The Royal Ballet, Manon

The sumptuously decadent dance drama Manon is one of two full-length ballets for which the late great choreographer Kenneth MacMillan is best remembered – the other being Romeo and Juliet. So, it makes sense that the Royal Ballet should present Manon this spring as part of the continuing celebrations of MacMillan’s profound impact on British ballet.

Manon was an instant hit when it was first performed at Covent Garden in 1974, with Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell in the lead roles. Today, 25 years after MacMillan’s death, this large-scale, detailed ballet remains a powerful staple in the repertoire.

MacMillan took his narrative from Abbé Prévost’s 18th Century French novel Manon Lescaut, and the Puccini and Massenet operas based on it.

Set in a Paris where squalor and wealth perpetually jostle against each other, the tragic story follows a pretty young woman who desires romantic love but is corrupted by sex and money.

On the way to a convent to live life as a nun, Manon falls in love with poor student Des Grieux only to be offered as a courtesan to the wealthy Monsieur G.M. by her greedy brother, Lescaut. Although initially seduced by Monsieur G.M.’s money, Manon eventually leaves him to return to Des Grieux. Their attempt to rob the old man results in their being exiled to Louisiana, where Manon finally succumbs to a swamp fever.

With not a swan, fairy or princess in sight, Manon is a gritty blockbuster of a ballet that tells a sordid story which questions notions of morality and femininity.

This season will see a huge variety of casts but the pairing of Natalia Osipova’s Manon with David Hallberg’s Des Grieux will likely sell out immediately.

A must-see for lovers of classical ballet, expect passionate pas de deux passages and substantial choreography for a numerous cast.