Royal Ballet & Opera 2026/27: Manon (2026)

Based on Abbé Prévost’s 1731 novel Manon Lescaut, the ballet follows the ill-fated love between the young Chevalier des Grieux and the alluring Manon. Their passion collides with poverty, temptation, and the rigid hierarchies of 18th-century France, leading from Parisian salons to the brutal penal colony of New Orleans. MacMillan’s choreography weaves ensemble scenes — a bustling courtyard, a decadent hôtel particulier — with searing pas de deux that chart the couple’s emotional unraveling.