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Manon, a Very Human Heroine Vienna
Staatsoper
06/02/2026 - & June 9, 20*, 21, 2026
L’Histoire de Manon
Kenneth MacMillan (choreography & staging), Jules Massenet (music), Martin Yates (arrangements, orchestration)
Laura Fernandez Gromova (Manon), Kentaro Mitsumori (Des Grieux), Giorgio Fourés (Lescaut), Chiara Uderzo (Lescaut’s mistress), Igor Milos (Monsieur G.M.), Franziska Wallner-Hollinek (Madame), Andrés Garcia Torres (Prison warden), Ensemble & corps de ballet of Wiener Staatsballett
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Ermanno Florio (conductor)
Peter Farmer (sets & costumes)
I. Milos, L. Fernandez Gromova, G. Fourés (© Ashley Taylor)
Scotland’s Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s L’Histoire de Manon, based on the work of Abbé Prévost, created for the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden in 1974, parallels John Cranko’s Onegin (1965). The latter is based on Pushkin’s Evgeny Onegin and was made into a ballet in 1965, decades after being known as a popular opera by Tchaikovsky. In the case of Manon, it had been first made into an opera by several composers including Auber, Puccini and Massenet. As Cranko chose to make a ballet on Eugene Onegin using music by Tchaikovsky other than music from the homonymous opera, MacMillan chose to make a ballet using music by Massenet other than music from the composer’s opera Manon. MacMillan was wise not to use the opera’s music, as it would have relegated the ballet to being a mere curiosity, being derivative of the opera. Instead, it’s a fascinating stand alone work with much merit.
MacMillan chose various less familiar works by Massenet, avoiding the French composer’s other famous opera Werther (1892) and using ballabile passage from Le Roi de Lahore (1877), Le Cid (1885), Thaïs (1894), Sapho (1897), Cendrillon (1899), Grisélidis (1902), Ariane (1906), Don Quichotte (1910) and Cléopâtre (1914). Other sources are some of Massenet’s songs and orchestral pieces. In 1974, few knew these works, though today many could recognize the passages from Don Quichotte and Cendrillon, works that are increasingly performed more frequently. What is truly astounding is how ballabile these disparate pieces are and how perfectly they suit the action they are allocated.
MacMillan’s ballet masterfully translates Abbé Prévost autobiographical novel into a neoclassical dance language in the style that continues to define British ballet. In exquisite pas de deux, Des Grieux and Manon embody their passionate love affair; in pas de trois and ensemble scenes, the manipulation of the woman (or women) is vividly portrayed. Manon’s brother, Lescaut, is a man who could be called Epstein today, sexually exploiting women for his own financial gain. Monsieur G.M., a more sordid predator than either Guillot de Morfontaine or Monsieur de Brétigny in Massenet’s opera, provides a sinister antagonist. Finally, an additional character, Madame, a sort of Ghislaine Maxwell, is created in the ballet, partly to provide comic relief.
The character of Manon remains on the most fascinating in opera and ballet. This is due to the realism of the character, a heroine with all her foibles; her love of luxury and diamonds render her more realistic than other heroines who are treated like saints.
It is fortunate that the dancers in the present production have been coached by Alessandra Ferri, who had worked with Kenneth MacMillan as a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet. Laura Fernandez Gromova inhabits her role as sixteen year old Manon, drawing the audience in her interplay between innocence and cunning. Kentaro Mitsumori convinces as the ardent young lover who is drawn into a web beyond his capacities due to his love for Manon. Much more than in Massenet’s opera, Manon is a corrupting influence that leads her beau into theft and even murder. Indeed, MacMillan is said to have drawn his inspiration from Henri‑Georges Clouzot’s film, Manon (1949) and Jean Aurel’s Manon 1970 (1968) starting Catherine Deneuve, both somewhat in the Noir genre.
Franziska Wallner-Hollinek’s Madame varies between the stiff and austere guardian of Monsieur G.M.’s harem of girls and jovial bon vivante when she indulges in drink, provided much needed comic relief. As Lescaut’s lover, Chiara Uderzo, poised and elegant, provides a more mature feminine touch than Manon’s femme enfant. Giorgio Fourés manages to be detestable from his first appearance as Manon’s pimping brother. His facial expressions and rougher moves achieve that effect. Even when he is drunk, he manages to be more annoying than funny. Igor Milos as Monsieur G.M. is a character role that is not technically demanding, yet in his introduction to Manon at the beginning of the ballet, Milos’s pas de deux with Fernandez Gromova effectively shows Manon as a coveted morsel rather than a young woman. It is to be noted that in this production, Monsieur G.M. kills Manon’s brother. Indeed, the ballet Manon is more Noir than any of the operatic versions.
Manon is deported to New Orleans as a prostitute; Des Grieux accompanies her. The pathos of the other deported prostitutes is as heart wrenching as in a similar scene in Puccini’ s opera. The women are portrayed as mad by using a hand move that insinuates both madness and despair. When the prison warden discovers Manon, he wants her for himself. Andrés Garcia Torres interprets the brutality with unflinching harshness: the rape is not glossed over, but depicted starkly and almost shockingly. Des Grieux can only free her by stabbing the rapist. For the first time, Manon through the bracelet the warden had given him, Manon finally understands morality. Alas, it’s too late. Stunned by his crime, he and Manon barely manage to escape. A shadow of her former self, Manon conjures images from her life that accompany her to death in her lover’s arms. The fragility and despair of this scene is more powerful than in any of the operatic versions.
Ossama el Naggar
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