Bad Choices, Tragic Ends All Over The Region

With digitization of The Moviehouse in Millerton, NY, it is possible, at last, to see “Live in HD” opera from the Metropolitan Opera all over our region. This weekend, fans will have their choice of the Met’s production of Jules Massenet’s “Manon” at The Moviehouse, the Warner Theatre in Torrington, the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington or the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie.  Premièred in 1883, “Manon” is Massenet’s best-known work.  It is based on an 18th-century novel about a woman who waffles between life in a monastery and the arms of her lover. Manon makes all the wrong choices, and ends up a spurned woman of “ill-repute.” And dead. The music is lush and thoroughly French.  Among the arias is the light-hearted “Gavotte” Manon sings, a first cousin to “Musetta’s Waltz” from Puccini’s “La Boheme.” Puccini, by the way, composed his own version of the opera, “Manon Lescaut,” a decade later, turning it into his first hit.  Anna Netrebko sings the title role of the doomed woman in “Manon.” She has made this opera one of her signature roles. The Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” broadcast of “Manon” takes place on Saturday, April 7, at noon.  Information can be found at www.themoviehouse.net, www.warnertheatre.org, www.mahaiwe.org, and www.bardavon.org.