, 1990 Nello Santi; Mirella Freni (manon), Peter Dvorsky (des Grieux), Brian Sch

Manon Lescaut follows the tragic romance between the young, pleasure-seeking Manon and the idealistic chevalier Des Grieux. When Manon arrives in Amiens, Des Grieux is immediately captivated by her beauty and charm. Though she is promised to the wealthy Monsieur G.M., Manon chooses love and flees with Des Grieux to Paris. Their passionate affair is interrupted when Manon's cousin Lescaut and G.M. conspire to separate them. Torn between her desire for Des Grieux and her attraction to luxury and material comfort, Manon becomes G.M.'s mistress. Des Grieux, devastated, nearly enters the seminary but is drawn back into Manon's orbit. Their reunion is brief; Manon is arrested as a courtesan and deported to Louisiana. Des Grieux follows her across the ocean, but Manon dies in his arms in the American wilderness, their love ultimately destroyed by her inability to resist temptation and society's cruel judgment.