Manon

Laurent Pelly's new production of Massenet's sad, sensuous masterpiece was primarily intended as a vehicle for cult diva Anna Netrebko. But the evening really belongs to her des Grieux, Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo – young, relatively unknown, and making the most sensational debut to be heard at Covent Garden for some time. He's got everything the role demands – a voice that flows, terrific looks, an instinctive sense of theatre. He's entirely credible as a 20-year-old uncontrollably in love, and everything he does seems natural, from his impetuous first appearance in the Amiens courtyard, to his chilling shriek of despair at Manon's death. Netrebko's Manon is less sympathetic than most. She's too self-consciously girlie at the start, though we're also aware of innocence already mangled. Later, we're conscious of how her glamour masks selfishness and calculation. Her voice blazes, as it always did. She and Grigolo can be very torrid together. There are imperfections. Russell Braun is superb as a creepily attractive Lescaut, but some of the smaller roles aren't as incisively sung as they might be. Conductor Antonio Pappano took a while, on opening night, to reach a steamy emotional temperature. Pelly, meanwhile, transposes the opera from the France of Louis XV to the Second Empire, giving it something of the harshness of a Émile Zola novel. His understanding of the sexual dynamics is acute, but his fondness for stylisation – slanting sets to suggest moral uncertainties – all too frequently gets in the way.