English National Ballet - Manon - National Tour & London, 2018/9

[Sim]

Am seeing them Saturday night, Richard, so do let us know what you think.

[Fonty]

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Thanks for these reviews! Looking forward to Dronina and Hernandez this afternoon.

 

Me too.

[capybara]

Thank you Irmgard and Sim for your great reviews, not least because, taken together, you have saved others of us the need to write at length 😃

 

I'm firmly in the "wasn't Alina AMAZING" camp. I have seen her dance Manon four times this season and each one has been different - so natural, so 'in the moment'. Kudos to Joseph Caley for a really good performance too. Jeffrey Cirio was, for me, a more successful Lescaut than a Siegfried but he has a rather set facial expression which doesn't always match his fine dancing and characterisation.

 

Some people around me were struggling with what were, for them, different sets; but I think that they give the ballet a fresh, more modern feel which I rather like.

 

By the way, wasn't Francesca Velicu as the boy/girl in black at Madame's absolutely gorgeous?

 

[RuthE]

2 minutes ago, capybara said:

By the way, wasn't Francesca Velicu as the boy/girl in black at Madame's absolutely gorgeous?

 

 

YES!

 

I agree with Sim's point about the rather fast tempi.  I found at times Caley suffered particularly from them, making certain steps look rushed-through and perfunctory.

[Mummykool]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

Some people around me were struggling with what were, for them, different sets; but I think that they give the ballet a fresh, more modern feel which I rather like.

 

By the way, wasn't Francesca Velicu as the boy/girl in black at Madame's absolutely gorgeous?

 

 

I thought Francesca was lovely too Capybara. However the lady next to me had no idea why she was in a different costume. I didn't mind the different costumes/sets in general, but in this case, unless you knew why she was dressed differently, the whole effect was lost. Costume adds to the narrative of a ballet and, in that particular case, the new design really doesn't work.

I thought Alina was amazing but was not so convinced about Joseph Caley. I agree with Ruth E that steps tended to look rushed as if he couldn't hold the balance or stretch out far enough in longing. It was the fact he smiled the entire way through Act 1 that put me off as I always thought Des Grieux was a serious and studious young man. However, he totally won me over in the final act in which he really went for it. 

I also thoroughly enjoyed Jeffrey Cirio's Lescaut. He won my heart by remembering to stay drunk throughout the brothel scene which I found as something of a rarity. It has often amused/annoyed me that after the comic solo and PDD, most Lescauts I've ever seen miraculously sober up for the rest of that scene.

Glad we have tickets to see it all again.....

Edited January 17, 2019 by Mummykool
text added

[Sim]

50 minutes ago, Mummykool said:

 It was the fact he smiled the entire way through Act 1 that put me off as I always thought Des Grieux was a serious and studious young man.

Indeed he is....until he meets Manon.  First love, probably first sex.....what young man, who most probably knew nothing about either, wouldn't have a big grin on his face having experienced both??!!  DG IS very serious and bookish when he first appears, but the whole point is that he is so smitten with Manon that he drops his book, his studiousness and everything else just to be with her.  His joy and abandon are in real contrast to his demeanour when he first arrives onstage.  For me, the contrast really worked.   He made me understand why he would risk everything for this girl. Love does strange things to people....! 

[Mummykool]

47 minutes ago, Sim said:

Indeed he is....until he meets Manon.  First love, probably first sex.....what young man, who most probably knew nothing about either, wouldn't have a big grin on his face having experienced both??!!  DG IS very serious and bookish when he first appears, but the whole point is that he is so smitten with Manon that he drops his book, his studiousness and everything else just to be with her.  His joy and abandon are in real contrast to his demeanour when he first arrives onstage.  For me, the contrast really worked.   He made me understand why he would risk everything for this girl. Love does strange things to people....! 

 

 I see your point Sim, but I still don't think the smile matches the choreography in the beginning, especially in the solo he dances for Manon. It is certainly well placed during their pdd and afterwards, but it would have worked better for me if he hadn't started out so happy!

 

Nitpick over and very much looking forward to Sunday!

 

[Sim]

I guess it's just a different way of interpreting:  some DGs do the solo as a kind of serious yearning, and some (like Caley) do it as 'look how happy I am to have found you;  please reciprocate'!  They both work for me, depending on who is dancing. 

