Luisotti versus Wagner

Puccini's Manon Lescaut promised to be extraordinary: first, for being the opera that inaugurated the Teatro Real season; second, for its secular silence at the 'Foro' and, finally, for a star like Sondra Radvanovsky at the helm of the performance. It remained, however, a "not bad," but, above all, a "much improvable" effort. Surely, the person most responsible for this 'ups and downs' was the artistic director of the co-production with Oper Köln, Carlos Wagner. Not so much for a staging that turns out to be more aesthetic than functional, as for a direction of actors that made nothing hold up with a minimum of solidity; not because of the imposture in every gesture, which was also there, but because of a childish conception of the characters. Nicola Luisotti fought against the Venezuelan Wagner with his efficient and silent instrument. So much so that the greatest applause of the evening was for him and the Teatro Real orchestra just after performing the famous Intermezzo, which they moved from the beginning of the third act to the start of the fourth, with a projection of the vast sea as a visual element to bear witness to the journey that Des Grieux and Manon make toward their desert and North American destiny. This magical moment made a packed-to-the-rafters Teatro Real erupt, which seemed to be to unleash the audience's desire to applaud, which had been meager, and those that did arise, a bit too subdued.

As for Michael Fabiano's Des Grieux, tasked with replacing Brian Jagde, it was clear that the character was a bit too much for him, right from the complicated and demanding Donna non vidi mai, which he resolved with some struggle and a very elementary dramatic interpretation that made his credibility in the role of a seducer unlikely. It goes without saying that Sondra Radvanovsky fulfilled her task with distinction, with a high-level Sola, perduta, abbandonata, but it is no less true that the costume she was assigned in the second act not only did her no favors, but also evidenced and accentuated that the singer's age did not correspond, not only with the character, but neither with the manners, which were neither apt, nor by any means plausible. Better in the portrayal, both of Lescaut, played by Lucas Meachem, and even the Geronte of Pietro Spagnoli. The chorus had to do too many things besides singing, a fact that also did not help the ensemble to stop being so artificial.

We could keep scratching, especially in the staging, with a ridiculous pole dancing sequence of cringeworthy embarrassment and a reference to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which intended to make Manon an impossible Lorelei Lee. And so on, successively.