Si, mi chiamano Manon

For an opera with so many ‘greatest hits’, Manon has been surprisingly neglected at Covent Garden in recent years. The last new production was in 1987 and that hasn’t been revived since 1994. Antonio Pappano did, of course, make a memorable recording in the early 2000s with Gheorghiu and Alagna, and it was presumably his enthusiasm that prompted this staging, intended to star the new opera couple Netrebko and Villazon. The latter dropped out months in advance, and was quickly replaced by Vittorio Grigolo, who based upon his performance in London may soon fill Villazon’s shoes as the hysterical tenor of our times.Laurent Pelly’s production is an unexpectedly low-key affair: indeed, for someone so acclaimed his for witty, colourful spectacles, it is striking quite how minimalistic and grey the staging actually is. Loosely updated to the…