On the minus side, any contemporary rendering of a slight-ish melodrama adapted from Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel goes against the grain of the depicted attempts to send our pleasure-loving young heroine ...

Kristine Opolais in Act 2 of ‘Manon Lescaut’ (all photos by Ken Howard, courtesy Metropolitan Opera) (click to enlarge) The Met’s new production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, directed by Richard Eyre, ...

From the Met’s new Manon Lescaut. Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera The beauty of certain sturdy operas is that they can survive just about any directorial manhandling if the singing is good enough ...

It's set in early 18th Century France—and Louisiana. Puccini felt that he could bring true Italian passion to the tale, and indeed he did. Though it’s an early work, it contains much of the rich, ...

On November 24, 2019, San Francisco Opera presented Giacomo Puccini's third opera, MANON LESCAUT with two spectacularly large-voiced singers, Liana Haroutounian and Brian Jagde. In a most forthright ...

First impressions are important, but they shouldn't lead to snap judgment. It is usually wiser to stop and think, but in the world of opera – especially Puccini – lovers tend to fall in love at first ...

Giacomo Puccini was right on time. With Italy’s greatest opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi, in the twilight of his career, it appeared the country’s status as an operatic epicenter might end with the ...

Kent has taken on the laudable task of updating the opera, moving the action away from its 18th century setting to find contemporary resonances. But there are big problems: no one sends their ...

When Jonathan Kent’s production of Manon Lescaut first appeared in 2014, the performances of Kristīne Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in the lead roles were universally praised, but opinion was more ...