That might have undermined a narrative fluidity, but the fact that Puccini produced four disparate dramatic worlds within this opera points to something more fundamental at work. A breakdown of linear surface narratives was in the air at the time and Puccini may have been in tune with this intellectual ferment. His music shows great stylistic diversity and complexity, especially in the first act, which must have been bewildering to anyone seeing it for the first time without prior homework. However, there is one serious problem, which this eagerly awaited production pointed up. Any meaningful work of art is about communication.
Opera depends on the interaction between musical, verbal and visual texts to transmit meaning.
The visual and purely musical elements were of a high standard, but the most basic access to intelligibility through the explicit verbal content was made difficult. She was partnered strongly by Martin Thompson who belted out his part, to cope with the difficulties presented by the Coliseum and this setting, agilely climbing up ladders in the scaffolding, whilst Manon scaled Lazaridis's golden spiral staircase to be captured at the top.