 

Enjoy Sunday!

[alison]

I'd forgotten just how dark this production was until I saw it last night from the rear Balcony - which is probably the farthest distance I've ever viewed it from.  At that distance, I found I was struggling to read expressions (and even faces) for much of the time, which may have affected my appreciation of the performance - I shall see whether tonight's, when I'm closer, makes a better impression.

 

I've moaned about the harlots' Act II costumes before, but the courtesans look as though they're dressed in their Sunday best for a walk in the park - and I'm not talking about assignations!  They just look really inappropriate for a brothel.

 

Anyway, enough of the gripes.  I was very impressed with Jeffrey Cirio's Lescaut: not only did he remain in character drunk throughout the brothel scene (rather than sobering up before the card game as so many do), as some have already mentioned, but his gargouillades (if such they are) in his opening solo were delineated better than those of any of the Sugar Plum Fairies I saw during the Royal Ballet's recent Nutcracker run!  I thought Joseph Caley as Des Grieux could have made more of the choreography than he actually did, but possibly the fast tempi others have mentioned may have limited there, or he might not have been fully recovered from his recent illness.  He did seem to loosen up a lot in the third act, which I found very moving from both him and Cojocaru (although I know that many people are glad to see the back of the hanging swamp vegetation from the Royal Ballet production, I did feel that from on high it would have been useful to have some sort of physical delineation between Des Grieux/Manon and her hallucinations, though).  I still thought Cojocaru very good in the role, although I'm sure I did suffer from not being able to see her expressions sufficiently well.

 

 

[Sim]

Any views on today’s matinee please?

[Mandy Kent]

Thurs 17th evening

Ive always struggled with the character of Manon and the choices she makes, the rapid decision to leave her first love Des Grieux to seek wealth with M. GM and a life of luxury. But Begona Cao opened my eyes to the lack of choice she had and her complete domination by her manipulative brother and the perverted tyrant GM. She was made to leave Des Grieux . Perhaps her head was turned a little by the luxuries on offer but it was clear that she was being coerced and pressured into submitting. My heart went out to this Manon and her young lover Des Grieux ...a very touching performance by Aitor Arrieta. 

The partnership between Cao and Arrieta was totally believable , their love and eventual despair poured out through Macmillan’s incredible choreography.

A mention for Ken Saruhashi as Lescaut, his dancing is very precise and clear cut and he is a talented actor, he carries the story along throughout , conniving and cheating his way through life. The drunk pdd with his mistress Crystal Costa was very funny. She is also a victim in this story but seems a particularly chirpy one.

Perhaps a modern day Manon would be able to shout #metoo and men like M. GM would be shamed and denounced. But that was not possible in Manon’s world and her demise left me as heart broken as Des Grieux .

 

 

[loveclassics]

15 hours ago, Sim said:

Am seeing them Saturday night, Richard, so do let us know what you think.

I'm going Saturday too, so looking forward to the performance now.  Thanks for your post, Sim, it's really lifted me with anticipation despite the gloomy post-Christmas weather and general Brexit-induced gloom!

[Richard LH]

10 hours ago, Sim said:

Any views on today’s matinee please?

 

We enjoyed it very much indeed - Mrs LH was particularly impressed with the two males leads, Hernandez (Des Grieux) and McCormick (Lescaut) although I thought "Artist" McCormick rather outshone "Lead Principal" Hernandez (as did Dronina, for me) - Hernandez danced very well but perhaps was not quite all there in the acting department, so I was not fully convinced of the  relationship  between  Des Grieux and Manon.

McCormick looks to be an exceptional young dancer - winner of ENB's Emerging Dancer 2018 - see his Corsaire PDD with Francesca Velicu 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?)v=YjkSDyX0CrI

He acted well too, including a convincing  and well-received drunken dance assisted by the adept Rina Kanehara. He is certainly one to watch - I could see him and Velicu as  a wonderful Des Grieux and Manon in years to come. Yesterday afternoon Velicu stood out impressively as one of the two "competitive courtesans". 

