Michael Manuel

Michael Manuel (9 September 1928 – 5 April 1999) was an English opera director, set designer, stage manager, and screenwriter who was associated with the Metropolitan Opera. He is chiefly remembered for his work as director of the Metropolitan Opera National Company in the mid 1960s. He later worked as researcher and script writer for John Heyman's film series "The New Media Bible", including the 1979 film Jesus which has been translated into more languages than any other film. Life and career Born in London, Manuel studied at the Royal Academy of Music in 1944–1945. He left school to join the Royal Army Service Corps. In 1948 he joined the staff at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden as an assistant stage manager. In 1950 he became a stage manager with the Royal Ballet (then called Saddler Wells Ballet), with whom he remained until 1957 when he was recruited by Rudolf Bing to join the staff of the Metropolitan Opera during the Royal Ballet's tour to the United States. Manuel served as the Met's executive stage manager from 1957 to 1964. Operas he served as stage director for at the Met included Verdi's Simon Boccanegra (1961), Alban Berg's Wozzeck (1961), Verdi's La traviata (1961), Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (1961), Verdi's La forza del destino (1961), Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (1962), Johann Strauss II's Die Fledermaus (1963), and Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (1963) among others. Manuel also periodically directed and served as a set designer for the Met. In December 1960 he both directed and designed a new production of Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste for the Met debut of soprano Eileen Farrell. Other operas he directed at the Met included Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (1962, with Kerstin Meyer and Lucine Amara in the title roles); and Richard Strauss's Elektra (1962, with Elektra with Gerda Lammers as the title heroine). In the summer of 1962 he directed productions of Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Strauss's Salome, Puccini's La Boheme, and Puccini's Tosca for the Cincinnati Opera's summer season at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. In 1963 Rudolf Bing appointed Manuel and mezzo Risë Stevens as co-directors of the newly created Metropolitan Opera National Company (MONC); a project which was announced to the public that year by President John F. Kennedy.