Ballet in three acts (1974)
Manon (La Scala Étoile Nicoletta Manni) – a winsome young peasant girl – loves life and cannot resist the pleasure it offers her. Her brother Lescaut (Nicola del Freo) sees her as a bargaining chip; for old Monsieur G. M. (Gabrielle Corrado) she's an object of desire; for the student Des Grieux (Reece Clarke) she's pure and simple love.
MacMillan’s exhilarating and engaging ballet gives new life to the character created by Prévost and popularised through opera, delineating the allure and tragedy of the protagonist and crafting splendid male roles. Fifty years after its debut, it has lost none of its dramatic and theatrical power.