The Little Prince: from the page to the stage
We are less than two weeks away from the Pittsburgh premiere of The Little Prince, an opera for all ages based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved novella of the same name. The Little Prince has charmed readers for decades with its poetic exploration of love, loss, and the wisdom of children. This timeless tale has captivated audiences worldwide, resonating across cultures and generations. But how did this philosophical children's book make its way from the page to the opera stage?
Let’s explore the fascinating journey of The Little Prince—from its creation by a wartime pilot in exile to Rachel Portman’s transformative adaptation. Discover how this iconic work has continued to evolve, enchanting audiences anew with every artistic reincarnation.
The story of The Little Prince
The Little Prince begins with a pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert after a plane crash. While struggling to repair his plane, he meets a mysterious young boy who requests a drawing of a sheep. This is the Little Prince, who reveals that he comes from a tiny planet, Asteroid B-612, where he diligently tended to his rose and removed troublesome seeds. However, feeling heartbroken and unsure about his rose's honesty, he set out on a journey to understand life beyond his small world. His travels take him to various asteroids, each inhabited by peculiar adults consumed by narrow pursuits, which baffles and disappoints him. On Earth, he meets a poisonous snake and encounters a garden of roses, discovering that his rose isn’t as unique as he had once thought.
The Little Prince befriends a wise fox who teaches him that love makes his rose truly unique, and with these newfound insights, the prince grows eager to return home to care for his rose. As the pilot fixes his plane, the prince makes plans with the snake to return to his planet. The snake’s bite sends the prince back to the stars, and though the pilot never finds his body, he believes the prince has returned to his rose.
From the page…
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944) brought many of his own life experiences to The Little Prince. Though Saint-Exupéry was born into an aristocratic family, he experienced loss very early on in his life. When he was just shy of four years old, his father died tragically. He had four siblings; three sisters and a golden-haired brother, François, who was his closest confidant. When Saint-Exupéry was just 17 years old, François contracted rheumatic fever. Sadly, François passed away from his illness with his brother by his side. Saint-Exupéry later wrote that François "... fell as gently as a [young] tree falls", imagery which would later echo the ending of The Little Prince.
Saint-Exupéry enlisted in the French army in 1921, where he learned to pilot a plane. He eventually became one of the pioneers of international postal flight, working in North Africa and South America. He married Consuelo Suncin, with whom he had an extremely tumultuous relationship. She later wrote that she was the inspiration for the character of the Rose in The Little Prince.
In 1935, Saint-Exupéry and his aviator, André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan desert, some nineteen hours into a Paris-Saigon race. The two men experienced severe dehydration and hallucinations, until they were rescued by a member of the Bedouin tribe after four days. The story of the pilot in The Little Prince draws strongly from this experience in the Sahara, and Saint-Exupéry also wrote about it in Wind, Sand, and Stars, which won him the 1939 National Book Award.
Saint-Exupéry eventually moved to the United States, where he wrote more than half of his output. After surviving multiple plane crashes, he was in ill health, and was often in poor spirits. Finally, the wife of one of his publishers suggested that he write a story about a little man whom he doodled on napkins, tablecloths, scraps of paper, and throughout the margins of his manuscript. He purchased a set of children’s watercolor paints, and began to work on The Little Prince, often writing and painting at the Park Avenue home of his friend Sylvia Reinhardt, said to have inspired the character of the Fox. When it was published in 1943, it became a success, but it was not released in Saint-Exupéry’s homeland until after the liberation of France.
Today, The Little Prince is one of the most popular books in history, and has been translated into over 500 languages and dialects — second only to the Bible.
To the stage!
Bringing a classic story to the opera stage is no small feat. But with three young children at home, a theater piece that was appropriate for all ages appealed to Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman. With more than 100 film scores under her belt, Portman is known for simple lyricism and evocative melodies that transport audiences to new worlds — something she brings to the score of The Little Prince.The book’s original text, though deceptively simple, is dense with meaning and reflection, and British playwright Nicholas Wright, known for successful adaptations of novels for the stage, including Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, was up for the challenge.
The original production was jointly produced and co-financed by several opera companies, including the Houston Grand Opera, the New York City Opera, the Boston Lyric Opera, Tulsa Opera, and the Skylight Opera Theatre. Finally, after years of development, the opera premiered at Houston Grand Opera in 2003. Portman’s opera was met with critical acclaim, praised for its sensitivity to the source material and its enchanting score. Since its debut, the opera has been performed worldwide, capturing the imaginations of both new fans and those who have cherished The Little Prince for years.
We can’t wait to bring this very special piece to Pittsburgh audiences for the first time! Bring those you love most, and experience this heartwarming story together.
