Manon Lescaut

Manon Lescaut was the high definition offering from the today. I was written by Giacomo Puccini who wrote some of the most beautiful operas I have ever heard.
One thing I did note in this opera was a foreshadowing of a melody which I heard someplace before. I decided that is was Madama Butterfly. I understand that he did that with other tunes also and it was kind of fun to recognize the melody.
This is information from the Met's web site.

Manon Lescaut – Puccini
Saturday, February 16, 2008 (1:00 – 4:41 pm ET)
Running time: 3 hours, 15 minutes. 2 intermissions
On the heels of her triumph in Jenůfa, Finnish phenomenon Karita Mattila adds another landmark role to her Met repertory, the free-spirited beauty Manon Lescaut. The story of the magnetic attraction between two young lovers is the perfect vehicle for the soprano’s exhilarating charisma, especially when matched by the ardent tenor of Marcello Giordani. Music Director James Levine conducts his first Met performances of the work since 1981.

Conductor James Levine; Karita Mattila, Marcello Giordani, Dwayne Croft, Dale Travis

You can download a cast sheet and snyopsis here.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly. One of the great things about these broadcasts are the little "extras" that you find out between the acts. It is also really great (being an old stage hand) to see the work that goes on back stage between acts to change the scenery.

Today's opera was conducted by James Levine and I love his smile. I also found out that he really likes the ladies. He was being interviewed by Renée Flemming (who is absolutley beautiful) and right in the middle of the interview the Maestro looked at her and told her she was "just lovely" and she was. She does a terriffic job with the interviews.

I got a big kick out of the Finnish star, Karita Mattila in her interview. She demonstrated how she had to do the splits for this role. She showed some of her warm-up exercises and all through the back stage portion you could see her bending at the waist and then she would remember that she was being filmed and would make a little exclamation like "Oh the cameras!
She kept mentioning that she was 47 years old. You can listen to her here.

The wonderful tenor Marcello Giordani was also interviewed and he has a terrific voice that matched Miss Mattila's perfectly.

There were animals involved in todays Opera and there was also an interview with the animal trainers who told how they work with the horses and dogs (today) and other animals to acclimate them to their participation in the opera. They even play opera music in the stalls. I was impressed with the fact that the animals will wait patiently back stage and when they hear "their" music they perk up and get ready to make their entrance. The trainers said they "know thier music"

All in all it was a great afternoon and if you missed it there will be an encore presentation tomorrow at 1:00 PM and since we are going to have a blizzard anyway you might as well go to the opera. ARTYAL Hugs, j

The next event is:
Peter Grimes (new production) – Britten
Saturday, March 15, 2008 (1:30 – 5:15 pm ET)
Running time: 3 hours, 45 minutes. 2 intermissions