Login      
Les Enfants terribles
PREMIERE5/18/1996 — Steps '96, MIGROS Switzerland - Cultural Commitment
COMPOSERPhilip Morris Glass   
LIBRETTISTPhilip Glass   
Opera Parallèle
View Company in Member Directory

View Performance Database Listing
DATETIMELOCATION
5/26/2017--Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall
San Francisco, CA
5/27/2017--Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall
San Francisco, CA
5/28/2017--Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall
San Francisco, CA
Synopsis
After the death of their mother, Elizabeth and Paul, orphaned brother and sister left to their own devices and bound by an exclusive affection, live together in their large Parisian apartment.

They have built themselves a chimeric universe governed by sibylline symbols. Their room is a real sanctuary where a "treasure" is enthroned with a meaning that is also known only to them. "Elizabeth" met Michael and married him, but the next day he died in an accident without their marriage having been consummated.

She inherited Michael's fortune, including a large private mansion where Paul came to join her with their famous treasure. Gérard, a comrade of Paul and his friend Agathe, who strangely resembles Dargelos (a schoolboy that Paul idolized), soon come to live with them. But when Elizabeth understands that love is born between her brother and Agatha, like a Greek divinity, a kind of Parque, she weaves a Machiavellian web so that her brother cannot escape it. As in all ancient tragedies, the outcome can only be fatal.

Fascinating by the morbid desire carried by the Paul/Elisabeth relationship, this seemingly banal story hides a tragedy: the inevitable end of adolescence, its myths, its grace, its illusions. Elizabeth and Paul die for breaking this law by wanting to eternalize a moment of passage. Indeed, as soon as Dargelos' snowball reaches Paul in the chest, time stops, "the room" begins to live. It became their deserted island, the little piece of land isolated from the rest of the world where they built cabins with their pillows and led a Robinson's existence at night. Their bodies grow, Paul's legs protrude under his sheets, they play at having the desires of grown-ups; but in fact, nothing moves. If they move, it's to rebuild the room immediately. Behind their incessant quarrels, their constant agitation, there is a morbid desire for immobility...

It was Dargelos, the hidden god of this tragedy, who precipitated its outcome by sending a poisoned black ball to Paul, who completed the work of the first snowball. Elizabeth, priestess of the chamber, is only the instrument of fate. By killing herself and her brother, she brings their adolescence into eternity.
MOST PRODUCED SINCE 2000
RANKTITLEPRODUCTIONS
275Les Enfants terribles4
275Aging Magician4
275Annie Get Your Gun4
275Before Night Falls4
275Book of Mountains and Seas4
275Cabaret4
This work ranks as the #97 most produced North American title since 2000.

View Technical/Production Listing for this title
Don’t see your company’s next performance?
Join OPERA America as an Organizational Member to post your productions to the National Opera Calendar and Performance Database. Learn more.

 
STORED ADMIN COOKIE *
actor id: 0
name:
company:
email
ind id: 0
memb level: 0
expiration date: 12:00:00 AM
current url: /Applications/schedule/details.aspx
Login As
* Visible only to OPERA America Administrators for testing purposes. Shows security cookie contents.
 
 
————
National Opera Center
330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001
212.796.8620   •   Info@operamerica.com
CONNECT WITH US
                 

PARTNERS
 
Terms of Service   •   Privacy Policy   •   Copyright Policy   © Copyright 1995–2024 OPERA America Inc.