*Manon,* Jan 28 2026

I saw Massenet's *Manon* at Heartbeat Opera on Jan 28, 2026. This is one of the most popular operas, it ranks 39 on the list of the most-performed works at the Met (between *Boris Godunov* and *Hansel and Gretel,* if you care). Heartbeat's jam is taking a musty old piece like this and scaling it back, tightening it up, and doing a juicy production. I saw their productions of *Salome* and *Faust* last year, was crazy for both. I'm going to see everything they do. I'm totally hopped up for their re-imagining of *Vanessa* in May.

*Manon* was retooled for three women and four men and seven instruments in the pit (oboe/English horn, bassoon, French horn, harp, violin, cello, string bass, and keyboard, masterfully arranged by Heartbeat mainstay Dan Schlosberg). And it was cut down to 90 minutes, a big improvement over four hours. Thank you.

They made a sassy new English translation - - Manon's entrance aria is all about her being in the big city for the first time in her life. She said she was "feeling dizzy" and "in a tizzy." I was on board for that kind of silliness. The adaptation thoughtfully mapped out the transitions from spoken dialogue to singing. The text kept the cheeky tone - - at one point the rich guy told Manon that she could go back to her "knight in shining squalor."

Manon was sung by Emma Grimsley and wow, she's the real deal. The role has lots of roulades, fast notes, virtuosic flights of fancy, and she sang them effortlessly but also went the extra mile and made them sound expressive, not merely decorative. That's a sign of an artist, not just a singer. She was completely committed to the production and its occasional anachronisms - - the costuming was 19th century looking at the 18th century but in her big showpiece aria (the Gavotte) she was giving me Britney Spears! Totally on target.

The story is about a sweet young girl from the provinces who goes to the city on her way to the convent but she meets both a rich guy and a sweet young man, a nice guy. She takes the business card of the rich guy but jumps into the sack with the nice guy. She gets tired of being poor and leaves the nice guy, goes to the rich guy. She hears the nice guy is becoming a priest so she goes back to him and seduces him, clearly she felt she hadn't gone far enough in ruining his life. The rich guy ends up taking his revenge on both of them, he calls the cops and tells them she's a hooker. She's headed to prison but the nice guy smuggles her out and then of course she dies.

The nice guy. Des Grieux, was played by tenor Matt Dengler. Let me say that at the start of the show I was bothered that the singers were amplified, they all had body mikes. I didn't see why it was necessary, in such a small venue with eight instruments in the pit. But then I realized that they did this to give a more musical theatre vibe to the production, a more interior vibe to the singing. Dengler was the best at this - - he sang sometimes very quietly, more quiet than you could without a mic, and at other times full out in the style of an overwrought Euro pop power ballad. You might think that wouldn't work in an opera from 1884 but if you think of it *Les Miz* is only a few steps removed from *Manon.*

The high point of the opera is the Saint-Sulpice scene, when Manon goes to the tenor and seduces him out of the idea of becoming a priest. The scene started with campy high drama, rightfully getting laughs from the audience, but pretty quickly turned a corner and presented it in the engaging, ardent, fully invested manner in which it was intended. How do they do this? This scene also featured the most brilliant moment of staging by director Rory Pelsue. The stage was set with a pseudo altar on one end and a long brocaded runner leading to it from the other end. Manon and Des Grieux walked around the stage as per usual but then at one point Manon kicked her seduction into high gear - - she was standing in front of the altar, with Des Grieux on he other end of the stage. She stood perfectly still and sang to him, like a mermaid singing to a sailor, willing him to crash against the rocks. Des Grieux looked at her, wide-eyed and transfixed. And slowly he walked towards her along the runner, like he was a renegade spacecraft and she was the mother ship sucking him in on her tractor beam. It was a genius moment aligning the music, the drama, the staging, and the design. Nothing fancy, just creative and full of impact.

This seduction/destruction soprano/tenor business had me thinking of *Carmen,* *Traviata,* and *Lulu.* In these three cases and in *Manon,* it's a woman in charge of her sexuality who of course has to die (or better yet, be brutally murdered) at the end of the show to preserve the power of the patriarchy.

Here's a bit from the Heartbeat Saint-Sulpice scene in rehearsal:

And here's the full scene from a New York City Opera production with the greatest Manon of our time, Beverly Sills. The tenor is Henry Price, but does anyone remember him?