Rating: 
Summary: Great Production, Poor Video
Review: "A woman like Manon can have more than one lover", this is a statement made by Puccini when he decided to write his opera of "Manon", facing the already universally successful "Manon" by his French predecessor Massenet. Distinctively, he brought out his Manon with innocence, vanity, and cupidity, and Des Grieux, Manon's passionate lover, with Italian blood.
There is an abrupt jump from Act I to Act II, which may result in discontinuity of Manon's characters, as well as her love to Des Grieux. But as it goes on and as Puccini's music gets more deeply into the agony of the lovers, it gets better. In Act III the emotion has reached its hilt when Des Grieux sings his desperate pleading "Guardate, pazzo son", begging the captain to let him aboard with Manon. The strong dramatics then carries on and gets intensified in Act IV, and ends on Manon's tragic death and Des Grieux's helpless sobbing.
Soprano Reneta Scott, who sings Manon, is impressive in singing. Giving the best performance in Act IV, she is amazing in her vocal power, in forte or in piano. But portraying an eighteen-year-old character, Scott needs more than she could in order to be convincing. She delivers Manon with accuracy, if not vividness.
Although it is the story of Manon, on the stage of Met shines the brilliant Des Grieux, played by Domingo. His voice is lighter and brighter, and yet, more expressive, and his big outbursts are wallop. He looks young and lean, and his acting is full of feeling. Act IV is purely Pucinni with great intensity. Domingo portrays desperation and rage brilliantly. His sobbing is heartbreaking.
One big problem with this DVD is its video and audio quality. Almost every motion on the screen has a ghost tail following behind, somewhat distracting, and at times, annoying. The audio is not as bad as video, but just acceptable. What a pity that this production couldn't be caught on camera with the same sharpness as the opera itself!
Rating:
Summary: Suberb Audio, Video Disappointing at Times
Review: A suberb production well worth the preserving. The audio is specatular. Domingo and Scotto are stunning. I've never heard this sung better! The only disappointing feature is the spottiness of the video. Most of the time it is acceptable, but there are intermittent periods of "ghosting" where the video is indistinct. While distracting to the viewer, its effect on the overall performance does not diminish the impact of a vocally wonderful performance. I hope this there will be more DVD's of some of these Met performances that truly rate as classics. I have many of these on Laser Disc and hope that the Dolby 5.1 will add to my enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: Suberb Audio, Video Disappointing at Times
Review: A suberb production well worth the preserving. The audio is specatular. Domingo and Scotto are stunning. I've never heard this sung better! The only disappointing feature is the spottiness of the video. Most of the time it is acceptable, but there are intermittent periods of "ghosting" where the video is indistinct. While distracting to the viewer, its effect on the overall performance does not diminish the impact of a vocally wonderful performance. I hope this there will be more DVD's of some of these Met performances that truly rate as classics. I have many of these on Laser Disc and hope that the Dolby 5.1 will add to my enjoyment.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Opera, Pity about the Quality of the DVD.
Review: Good Performances, Good Music and Production spoiled by the quality of the DVD. This production was described as "A Manon Lescaut of fluid movement", I have never come across a DVD with such jerky movement, in addition there were numerous irritating pauses, the lips of the singers were continuously out of sync with the sound (remeniscent of movies where the sound was added later). Never having encountered this before I assumed the problem was with my player but after trying the same disc in another player with the same result, I conclude that the problem is the disc. I found myself so irritated by this that after the first Act I turned the picture off and listened only to the sound.Anyone who buys this DVD should do so only with the proviso that they can return the disc if these problems occur.
