There's a clue to this change in Stravinsky's compositional direction in Auden's libretto, when Tom sings at the start of the second act: "Vary the song, O London, change!/ Disband your notes and let them range".
As I write, Madame Mao is singing "Hit it boys" in my head, and I'm looking forward to my favourite line in Alice Goodman's magnificent libretto: when Chinese premier Chou En-Lai sings, "Outside this room, the chill of grace/ Lies heavy on the morning grass", set to Adams's melancholic viola solo and shimmering, ambiguous harmony.
Many story ballets falter when the libretto is overly complicated.
Mr. Joneleit notably passed up the opportunity to reflect musically the moment when the libretto touches on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
When the libretto admonishes us for having gone astray like sheep, Handel's music zigzags at length.
The audience accepts the fact that people are singing rather than speaking, accepts stale slapstick in place of humor, suspends disbelief when the libretto taxes credulity, and thus enjoys exalted emotion expressed in stimulating music.
Verdi overcame his despair by composing Nabucodonoser (composed 1841, first performed 1842; known as Nabucco), based on the biblical Nebuchadnezzar (Nebuchadrezzar II), though the well-known story he told later about snapping out of his lethargy only when the libretto fell open at the chorus "Va, pensiero by that time one of his most beloved works—is no longer credited.
Gilbert's final disposition of the libretto came in 1911, when it was included in the fourth volume of his Original Plays.
Hammerstein did his best to avoid the military situation when preparing the libretto: the director, Joshua Logan, reported in despair: 'He doesn't know the difference between a lieutenant and a captain.' The political conflicts were further alleviated when the show was filmed in 1958.
I wished I'd known that when I wrote the libretto".
