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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/27088?ns=guardian&pageName=Manon+*+review%3AArticle%3A1554327&ch=Stage&c3=Guardian&c4ºllet%2CDance%2CStage%2CCulture&c5=Not+commercially+useful%2CTheatre&c6=Judith+Mackrell&c7-May-05&c854327&c9=Article&c10=Review&c11=Stage&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FStage%2FBallet" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">Royal Opera House, London</p><p>Manon is having yet another run at the Opera House, and I'm beginning to feel about it the way I do about MacMillan's other box office standard, Romeo and Juliet. It's time for a break. Too many performances of a ballet, however "classic", and things start to get stale.</p><p>And yet … new audiences to Manon are reliably wowed and disturbed by its portrait of 18th-century debauchery. Dancers clamour for roles, including the ballet's gallery of minor characters. And watching Marianela Nuñez making her debut in the title role, it's clear how eagerly she has grabbed at its many dramatic and technical challenges.</p><p>Most compelling is the detail with which Nuñez registers Manon's relationship to the corrupt glamour of Parisian life. When she first steps out of her carriage, it's as though every new experience lands on her like glitter. She's dazzled, euphoric; yet through Nuñez's bright, watchful eyes, we also see Manon processing every new piece of information. The giddy girl is a fast learner. And by the time she arrives at the bordello, Nuñez's body language registers the exact price that has been paid for her. Everything that was formerly quick and lively has been subdued and polished. Manon understands exactly that she has become an object.</p><p>Acting of this layered, nuanced quality is what MacMillan ballets inspire. And in pure dance terms, Nuñez remints whole passages of the choreography. But it's disappointing that she brings less of a charge to Manon's relationship with Des Grieux. Nehemiah Kish is admittedly more Ralph Fiennes than Rufus Sewell in the role – thoughtful, worshipful but slightly middle-aged. Although he is a wonderful partner, skimming and flipping Nuñez to heights of choreographed delirium, and although their final duet is harrowing, we don't witness the sexy, romantic imperative of high passion.</p><p class="rating">Rating: 4/5</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/ballet">Ballet</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/dance">Dance</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/judithmackrell">Judith Mackrell</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" />
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/may/05/manon-review">Link</a>