I thought Dronina was great: lovely dancing, and her acting becoming more intense as Manon's story unfolded,  and she really threw everything into the final  PDD - tremendous commitment.  She also gets the prize for the longest leap onto the bed, in Act 1 Scene 2, that I have seen so far!

I rather liked the pared back staging, and agree that it helped us focus on the dancing although I still prefer the RB's sets and costumes overall. I was not sure why Monsieur GM had to have an extra set of eyebrows halfway up his forehead!

Well deserved applause for the ENB Philharmonic, but the curtain calls  (as with Swan Lake last week) were far too short and we thought this disrespectful to the wonderful performers. No flowers either!

We saw Tamara Rojo  in one of the boxes, and I wondered what she thought of  her Company's interpretation of the work she  danced so well in at the RB. She should be proud. 

 

[Irmgard]

This will be a very brief post before I head back into London for the Royal Ballet dress rehearsal, thus sadly missing the debut a day early of McWhinney and Frola, before this evening’s performance by the wonderful partnership of Takahashi and Cirio.  Both performances yesterday deserve more detailed reports so I will try to do this tomorrow morning or after the evening performance by Jurgita Dronina and Isaac Hernandez.  At the matinée, Dronina enchanted me all over again with her exquisite Manon.  After their performance in Milton Keynes, I expressed a wish that Hernandez would be more rapturous and yesterday afternoon my wish came true!  Although his dancing still lacks a degree of finesse, it was filled with such passion that I found all the pas de deux breathtaking and, during the final pas de deux, I felt my heart pounding at the impending tragedy!  I am therefore looking forward to tomorrow evening’s performance to see if it reaches even greater heights!  The otherwise glorious performance by Begoña Cao and Aitor Arrieta in the evening was slightly marred by the unsupportive conducting of Orlando Jopling.  Conducting the score for the first time at the Coliseum, I do not know if he was overwhelmed by its vastness but he appeared to be conducting a concert performance of the score.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ravishing sounds coming from the pit but they lacked the impetus needed for MacMillan’s exhilarating but exhausting pas de deux.  However, nothing could diminish the heart-breaking final moments. It is just a shame that the exceptional partnership of Cao and Arrieta only received the one performance.  More about it tomorrow!

[Sim]

Thrilled to see four and five star reviews of the production and Alina across the critical board today (see Today's Links for all the reviews published thus far).  Whoever is lucky enough to see them on Sunday, you are in for a real treat!

[annamk]

1 hour ago, Irmgard said:

The otherwise glorious performance by Begoña Cao and Aitor Arrieta in the evening was slightly marred by the unsupportive conducting of Orlando Jopling.  Conducting the score for the first time at the Coliseum, I do not know if he was overwhelmed by its vastness but he appeared to be conducting a concert performance of the score.  There was absolutely nothing wrong with the ravishing sounds coming from the pit but they lacked the impetus needed for MacMillan’s exhilarating but exhausting pas de deux.  However, nothing could diminish the heart-breaking final moments. It is just a shame that the exceptional partnership of Cao and Arrieta only received the one performance.  More about it tomorrow!

 

It's funny you should say that because I thought the orchestra started very slowly and somewhat tentatively but then I was so swept up in the drama of the performances I completely forgot about it. 

 

I share other posters mixed feelings about the staging, on the one hand the stage does look a bit empty and I don't love the costumes,, on the other hand it can make me feel the RB version looks overly fussy. But as with issues with the music when the central performances are so powerful I forget about it. 

 

I have found the two performances by this partnership quite exceptional. It's not only that they are physically well suited, I feel that temperamentally they respond perfectly to each other - they have same level of commitment if that makes sense, so neither is overwhelmed by the other.

 

Begona Cao's Manon is one of the few I've seen who is utterly convincing in her initial attraction to Des Grieux, and Aitor Arrieta falls for her hook, line and sinker, the intensity between them is incredibly powerful. Her dancing is throughout is beautifully light, fluid and sensuous. 

 

The choreography made on Dowell is challenging for any dancer and more so for one as tall and long limbed as Arrieta, but he made a powerful impression in his solos and his line is a thing of real beauty. Even more remarkable was his partnering which for a young dancer (not even one schooled in MacMillan) was exceptionally good, he had the confidence to throw caution to the wind and in this he was no doubt aided enormously by Begona Cao's experience. 

