Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon
Ballet in three Acts (1974)
Music by Jules Massenet (1842-1912), compiled by Leighton Lucas with the collaboration of Hilda Gaunt
Orchestrated by Martin Yates
Choreography by Kenneth MacMillan
Manon – Natalia Osipova
Chevalier des Grieux – Reece Clarke
Artists of the Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House/Koen Kessels
rec. 2024, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
Opus Arte OABD7327D Blu-ray [131]
The DVD version of this new Manon received an enthusiastic review from my colleague Rob Maynard. I am somewhat less inclined to react as enthusiastically to this release as Rob did.
Manon had its premiere at the Royal Opera House back in 1974. Kenneth MacMillan put on a smashingly good production of the work for the Royal Ballet audiences. Over the years its revivals have held up pretty well despite the rather ugly sets designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. In spite of this MacMillan’s very detailed production still comes up trumps even though he is no longer around to supervise the authenticity of the staging and choreography.
The title character of Manon has to be appealing or this ballet falls flat on its panniers. Natalia Osipova is a superbly skilled dancer and she is also quite pretty but I find her Manon lacks warmth. She plays the first Act with a bit too much coyness for my taste although she recovers with a strong performance of Manon desperately struggling against fate in the final act. Her partner in this is the elegant Reece Clarke. This is a performance executed with litheness and elan. Perhaps he is just a little remote or reserved in his characterization, which makes him seem more the fairy tale Prince than the passionate, impressionable student that the young Chevalier is supposed to be
In supporting roles the chief interest here is with Gary Avis’ personification of the haughty but elegant Monsieur G.M. His sneer is fantastically caught by the cameras. Lukas Brændsrød makes a fantastically disagreeable Gaoler. However, the finest performance of all comes from Alexander Campbell as a particularly handsome Lescaut. His characterization of Manon’s brother projects a very three dimensional and complex nature, highlighting in equal measure the charm, humour and arrogance of this flawed and at times, abusive character.
The smaller roles and the ensemble of the Royal Ballet are all well rehearsed and provide plenty of amusing backdrop to the main protagonists, something which helps to mitigate against the ugly scenery.
Conductor Koen Kessels keeps the score moving along briskly which is fine in itself but one doesn’t get the impression that he has any particular affection for Massenet’s music. The orchestra plays well for him and I find nothing at all to complain about with regard to the sound engineering or the picture quality. I did think it was unfortunate for the camera director not to show Lescaut’s death scene in close-up. The camera is kept resolutely at a distance which doesn’t allow the full impact of this moment to register with the viewer.
There are several DVD and Blu-ray versions of Manon already on the market. I have not seen them all so I hesitate to make an alternate recommendation; however, I will point out that a previous version of this production with Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta (review) finds both dancers in splendid form, and they seem to have found a greater chemistry between them than do Osipova and Clarke.
Mike Parr
Previous review (DVD): Rob Maynard (November 2024)
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Other cast & production staff
Lescaut – Alexander Campbell
Monsieur G.M. – Gary Avis
Lescaut’s mistress – Mayara Magri
Madame – Elizabeth McGorian
The Gaoler – Lukas B. Brændsrød
Beggar chief – Taisuke Nakao
Courtesans – Yuhui Choe, Melissa Hamilton, Sae Maeda and Amelia Townsend
Gentlemen – Luca Acri, Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens
Clients – Harry Churches, David Donnelly, Giacomo Rovero, Christopher Saunders and Thomas Whitehead
Old gentleman – Philip Mosley
Other roles – Artists of the Royal Ballet
Nicholas Georgiadis, designer
Jacopo Pantani, lighting designer
Laura Morera, staging
Ross MacGibbon, director for the screen
Technical details
Region Code: All Regions
Picture format: 16:9 anamorphic
Sound format: LPCM 2.0 and DTS HD Master Audio
Subtitles for extra features: English, French, German, Japanese, Korean
