Metropolitan Opera's MANON Comes To The Ridgefield Playhouse On The Big Screen, October 26

Manon's story-from innocent country girl to celebrated courtesan to destitute prisoner-is one of the great tragic tales in literature and music. Lisette Oropesa stars as the irresistible title character, the tragic beauty who yearns for the finer things in life, in Laurent Pelly's revealing production of Manon for The Metropolitan Opera. Michael Fabiano is the besotted Chevalier des Grieux, whose desperate love for Manon proves their undoing. Maurizio Benini conducts Massenet's sensual score. Manon comes to the big screen, simulcast LIVE in HD at The Ridgefield Playhouse Saturday, October 26th at 12:55pm, part of the Classical Series, underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone, and Sabina & Walter Slavin, with support from Whistle Stop Bakery.

The noblemen de Brétigny and Guillot de Morfontaine are having dinner with three young women-Poussette, Javotte, and Rosette-at an inn in Amiens. People gather for the arrival of the coach to Paris, among them Lescaut. He is waiting for his young cousin Manon, who is on her way to enter a convent. The coach arrives and Manon expresses her exuberant joy about her first journey away from home. Enchanted by her, Guillot offers to take Manon to Paris, but she and his companions laugh at him. Lescaut reproaches Manon for her behavior, which could shame their family. Manon gazes with envy at the elegant clothes of the other girls. The young Chevalier des Grieux arrives too late to catch the coach, which has already left for Paris. He falls in love with Manon at first sight, and when she tells him that it is her fondness for pleasure that has led her family to send her to a convent, he is determined to rescue her from such a fate.

The Metropolitan Opera is a vibrant home for the most creative and talented singers, conductors, composers, musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers from around the world. The Ridgefield Playhouse offers free tickets to The Metropolitan Opera in HD series to students 18 and younger as a way for parents to introduce their children to the arts. FREE tickets are also available to students 18 and younger for live and encore HD screenings of The Bolshoi Ballet and National Theatre of London.

For tickets ($25 | Members & Seniors $20 | Students $15 | FREE for students 18 and under) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.