National Ballet of Japan's revival of Manon was devastatingly good

Ayako Ono as Manon and Yudai Fukuoka as Des Grieux in MacMillan's Manon

Ayako Ono as Manon, Kosuke Okumura as Lescaut and Masahiro Nakaya as Monsleur G.M. in Manon

National Ballet of Japan in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon

Ayako Ono as Manon in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon

Yuri Kimura as Lescaut's Mistress and Kosuke Okumura as Lescaut in Manon

Ayako Ono as Manon and Yudai Fukuoka as Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon

By Naomi Mori, 26 March 2026

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“Her fluid upper body, eloquent arms and musicality that melts into Massenet's score”

Reviewed at New National Theatre, Tokyo: Opera House, Tokyo on 19 March 2026

Manon (Sir Kenneth MacMillan)

National Ballet of Japan

Martin Yates, Conductor

Nicholas Georgiadis, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Yuji Sawada, Lighting Designer

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra

Ayako Ono, Dancer

Yudai Fukuoka, Dancer

Kosuke Okumura, Dancer

Masahiro Nakaya, Dancer

Yuri Kimura, Dancer

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Naomi Mori

Naomi is a blogger living in Tokyo and travels frequently to see ballet. She is a law graduate of Waseda University and a former film publicist, film critic and IT business researcher/strategist. She blogs at La Dolce Vita in Japanese. She tweets about ballet as @naomip_86. and takes ballet class regularly

National Ballet of Japan's revival of MacMillan's Manon was devastatingly good