Thank you so much to Revista Arcadia for interviewing me about Manon for our upcoming "Live in HD" performances at the Metropolitan Opera! it was really nice to wax philosophical about the character and how I play her in this context.
Now we speak of Manon, what is your version of the character?
My version of it, and the production version, are not necessarily identical. When I am going to make a production that has been done before, when I am not the first singer to do it, I have to make my version, the one I had on my head, fit 'the glove' of the production. I say it because no matter how my Manon is, I have to make my Manon work in context. In this production, Manon is the complete deck of cards with which I arrive at the table, and they tell me "Oh! We are going to play Rummy, or a certain game in which there are neither 10 Jacks nor Queens." So I take them out of my deck, does that make sense?
