The Love of Three Oranges (1986)

Genres - Visual Arts, Music  |   Sub-Genres - Opera  |   Run Time - 130 min.  |   Countries - United States  |  
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Synopsis by Nathan Southern

Acclaimed children's author Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) was one of the chief creative forces behind this imaginative 1986 production of Sergei Prokofiev's 1919 fantasy opera The Love of Three Oranges, staged at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The original work tells of a king whose hypochondriacal son can only be cured through laughter; nothing can do the trick except for an accident that befalls the witch Fata Morgana, who loses her skirt. Upon seeing this, the prince bursts into hysterics, which infuriates Fata Morgana. In revenge, she imparts the young man with a romantic obsession for three oranges, which he pursues to the ends of the Earth. Sendak fills the stage with oversized puppets, jugglers, body-builders, monsters, and laces the production with special animated sequences. It stars Willard White as The King, Ryland Davies as The Prince and Nelly Morpurgo as Fata Morgana. The London Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Bernard Haitink, provides musical accompaniment.

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Keywords

fairytale, opera