At the Opera will begin with an artist profile of American dramatic soprano Helen Traubel, followed by the feature opera, Puccini's Manon Lescaut.

Manon Lescaut is an Italian-language opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1889 and 1892 to a libretto by Luigi Illica, Marco Praga and Domenico Oliva, based on the 1731 novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost. The opera was first performed in 1893 in Turin, at the Teatro Regio.
The libretto is in Italian, and was cobbled together by five librettists whom Puccini employed: Ruggero Leoncavallo, Marco Praga, Giuseppe Giacosa, Domenico Oliva and Luigi Illica. The publisher, Giulio Ricordi, and the composer himself also contributed to the libretto. So confused was the authorship of the libretto that no one was credited on the title page of the original score. However, it was Illica and Giacosa who completed the libretto and went on to contribute the libretti to Puccini's next three – and most successful – works, La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.
Cast:
Manon Lescaut - Licia Albanese
Des Grieux - Jussi Bjorling
Lescaut - Robert Merrill
Rome Opera
Jonel Perles - conductor
RCA - 1954