About the work
Le voyage dans la lune is a four-act opéra-féerie by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Albert Vanloo, Eugène Leterrier and Arnold Mortier drawing on motifs from Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It premiered in 1875 at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris.
Plot
Prince Caprice has himself fired to the moon by a giant cannon and falls in love there with the moon princess Fantasia. Since the moon's inhabitants do not know love, an apple from Earth that Fantasia eats awakens her feelings and throws the emotionless lunar society into turmoil; after various complications, the story ends in forgiveness and betrothal.
Cultural significance
Its lavish staging, which included live animals from the Jardin d'Acclimatation and a purpose-built cannon set, made the piece one of the biggest box-office hits of its day, running for 185 consecutive performances. Among the works Georges Méliès drew on for his 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon was this Offenbach féerie.