From the memoirs of Bolossy Kiralfy
(Speaking about his U.S. adaptation of the Paris play
"Le Voyage dans la Lune")
"Jacques Offenbach had composed an opera bouffe based on Verne's story "A Trip to the Moon", which had a successful run at the newly built Gaite Theater in Paris. It dealt with a young prince of the Kingdom of Nowhere. Tired of life on earth, he builds a cannon a mile long so that he can be shot up to the moon. Once there he falls in love with a lunar princess. The story was too farcical, but allowed for unusual ballets. The construction of the massive cannon was a dance production scene set in a foundry. "Les mouches et les chimeres" had the ballet girls in beautiful costumes representing flies and other insects. Another ballet featured a real snow flurry of artificially produced snow particles for a scene on the moon."A Trip to the Moon" seemed like a fine idea. We opened March 14, 1877, at Booth's Theater on Twenty-third Street and Sixth Avenue."
