Performance History
The initial criticisms of the Chicago production were often harsh, e.g., "it left many of our best people dazed and wondering", "Russian jazz with Bolshevik trimmings" and "The work is intended, one learns, to poke fun. As far as I am able to discern, it pokes fun chiefly at those who paid money for it".
The opera was abandoned in the United States until 1949 when the New York City Opera resurrected it. As staged by Vladimir Rosing and conducted by Laszlo Halasz, the production was a smash hit. The magazine, Life celebrated it in a color photo spread. The production went on to tour with New York City Opera company and was brought back by popular demand for three successive seasons.
The opera is now widely performed around the world. A 1988 production by Richard Jones for Opera North, later seen at English National Opera, New York City Opera and elsewhere, used 'scratch'n'sniff' cards handed out to the audience, suggesting various scents matching events in the staging (gunshots, Truffaldino's 'wind', the aroma of oranges).
Read more about this topic: The Love For Three Oranges
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