In the first Act, the love between Marguerite and Armand reaches its fullest choreographic expression in the bedroom pas de deux, although the moment feels less passionate than one might expect. To suggest the turbulence of Marguerite’s social life, in an atmosphere that inevitably recalls Verdi’s “La Traviata” and the feverish excesses of Violetta’s world, Neumeier imagines a sequence of balls in a whirl of chromatic effects: a blue ball gives way to a red masked ball, and then to a white ball with an equestrian inflection, accompanied by a dizzying succession of costume changes for Marguerite. Bianca Scudamore’s commanding stage presence and eye-catching technique make Olympia stand out, filling the stage with explosive theatricality at every entrance. Antonio Conforti brings elegance and brilliance to Gaston Rieux, while Roxane Stojanov gives Prudence Duvernoy radiant, coquettish vitality.

The second Act is set at Marguerite’s countryside house, with large wicker chairs and the three suitors, Alexander Maryianowski, Micah Levine and Enzo Saugar, all bringing vivid comic energy to the scene. The Duke, Marguerite’s wealthy protector, is danced by Arthus Raveau with finely calibrated sinister authority. A striking artist whom one hopes to see entrusted with more prominent roles, Raveau had already shown his gift for darkness and charisma as Hilarion in “Giselle” earlier this Opéra season. His arrival interrupts the festivities. It is only when Marguerite and Armand are finally alone that the two protagonists acquire greater depth and substance, in a pas de deux full of tension and abandon. What follows is the painful confrontation with Armand’s father, danced by Yann Saïz, ending in a powerful condensation of the ballet’s central tensions: the world of wealth, jewels and social exchange on the one hand, and, on the other, Marguerite’s emotional life, mirrored once again in the re-emerging drama of Manon, whose spectral presence rises to the surface.

The third Act opens on the Champs-Élysées, with the crowd promenading across the stage and Armand trying to make Marguerite jealous by flirting with Olympia, while Bianca Scudamore reveals all the sly, seductive and serpentine qualities of the character. After meeting Armand for the last time and begging him to leave Olympia, Marguerite is soon haunted in her dreams by the ghost of Manon, who seems to tempt her back towards the life she had tried to leave behind. Yet Marguerite emerges as a nobler version of her literary double: morally lucid, tender-hearted and capable of sacrifice. Another ball, this time golden and filled with fans, once again evokes the lightness and emptiness of the demi-monde, as Armand publicly humiliates Marguerite by offering her money. She later returns to the theatre and lingers painfully over the chair where he was sitting when they first met. Marguerite, whose sickness has shadowed her from the opening scene, dies alone, without ever seeing Armand again, while he appears in the right wing, turning the pages of her diary, where she has confessed the full extent of her love.