The Royal Ballet: Manon

Set to Massenet’s magnificent score, Kenneth MacMillan’s passionate ballet tells the story of Manon, torn between her desire for a life of splendour and riches and her devotion to her true love Des Grieux.

This adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s novel embodies Kenneth MacMillan at his best, his acute insight into human psychology and his mastery of narrative choreography finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire.

The heroine’s struggle to escape poverty makes Manon one of the most dramatic and devastating of ballets, emphasised by Nicholas Georgiadis’ evocative designs that contrast Manon’s impoverished origins with the lavish world she longs to inhabit.

Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, London in February 2023.