, there is quite a bit of parallel between Manon and Violetta of La Traviata. Both are pleasure-seeking women (although Manon isn’t a courtesan, even though she is accused as such), both leading men have fathers that don’t approve of the relationship, and both women end up dying. The death scene in Manon is a bit drawn out, and since there is not a lot of emotional investment in the character by the audience, I am sure many in the audience would say “just die already.”

Despite my misgivings, I enjoyed the performance.