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Manon

Sep 12 2010 - 2:33pm		Opera San Jose, 345 South First Street in downtown San José
What is it about French operas named after women? Elegant and passionate, Manon is the most celebrated opera to come out of France since Carmen. Massenet's exquisite 1884 masterpiece depicts the rise and fall of a beautiful young coquette. Manon is a teenager in 18th-century France who is being sent to a convent because her parents think she is far too pretty and fun-loving for her own good. En route, she meets the handsome young Chevalier des Grieux. He gives her his heart - too quickly and too completely - and she, smitten as well, runs off to Paris with him. All too soon, it is clear that Manon loves money as much as she does the young aristocrat. She moves on to greener pastures, and he tries to forget her. But not even holy orders can overcome his terrible compulsion for her. Manon is really about two addicted young people - one to love and the other to money. Yet, Massenet's ravish- ingly romantic score is so shimmering and sensual that it wraps these wayward characters in an aura that pre- serves their attractiveness and their charm.