Sondra Radvanovsky Shines in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut at Teatro Real
On September 23, 2026, the Teatro Real in Madrid opened its opera season with a new staging of Giacomo Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, directed musically by Nicola Luisotti and staged by Carlos Wagner, featuring soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in the title role. The production marks a rare return for the work, which had spent 102 years absent from the Madrid stage following its initial run that ended in 1924, as noted by the opera blog Beckmesser.
A Century-Long Absence on the Madrid Stage
The Teatro Real first introduced Madrid audiences to Manon Lescaut on November 4, 1893, shortly after its triumphant world premiere in Turin. The score launched Puccini into international fame and established a fierce rivalry with Jules Massenet’s earlier adaptation of the Abbé Prévost novel. Yet after remaining in the repertoire until 1924, the opera vanished from the Madrid institution for over a century. Aside from a rare staging at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1978 starring Plácido Domingo and Eva Marton, local opera enthusiasts have endured a generation-spanning drought of the work that cemented Puccini’s legacy.
Staging and Musical Direction in the Neorealist Revival
Coproduced with Oper Köln and originating from a German staging that premiered a year prior, Carlos Wagner’s production shifts the narrative to a post-World War II Italy with clear nods to cinematic neorealism. Set designer Frank Philipp Schlößmann anchors the visuals around a revolving fairground carousel that mutates across acts—starting as a carnival ride, transforming into a luxury boutique under Geronte's watch, shifting into a circular prison cell in Le Havre, and finally reducing to a bare performance platform in the tragic final act. According to reviews in Beckmesser, while the central thesis frames Manon not as a mere coquette but as an impoverished woman surviving a brutal socioeconomic reality using her beauty, the staging suffers from heavy-handed directorial choices that repeatedly spell out character motives.
In the pit, Nicola Luisotti drives a dense, muscular reading of the score. The orchestra delivers a compact, vibrant sound that highlights the restless, youthful energy Puccini infused into his breakthrough work. However, that sonic richness occasionally crossed into overwhelming volume, forcing soloists and the Teatro Real chorus to push their instruments aggressively over the heavy brass and string barriers during major ensemble numbers.
Vocal Performance and the Demands of the Score
Sondra Radvanovsky carried the heavy vocal and emotional burdens of the title role. Years of singing demanding repertory have left distinct marks on the soprano’s instrument, yielding a weathered center, a more pronounced vibrato, and occasional harshness in the upper register. Despite these vocal limitations, Radvanovsky sustained the punishing role through sheer theatrical commitment and secure phrasing. Her rendition of the aria “In quelle trine morbide” drew a strong ovation from the Madrid audience, and she handled the intricate demands of the ballroom lesson scene with disciplined execution, even as the final act's stark staging tested her endurance in “Sola perduta abbandonata.”
The wider cast featured Michael Fabiano, Lucas Meachem, Pietro Spagnoli, Alejandro del Cerro, Javier Castañeda, Mikeldi Atxalandabaso, Mercedes Gancedo, and Javier Franco.