It was a quarter of a century since BNOC had toured Manon, and this would be its last appearance in Scotland for over fifty years. Reports from elsewhere on the tour suggest that there was little sense of the appropriate French style, and that what is quite a long opera was subjected to quite severe cuts in the text performed. The end of the first act and the Cours la Reine scene both went, as a result of which the trio of good time girls, Poussette, Javotte and Rosette, also fell by the wayside.
The main selling point was Margherita Carosio, nearing the end of her illustrious career, but still a charmer on a good day. The reviews for Glasgow and Edinburgh indicate that the company performance was a great improvement over the previous visits, with a decent orchestra and several attractive soloists. Guido Mazzini returned with the Palermo company at the 1972 Edinburgh Festival.
The rest of the repertoire contained three standard Italian works in Il trovatore, La traviata and La bohème, as well as one piece at the time far less common - L'Elisir d'amore.
Cast details from Glasgow Herald 12 October and Scotsman 2 November, and as advertised.
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