Kenneth MacMillan's Manon — Queensland Ballet

Overview

One of the first lessons that we all learn about romance, usually when studying Romeo and Juliet at school, is also the saddest: they can't all have happy endings. Affairs of the heart can be glorious, magnificent, sweeping and life-changing, but they can also weather pain and end in sorrow. The entire romantic-tragedy genre is about just that, in fact.

So, saying that Kenneth MacMillan's Manon fits the bill means preparing for a moving tale about love's highs and lows. Based on the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost, the MacMillan-choreographed version was first performed by The Royal Ballet in London in 1974 — and Queensland Ballet is now doing the honours at QPAC's Lyric Theatre from Tuesday, September 27–Saturday, October 8.

Hopping from 18th-century Paris to New Orleans, the story follows the eponymous Manon, who is about to enter a convent when two developments alter her path. Firstly, the rich and old Monsieur GM asks her brother Lescaut for her hand. Secondly, while that arrangement is being made, Manon meets and falls for Des Grieux instead — and off they flee.

In Brisbane, there's an added bonus: for select performances, Queensland Ballet's Artistic Director Li Cunxin AO and his wife and former ballerina Mary Li are taking to the stage.

Acclaimed Romanian dance Alina Cojocaru will perform, too, in two shows. Whoever's playing the iconic production's parts at any given time, expect a story about seduction and the lingering power of love.