 

Excellent supporting performances from Ken Saruhashi, Crystal Costa, and Junor Souza. 

 

Great to see the Coliseum packed - even if it was with half price tickets - and the audience were hugely appreciative. 

[alison]

30 minutes ago, annamk said:

 

It's funny you should say that because I thought the orchestra started very slowly and somewhat tentatively but then I was so swept up in the drama of the performances I completely forgot about it. 

 

I don't think I'd ever heard the overture taken so slowly ...

[annamk]

24 minutes ago, alison said:

 

I don't think I'd ever heard the overture taken so slowly ...

 

“Overture” that’s the word I was looking for  yes it was deadening ....

[Fonty]

3 hours ago, Richard LH said:

 

We enjoyed it very much indeed - Mrs LH was particularly impressed with the two males leads, Hernandez (Des Grieux) and McCormick (Lescaut) although I thought "Artist" McCormick rather outshone "Lead Principal" Hernandez (as did Dronina, for me) - Hernandez danced very well but perhaps was not quite all there in the acting department, so I was not fully convinced of the  relationship  between  Des Grieux and Manon.

McCormick looks to be an exceptional young dancer - winner of ENB's Emerging Dancer 2018 - see his Corsaire PDD with Francesca Velicu 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?)v=YjkSDyX0CrI

He acted well too, including a convincing  and well-received drunken dance assisted by the adept Rina Kanehara. He is certainly one to watch - I could see him and Velicu as  a wonderful Des Grieux and Manon in years to come. Yesterday afternoon Velicu stood out impressively as one of the two "competitive courtesans". 

I thought Dronina was great: lovely dancing, and her acting becoming more intense as Manon's story unfolded,  and she really threw everything into the final  PDD - tremendous commitment.  She also gets the prize for the longest leap onto the bed, in Act 1 Scene 2, that I have seen so far!

I rather liked the pared back staging, and agree that it helped us focus on the dancing although I still prefer the RB's sets and costumes overall. I was not sure why Monsieur GM had to have an extra set of eyebrows halfway up his forehead!

Well deserved applause for the ENB Philharmonic, but the curtain calls  (as with Swan Lake last week) were far too short and we thought this disrespectful to the wonderful performers. No flowers either!

We saw Tamara Rojo  in one of the boxes, and I wondered what she thought of  her Company's interpretation of the work she  danced so well in at the RB. She should be proud. 

 

 

I agree with everything you say in your review, Richard.  I loved Dronina, and I thought McCormick was terrific.  I thought he dominated every scene he was in.  I also loved the way he handled his cloak. 🙂   There was a discussion on another thread recently about how Nureyev was a master of how to wear one; McCormick certainly gave his a majestic sweep.  I was just a tad underwhelmed by Hernandez.  For me it wasn't so much his acting as his dancing.  I thought he looked as though he was struggling very slightly with some of the solos.

 

I haven't seen Manon for ages, I missed the last run by the RB.  Consequently, I cannot compare the two.  I rather liked the pared down sets, it made the dancers the focus of my attention.  Having said that, my main criticism of this performance is aimed at MacMillan himself.  There always seems to be so much going on in the background that I find it distracting. I know that MacMillan wanted everyone on stage to be in character, but I feel that sometimes this is taken too far.  There were several times when a pdd or solo was taking place, and everyone else on stage seemed to be doing something.  I was aware of people pushing, shoving, sharing a joke, fighting, flirting, limb stroking, having animated chats, coming on, going off and generally creating so much movement that I wanted to shout out, "Will you all please keep still for a moment!"  I think it is disrespectful to whoever happens to be dancing at any moment to have so much larking about going on all around.  The dancers deserve to have the full attention of the audience.  

 

I've always missed the card scene, because I am watching the dancing.  Personally, I've always thought this was a serious flaw.  This is a pivotal moment in the plot.  Why couldn't the action just focus on the card game for a moment.  I've seen this ballet many times, and I still don't know how Des Grieux is supposed to cheat, or how he gets caught.  