Rating: 
Summary: Opera rarity
Review: Here's a wonderful performance of Manon Lescaut. The Met's lavish production is complemented by the most wonderful singing I have ever heard from Renata Scotto & Placido Domingo. Scotto's voice nearly at her best is sung with the most passionate drama quite rare these days. Well recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Opera rarity
Review: Here's a wonderful performance of Manon Lescaut. The Met's lavish production is complemented by the most wonderful singing I have ever heard from Renata Scotto & Placido Domingo. Scotto's voice nearly at her best is sung with the most passionate drama quite rare these days. Well recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Glorious
Review: I dislike reviewers (or anyone else) who use expressions like "must have," "must read" or "buy it!"! The first two expressions are just in, and I'll buy what it pleases me to buy. But Manon. This I thought was glorious music gloriously sung and acted to within an inch of its life by everyone involved. Manon has always been one of my favorite operas, this is the first time I've seen it, and I doubt I'll watch it again, nothing happens, I'll just listen to the CDs. I only had 2 objections. Scotto and Domingo were both a bit long in the tooth for their roles which to me anyway was very hard to take, the illusion that they were 18 or 20 years old was impossible to maintain. Both were wonderful of course, just too told for their parts. And (sigh, which is typical of an opera), it took forever for Scotto to die, in fact, the music notwithstanding (and I've always loved listening to it), I got bored and started laughing at the dialogue or lyrics or whatever its called by those who are in the know. The sets (as others mentioned) were really wonderful. Levine performed as well as the actors on stage. He always seemed to be looking right into the camera or at least facing it, this was particularly prolonged during the intermezzo. I liked Levine (or at least, never disliked him) up until this DVD. The subtitles were thorough, a thing I've not encountered lately on other DVDs. I recomend this DVD 100% musically and for everything except the age of its stars, and if you can find a version as perfectly done with younger lovers (and by younger, I mean young), I wish you'd recommend that to me.
Rating:
Summary: Glorious
Review: I dislike reviewers (or anyone else) who use expressions like "must have," "must read" or "buy it!"! The first two expressions are just in, and I'll buy what it pleases me to buy. But Manon. This I thought was glorious music gloriously sung and acted to within an inch of its life by everyone involved. Manon has always been one of my favorite operas, this is the first time I've seen it, and I doubt I'll watch it again, nothing happens, I'll just listen to the CDs. I only had 2 objections. Scotto and Domingo were both a bit long in the tooth for their roles which to me anyway was very hard to take, the illusion that they were 18 or 20 years old was impossible to maintain. Both were wonderful of course, just too told for their parts. And (sigh, which is typical of an opera), it took forever for Scotto to die, in fact, the music notwithstanding (and I've always loved listening to it), I got bored and started laughing at the dialogue or lyrics or whatever its called by those who are in the know. The sets (as others mentioned) were really wonderful. Levine performed as well as the actors on stage. He always seemed to be looking right into the camera or at least facing it, this was particularly prolonged during the intermezzo. I liked Levine (or at least, never disliked him) up until this DVD. The subtitles were thorough, a thing I've not encountered lately on other DVDs. I recomend this DVD 100% musically and for everything except the age of its stars, and if you can find a version as perfectly done with younger lovers (and by younger, I mean young), I wish you'd recommend that to me.
Rating: 
Summary: The Singing is Not Very Good
Review: I have contributed this video to the library because I couldn't stand the singing. Both leads sing uncharacteristically but consistently flat in the early part of the opera. The chorus is limp and other minor parts are are sung with too much wobble to be distinct. The strongest part of the singing is the excellent Lescaut of Pablo Elvira, but it just isn't a big enough part to make up for the rest. The orchestra plays well and the last two parts of the opera are well staged.
Rating:
Summary: Pasionate Performance
Review: The singing is great, with Scotto at top. Scotto acts as I've never seen her before and Domingo isn't bad in that either. Levine's orchestral work is the best of his that I've heard. The camera work is excellent too, with almost flawless composition. But what sets this opera apart is the passion and emotion binding these elements and its principals together, rendering it much more than the sum of its parts. Yes, I thought that in Act I they hadn't really gotten into yet, I wouldn't have minded a bit more lushness from the orchestra, and the VHS sound is definitely no CD, but no matter for a performance like this.
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