Peter Hoar reviews Manon Lescaut, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s Opera in Concert led by Music Director Giordano Bellincampi. This was Puccini’s break through opera with all the ingredients of a smash hit.  Upbeat reviewer Peter Hoar describes how the stage was used to suggest various spaces and settings and says the singing and playing were of such a high calibre it was just as moving and powerful an experience as if it had been staged.