The Love of Three Oranges: A Play for the Theatre That Takes the Commedia Dell'arte of Carlo Gozzi and Updates It for the New Millennium

Rating:
Summary: Funny Play
Review: : My daughter was in a performance of this play a few years ago. I don't know anything about commedia dell'arte or anything about theatre history related. She is the one who knows all that. I am just Mom. ;-) Because she acts I end up seeing a lot of plays. I do know that this was one of the funniest plays I have seen in a long time. I was more entertained than I was at some Broadway shows! I laughed the entire time. It was just perfect lighthearted fare but still had some very clever story telling going on. I guess it's a compliment to the writer that I had no idea until I was told afterwards that this play was many centuries old!

Rating:
Summary: A gem!
Review: Hillary Depiano's adaptation of 'For the love of three oranges' takes the reader completely by surprise, and is a little gem. In the first instance, tthe scene is set for a pseudo Shakespearean court drama with King this and Prince that, complete with snivelling courtiers. It is indeed all this, but far, far more, and is very, very funny, and on occasions, very ribald, but delightfully so. This review makes the reader want to read more, thus, this lady has cracked it, and well deserves her place on the best sellers list.

Rating:
Summary: A great new version
Review: Hillary DePiano's adaptation of The Love of Three Oranges is hilarious and fun. Better yet, it is a more accessible version that is easier for students to understand and relate to. Everyone should read this comedy.

I don't understand why Amazon is charging so much for this title. Sites like ebay, lulu.com and even the author's own website (hillarydepiano.com) all have it for under ten dollars.

Rating:
Summary: Finally! An accessible version of this text!
Review: I have been teaching this play in my high school level Drama class for quite a while and had grown just a little tired of students not reading it and insisting it was too boring and out of date. As frustrating as it was as an educator, I also couldn't help but feel there must be a better way to present this great story without it being bogged down in jokes so old you need a footnote on every line. I began asking my colleagues if anyone knew of a better version. Several years later, I'd still had no luck. (Word to the wise, the DiGaetani version, which seems to be one of the more modern, is pretty awful. It must have lost a good deal in the translation for not only is it not that funny, but it's also rather disjointed and poorly written.) A friend of mine had seen this play produced at Bucknell University at Lewisburg, PA in 2002 and was very impressed with that version both in terms of the story line and the comedy. She had recommended that I find out what edition that director had used. It turned out that the director had the same problem with finding a good version of the text and had decided to re-write the play herself and that her version was currently available on Amazon and BN. Once I finally had the opportunity to read this version myself I was amazed at the difference the text had in DePiano's hands. The story line is a bit different than the original, I don't want to say too much to give it away, but it's taken on a sort of fractured fairy tale feeling with characters and plots gone awry. (The Speaker of the Prologue is now the Narrator and he quickly became my favorite character!) It is simply wonderful! Not only is the story engaging and the characters far better developed than in any previous version I had read, but the play is very very funny. It is a full playtext, not a scenario, and while there is still plenty of room for improvisation, there is a structure to the narrative which makes it easier to use as a text for classroom study. I handed out this version in class a few weeks ago and, for a glorious change, every last one of them not only read it this time: they loved it! A few of them have been pestering me do it as our straight play next fall! I have to admit it would be an excellent choice for not only is it a great ensemble piece, it also has many roles that could switch easily from male to female and back again (always a plus when the gender balance is skewed as it is in our school). I have never written a review on Amazon before and I apologize if I am gushing a bit, but after so long a search, it is wonderful to finally find such an accessible version of this text to teach my class! Rest assured that this is the best version of the versions out there!

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't stop laughing
Review: It is that funny - amazing update of an old art form - thoroughly enjoyed reading it - would love to see it produced -
highly recommend