The trappings of 19th century opera hold very little appeal for me, so I have a lot of holes in my opera knowledge. I also figure that the 50 most popular operas will be around forever and I'm fine to just wait and encounter (and enjoy??) them later.
That's certainly true of any of Massenet's operas. A reduced version of Massenet's opera Manon by Brooklyn's Heartbeat Opera was about the only way I would see it. They have been doing opera reductions for a few years now and I really enjoyed their scaled down Faust (Guonod) last year, so I was in. The scaled down the score dramatically to 8 instrumentalists, reduced the singing roles to 7 singers, cast some of those roles with musical theater singers rather than experienced opera singers, translated it into English and pared it all down to about 100 minutes -- perfect!
It was a really good summary/introduction to the opera. In the smaller spaces they use it sounded just rightly sized. They were inventive with the sets (including the above chandeliers whenever we were in a high-society location) and the costuming was basic French 18th century dress.
The staging was taut, we had no long digressions or crowd scenes or anything that wasn't placing Manon's story front and center. (I can see from descriptions, there's a ballet in the original too--yes required for the Paris Opera, but fine for me to skip.) Our Manon (Amma Grimsley) was excellent, especially as she turns from devoted woman in love to basking in the high life. The most standout performer was probably our Lescaut (Jamari Darling), who came across believably as the rogue who decides to sell his cousin off to a rich suitor, and he slayed as he lived the high life of having successfully captured Manon for the rich banker Guillot. That man knows how to walk a catwalk and he pranced and reveled in being a part of Guillot's circle -- riveting and fun as hell to watch. I'm not going to name the rest of the cast, but they all fit very well the small space highlighted their acting and agility (no park and bark here!) Dan Schlosberg's musical arrangements were even more full and complete than might have been suggested from 8 players--it never felt threadbare or underwhelming, but rather sized just right. This is a great way to hear 19th century opera--fantastic.
Manon! - Heartbeat Opera, The Space at Irondale, Brooklyn, NY. Dan Schlossberg, musical arranger and conductor. English text adaptation by Jacob Ashworth and Rory Pelsue. 15 February, 2026. Credits: https://www.heartbeatopera.org/manon
