But oh! what a fabulous night he had had,
When his world was turned into a zoo!
After wandering off from a school field trip, a young boy falls asleep
in the Natural History Museum. There he sees his classmates, teachers,
and family transformed into a menagerie of animals, from wild hyenas to
stately peacocks.
John Lithgow's exhilarating word play, inspired by Camille Saint-Saëns's
1886 composition, provides a narrative arc to the piece for the first
time. Lithgow created the text for the New York City Ballet, where the
Carnival of the Animals ballet, with his narration, debuted in 2003.
Boris Kulikov's witty artistic interpretation of the story adds to the
fun.