Edited January 18, 2019 by Fonty

[Richard LH]

Yes you do have a point about the background kerfuffle, Fonty. There is often a lot going on that can be distracting. There are moments where this is avoided, e.g.by having everyone else go to sleep, as in Act 1, or by freezing the baclground action, as at one point  in Act II (for quite a long time- it must be hard to achieve that)!. Perhaps a few more background freezes  could highlight the crucial moments in the main action. 

[Fonty]

True, Richard.  Or they could just tone it down a bit. Maybe they could just stand still and watch the dancing.  In character, of course!

[alison]

I don't remember there being any dancing during the cards scene?

[Sim]

There isn't....just some background shenanigans.  The girls all slowly drip back onto the stage, all having had too much to drink.  They all realise something is amiss with the card game, and one of the girls sneaks around, sees the card in DG's pocket and whispers to the other girls what's going on.  But they are just standing around;  there is no dancing.  MacMillan was too clever a choreographer to make a distraction during such a pivotal scene.

 

Having said that, in R&J everyone is watching Paris dance with Juliet and most people miss the moment Romeo first lays eyes on her and starts ignoring his friends as he is transfixed.  That is a pivotal moment, and it is just swallowed up.  That's why I loved it when Johan Kobborg used to walk upstage left, take a few steps forward so that everyone could see what was happening, and then went back downstage just in time to come face to face with Juliet.  That way makes so much more dramatic sense.

[Dawnstar]

Daniel McCormick is replacing Giorgio Garrett as Lescaut this afternoon so that's 3 for 3 replacements for the principal cast. Fortunately, since I last saw ENB in 2006, I don't know who either of them are so I don't mind who I see, but clearly my RB cast replacement curse is continuing!

[Fonty]

29 minutes ago, Sim said:

There isn't....just some background shenanigans.  The girls all slowly drip back onto the stage, all having had too much to drink.  They all realise something is amiss with the card game, and one of the girls sneaks around, sees the card in DG's pocket and whispers to the other girls what's going on.  But they are just standing around;  there is no dancing.  MacMillan was too clever a choreographer to make a distraction during such a pivotal scene.

 

 

Well, I've just had a conversation with Mr Fonty, and we both have it in our heads that there was dancing going on.  If there wasn't, and I am perfectly willing to accept  that we are both wrong, then whatever the background shenanigans was, it certainly distracted both of us during that scene.  

[Dawnstar]

Mime interpretation query: at the end of Act 1 Scene 1 is Lescaut seriously telling the beggars to slit the old servant's throat? I mean, I realise he's hacked off that Manon has gone off with Des Grieux but murder seems a heck of an over-reaction!

[alison]

No, I've been wondering what that bit's supposed to mean, too!

[capybara]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Daniel McCormick is replacing Giorgio Garrett as Lescaut this afternoon so that's 3 for 3 replacements for the principal cast. Fortunately, since I last saw ENB in 2006, I don't know who either of them are so I don't mind who I see, but clearly my RB cast replacement curse is continuing!

 

But McWhinney/Frola/McCormick/Choi is  great cast, Dawnstar. I think that the two women were around in 2006 but Frola is new this season (shared with National Ballet of Canada) and McCormick joined in 2017, won ENB's Emerging Dancer and is still, I think, only 19 or just 20.

[Richard LH]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Mime interpretation query: at the end of Act 1 Scene 1 is Lescaut seriously telling the beggars to slit the old servant's throat? I mean, I realise he's hacked off that Manon has gone off with Des Grieux but murder seems a heck of an over-reaction!

I didn't notice this yesterday but in the RB version he is harassed by the beggars before shuffling off. I think the mime just means "get rid of him".

[Dawnstar]

4 hours ago, capybara said:

 

But McWhinney/Frola/McCormick/Choi is  great cast, Dawnstar. I think that the two women were around in 2006 but Frola is new this season (shared with National Ballet of Canada) and McCormick joined in 2017, won ENB's Emerging Dancer and is still, I think, only 19 or just 20.

 

Oh, I was quite happy to see them. I was just rather amused that my run of not managing to see male dancers was continuing (see the ROH Winter season casting thread). However all the advertised men turned up at the ROH tonight so it looks like I've finally broken the curse!

