Anthoni Tommasini reviews the Met production of Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut” in NYT:
“In the demanding final scene, when she and des Grieux are dying in the wilderness (Puccini, seemingly with scant knowledge of Louisiana geography, set the scene in a desert on the outskirts of New Orleans), Ms. Mattila was riveting.”
Read the review here.
I would argue that often it is beneficial for a composer, or an author, to have scant knowledge of a certain geography.
Think of Kafka’s “Amerika”.
Why not a desert on the outskirts of New Orleans?