Winter Opera Saint Louis presented the St. Louis premiere of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center on January 19 and 21. The opera’s story was less involving that its music, which received an excellent performance.

The title character is a young woman whose father has sent her to a convent. At a stop along the way, two men become smitten with her: Geronte, an elderly treasurer-general, and des Grieux, a student. Geronte plans to abduct Manon, but des Grieux beats the older man to the punch. Manon and des Grieux run away together at the end of Act One.

At the start of Act Two, however, Manon is living is living in Paris in Geronte. She left des Grieux when she ran out of money. Now she is bored with life in Geronte’s luxurious home. Des Grieux visits Manon while Geronte is away. After returning home and discovering Manon with Des Grieux, Geronte  denounces her to the authorities and has her arrested. Manon’s punishment is deportation to Louisiana. Des Grieux goes with her. The lovers’ story ends in a wasteland on the outskirts of New Orleans.

The opera was based on a novel by Abbé Prévost, which “was to become the most reprinted book in French Literature, with over 250 editions published between 1731 and 1981.” In adapting the novel for the opera house, Puccini followed Massenet, whose Manon was first performed in 1884.

Premiering in 1893, Manon Lescaut was “Puccini’s third opera and his first great success.” The authorship of the libretto was “so confused…that no one was credited on the title page of the original score.” Winter Opera’s program lists five librettists.

Puccini’s music has stood the test of time better than the libretto. The score received a highly sympathetic reading from the orchestra under conductor Edward Benyas. The ensemble performed admirably under chorus master Jesse Cunningham and choreographer Ashley Ann Jones.

Zoya Gramagin as Manon and Taylor P. Comstock Grieux sang beautifully, especially in their thrilling love duets. The fine supporting case included Jonathan Stinson as Manon’s brother, Joseph Park as Geronte, Thomas M. Taylor IV as Edmondo, Jessica Barnes as the Singer, Ryan Keller as the dancing master, Joel Rogier as the sergeant, Evan Babel as the lamplighter, and Michael Oelkers as the naval captain.

Stage director Geovonday Jones organized the action well on the set that was designed by Scott Loebl and lit by Michael Sullivan. The principal set pieces were several massive rectangular columns and a large framed picture of a harbor. The columns along with the props by Laura Skroska were used cleverly in the first three acts for scenes in a public square, a luxurious house, and a prison near the seashore. Jen Blum-Tatara’s costumes and Jessica Dana’s wigs and makeup helped establish the period.

Winter Opera season concludes in March with the Victor Herbert operetta, Naughty Marietta.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Peter Wochniak, ProPhotoSTL
From the left, Zoya Gramagin as Manon and Taylor P. Comstock as des Grieux in Manon Lescaut.