Manon Lescaut en route to Berlin

The Mikhailovsky Theatre’s opera season will draw to a close on 30 June. On the same day, the theatre will present its final performance of Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut. As is well known, the production is a joint project with the Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin), and next season the German theatregoing public will have the chance to see German theatre director Jürgen Flimm’s version of the classic work.

The Berlin première will take place in early December. As in St. Petersburg, the première performances will be conducted by maestro Mikhail Tatarnikov. Our audiences had their first opportunity to see Puccini’s opera, based on the story by Abbé Prévost, in October 2014. This was preceded by a concert performance in May 2013, which proved that our musicians were more than ready to take on the highly complex opera score.

George Tsypin’s film noir set design moved the action of Puccini’s opera to the Golden Age of Hollywood; there is a fascinating symbiosis between the aesthetic of black-and-white cinema and the “cloying passions and boudoir aroma of the score”. In the German director’s interpretation, Manon Lescaut and the Chevalier des Grieux are aspiring actors and Geronte de Ravoir an influential film producer. The production blurs the line between the film set and the rising movie star’s real life, allowing viewers to form their own interpretations of what takes place. “Beautiful cinematic half-light, witty, off-the-wall costumes, a red convertible straight out of The Great Gatsby as a centrepiece, and the elegant minimalism of the design, just like a Hollywood studio — the hectic life on set keeps perfect time with the music”, wrote culture website Colta.ru.

The closing performance at the Mikhailovsky Theatre will feature Maria Litke (Manon Lescaut), Fyodor Ataskevich (Chevalier des Grieux), Alexander Kuznetsov (Lescaut), and Nikolay Kopylov (Geronte de Ravoir).