 

3 hours ago, Richard LH said:

I didn't notice this yesterday but in the RB version he is harassed by the beggars before shuffling off. I think the mime just means "get rid of him".

 

I'm glad he's not going to be killed off!

 

After this afternoon's performance my view on Manon is split: I thought the pdds & the interactions between the main characters were also excellent & interesting. However the parts where various beggars and courtesans were disporting themselves I didn't find very interesting. I don't think this is any fault of ENB's however (apart from the amount of luridly-coloured net/tulle involved!), I imagine I'd think the same regardless of the production. It was absolutely worth sitting through the ensemble bits for the sake of the pdds. I sobbed through the final pdd.

 

I don't have anyone else to compare them with but I thought this afternoon's cast were all very good. I was particularly impressed by Frola, who I found extremely sympathetic & moving, with excellent dancing & acting. I started crying at the end at the look of sheer despair on his face just before the final pdd properly started. I was interested to see in his bio that he's also danced Lescaut, as I can't imagine that after seeing him as such a sympathetic Des Grieux. If I want to see other ENB productions in the future then I'll definitely be trying to catch him in them.

 

I can't say I liked Manon too much as a character - how she could happily go off with GM minutes after that pdd with Des Grieux I do not know, although the corrupting influence of her surroundings was obvious from the first scene - but given that I thought McWhinney portrayed her extremely well in both acting & dancing. I was surprised that Manon is portrayed as still being affectionate towards Lescaut even after he sold her to GM. I thought McCormick was excellent as Lescaut.

 

Some of the reviews & comments thought there was too much dry ice in the last scene but I thought it was effective, especially twice when McWhinney looked like she was floating on the dry ice because Frola underneath lifting her was barely visible.

[Irmgard]

The matinée audience on Thursday was of a respectable size but nowhere near what this emotional rollercoaster of a performance deserved.  Jurgita Dronina is Abbé Prévost’s “very young” Manon, looking barely more than a child as she emerges from the coach and runs towards her brother with the most dazzling of smiles.  As she gazes out at the auditorium in wide-eyed wonderment, it is as if she is seeing all of Paris laid out at her feet.  This is no ballerina pretending to be an adolescent – she simply IS.  Dronina has added so many fine details to her performance since last year that it was hard to watch anything else on stage, even when she was at the back, for fear of missing something.  Isaac Hernandez as Des Grieux responded as I have never seen him before: once he has seen her, never taking his eyes off her and, when they are finally alone, she could not take her eyes off him so that the chemistry between them was electrifying.  His solo, while still lacking a degree of finesse, was imbued with passion and everything was directed to her, with his eyes continually coming back to her.  Then a magical moment:  after he gently and tenderly kissed her hand, she let her arm linger in the air for a moment and then sank back in her chair with a feeling of sheer bliss. Then came a pas de deux with all the spontaneous, rapturous abandon I had longed to see at their performance in Milton Keynes.  As he led her gently from the chair, her gorgeous bourrées shimmered, as if quivering with excitement.  I noticed even more freedom in Dronina’s beautifully pliant upper back and neck, especially in the arabesque when she rolls her head towards him as he turns her to face him: their faces were so close it was if they were going to kiss.  In fact, there were so many moments like this in their growing intimacy and, for her, growing ecstasy as Hernandez lifted her with great passion, his very secure partnering allowing each lift to draw a more ecstatic response from her upper body, arms and head. The last lift before the final embrace was breathtaking:  as he ran forward, she did a sort of backbend with a sense of complete rapture throughout her whole body.  In the following bedroom pas de deux, Dronina’s Manon showed her childlike playfulness, so sweetly demonstrated in her gentle teasing of her travelling companion, the Old Man.  Perfectly reflecting the ravishing sounds drawn from the orchestra by Gavin Sutherland, the rapturous young love between Manon and Des Grieux developed into a deeper passion but always with a sense of youthful abandon, especially as he spun her round in the off-balance arabesque, culminating after he has left to post his letter with that delightful moment when she hurled herself onto the bed which looked completely spontaneous.  Indeed, everything about Dronina’s performance looked spontaneous, with nothing calculated or planned, bringing a wonderful freshness to MacMillan’s inspiring choreography.

