Fleming's 'Manon' struts star power

NEW YORK -- "Manon" is another feather in Renee Fleming's cap -- or more precisely, her hair: a big red feather in the third act and a white plume in the fourth.

Singing and acting with touching passion, Fleming commands the stage in Massenet's story of the rise and fall of the heroine, who captivates Parisian aristocracy with her unmatched beauty.

Opera often requires a certain suspension of belief, and no one attending the opening of the Metropolitan Opera's revival on Tuesday night would mistake the 46-year-old Fleming for being 15, Manon's age when she makes her entrance. The difference doesn't detract from the drama.

Fleming, who has called Manon one of her favorites roles, has one of the era's glorious voices, a shimmering sound that is able to sustain prolonged notes of beauty. There were a few notes that went astray, but the title role requires difficult switches from dramatic power to coloratura leaps. She earned her biggest ovation for the famous third-act "Gavotte," one of the great soprano star turns in French opera.

The Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production, which Fleming also appeared in eight years ago, outfits Manon, after she joins society, in a white wig and gaudy gowns: a red one for the Cours-la-Reine festival, where she playfully points her fan and walking stick. Fleming's shimmering black fourth-act frock was about as wide as the height of Jean-Paul Fouchecourt, the diminutive French tenor who sang Guillot de Morfontaine.

She was surrounded by much of the same cast that appeared in the 2001 Paris Opera revival, which has been released on DVD. Tenor Marcelo Alvarez was her lover, the Chevalier des Grieux, and Jean- Luc Chaignaud sang her cousin, Lescaut. As in Paris, Jesus Lopez- Cobos conducted.

Alvarez was charming as des Grieux, who intercepts Manon on her way to a convent and wants to marry her, only to be thwarted and attempts to become a priest before their love is rekindled. His second-act love duet with Fleming had uncommon intensity.

Fouchecourt was appropriately oily as Guillot, who is turned down by Manon at the start of the opera and arranges for des Grieux's arrest during the fourth-act gambling-hall scene, which sets up Manon's downfall.

Lopez-Cobos conducted a colorful, idiomatic performance that was well-paced.

With "Manon" and Bryn Terfel in Verdi's "Falstaff" later this week, the Met is bringing out some early star power.

On the Net: www.metopera.org

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