MANON: Royal Opera House Live (15)
Thursday 3rd May 2018 @ 7:15PM
[£12-£16] Buy tickets online or [box office: 01428 642 161]
Manon’s brother Lescaut is offering her to the highest bidder when she meets Des Grieux and falls in love. They elope to Paris, but when Monsieur G.M. offers Manon a life of luxury as his mistress she can’t resist. With the Lescauts’ encouragement Des Grieux cheats at cards in an attempt to win Monsieur G.M.’s fortune. They are caught. Manon is arrested as a prostitute and deported to New Orleans, followed by Des Grieux. On the run, Manon dies from exhaustion.
Kenneth MacMillan’s source for Manon was the 18th-century French novel already adapted for opera by Massenet and Puccini.
The premiere was given on 7 March 1974, with the lead roles danced by Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell. The ballet quickly became a staple of The Royal Ballet’s repertory, and a touchstone of adult, dramatic dance.
MacMillan found new sympathy with the capricious Manon and her struggle to escape poverty. Designs by his regular collaborator Nicholas Georgiadis reflect this, depicting a world of lavish splendour polluted by miserable destitution. MacMillan’s spectacular ensemble scenes for the whole Company create vivid, complex portraits of the distinct societies of Paris and New Orleans. But it is Manon and Des Grieux’s impassioned pas de deux – recalling the intensity of MacMillan’s earlier Romeo and Juliet – that drive this tragic story, and make Manon one of MacMillan’s most powerful dramas.
APPROXIMATE RUNNING TIME: 2 HOURS 35 MINUTES, INCLUDING TWO INTERVALS
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THE NUTCRACKER: The Royal Ballet (12A)
Tuesday 12th December @ 7:15pm
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RUSALKA: The Royal Opera (12A)
Wednesday 24th January @ 6:45pm
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DEAR ENGLAND
Thursday 25th January @ 7:00pm
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MANON: The Royal Ballet (12A)
Wednesday 7th February @ 7:15pm
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VANYA
Wednesday 28th February @ 8:00pm
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MADAMA BUTTERFLY: The Royal Opera (12A)
Tuesday 26th March @ 7:15pm
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MACMILLAN TRIPLE: The Royal Ballet (12A)
Tuesday 9th April @ 7:15pm
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SWAN LAKE: The Royal Ballet (12A)
Wednesday 24th April @ 7:15pm
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CARMEN: The Royal Opera (12A)
Wednesday 1st May @ 6:45pm
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THE WINTER’S TALE: The Royal Ballet (12A)
Wednesday 22nd May @ 7:15pm
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MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: Sadler’s Wells & Universal Music UK (12A)
Thursday 30th May @ 7:20pm
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ANDREA CHENIER: The Royal Opera (12A)
Tuesday 11th June @ 7:15pm
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