Manon Lescaut / Levine / Domingo / Scotto / Metropolitan Opera

MANON LESCAUT, the tragic opera that catapulted Giacomo Puccini to fame and fortune, tells the story of the beautiful young Manon, whose intention to join a convent becomes interrupted by the affections of two men: the poor and romantic poet Renato des Grieux and the vile tax collector Geronte de Revoir. Manon lives with both the men, one in abject poverty, the other in stifling opulence; in the end she chooses love over money, but it is a decision that leads to her death. Renata Scotto plays the role of the innocent yet vain Manon Lescaut and the great tenor Placido Domingo plays her poor poet lover in this 1980 production at the Metropolitan Opera.