 

This performance benefited from the chilling presence of Fabian Reimair’s dissolute and dangerous Monsieur GM.  If there was anyone in the audience not aware of MacMillan’s foot fetish before this performance, they would be left in no doubt about it as Reimair first fondled the legs and feet of Lescaut’s Mistress, played as a delightfully dizzy airhead by Rina Kanehara, and then became obsessed with Manon’s in an erotically charged pas de trois aided and abetted by the darkly manipulative Lescaut of Daniel McCormick.  Dronina responded with her beautifully seductive développé and exquisitely pointed feet.  She played on his obsession later in her Act II solo, when she tantalised GM with her delicious dégagés, again with those beautifully stretched feet, while Des Grieux looked on helplessly.  Before the pas de trois, there was more wonderful detail with the coat as she could not stop stroking the fur until, in a gesture as much seductive as proof of ownership, Reimair placed the necklace ever so slowly around her neck and there was a little shiver of ecstasy as she feels the diamonds touch her skin.  After the pas de trois, the way she impulsively rushed to put on the coat again was like a child with a new toy and reinforced just how young Manon is while demonstrating that it was life’s luxuries she could not forego, even if it meant abandoning her beloved Des Grieux.  Act I was brought to a stunning conclusion by a very realistic fight between an anguished  Des Grieux and Lescaut as Lescaut forces him to accept the money GM has paid for Manon.

 

I was once told by the legendary Ashton dancer, Julia Farron, that Margot Fonteyn had such an aura about her that, whenever she entered a room, all eyes would be on her, and this is the effect created by the Act II entrance of Reimair and Dronina.  And always, there was Hernandez, never taking his eyes off her and trying to attract her attention, always resolutely ignored by her until he interrupts her hypnotic dance with the other men, when her distress that GM might see them together was so real.  When they are finally alone, with DG expressing his love for her through his dancing, the moment her facade crumbles was intensely moving.  During the card game which followed, I loved the way she continually tried to distract GM from Des Grieux’s clumsy cheating by showering him with kisses and caresses in a very playful way.  After Manon and Des Grieux escape, their pas de deux was initially so carefree it was as if the interlude with GM had never happened and they were back to their magical first encounter.  Until, that is, Des Grieux tried to make her give up her bracelet and then the Manon who cannot live without luxury returned.  With Reimair as GM, his shooting of Lescaut in front of Manon was particularly chilling and ruthless, bringing forth an almost unbearable outpouring of grief from Manon.

 

As they arrive in the New World, Dronina’s Manon is already very weak and disoriented, so much so that she cannot even walk down the gangplank without the tender support of Des Grieux.  From this moment on, she cannot bear to be parted from Des Grieux and pushes away the advances of Streeter’s brutal Gaoler to return to Des Grieux each time.  After the Gaoler’s vicious sexual assault, Dronina curls into a foetal position as if to soothe her abused body.  As Manon and Des Grieux escape, having killed the Gaoler, I love the way the mists swirl onto stage with a sense of foreboding, perfectly reflecting the Dies Irae theme in the music, and Dronina makes it clear from her anguished body language that the parade of people from her past represents her hallucinations. There followed the most heartbreaking final pas de deux, full of despair yet affirming their extraordinary love for each other as Dronina again could not bear to be parted from Hernandez for a single moment, hurling her broken body into his arms with every last ounce of her strength until, following that last, intensely moving off-balance arabesque of utter despair, her body becomes achingly sad and limp as he catches her in one final lift and tenderly lays her on the ground before realising she has died.

 

Well, this really has turned into L’Histoire de Manon but I hope I have helped anyone going to the Saturday evening performance to recognise what a truly remarkable and unforgettable experience it will be.

[LinMM]

Wow Irmgard! I feel exhausted by it all and wasn't actually there!! Great Review Thankyou. 

Am really sorry to have to miss all these Manons they have all sounded wonderful. 

Its one of those ballets which if you have been really drawn into the experience everything else seems a bit trivial when you come out! 

[Dawnstar]

I'm in awe at @Irmgard's reviews. Reading them makes me feel not only that I shouldn't presume to comment on what little ballet I've seen but also to question whether I should even be seeing it, as I know I'm incapable of appreciating it in anywhere near such profound depth.