The Blue Bird (play)

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The Blue Bird (L'Oiseau bleu) is a 1908 play by Maurice Maeterlinck. It premiered on 30 September 1908 at Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre and has been turned into several films and a TV series. The French composer Albert Wolff (1884-1970) wrote an opera (first performed at the N.Y. Metropolitan in 1919) based on Maeterlinck's original play.

The story is about a girl called Mytyl and her brother Tyltyl seeking happiness, represented by The Blue Bird of Happiness, aided by the good fairy Bérylune.

Maeterlinck also wrote a relatively little known sequel to L'Oiseau bleu, entitled The Blue Bird and the Betrothal.

[edit] Film and TV adaptions


[edit] References in other works

RahXephon
Blue birds appear as symbols and one of the characters is named "Michiru", which is the Japanese name for Mytyl.
Eureka Seven
Three of the characters were named after the author's name, his surname being divided: Maurice, the eldest of Eureka's children; Maeter, the second oldest; and Linck, the youngest. The book itself also appears briefly in the series being read by one of the characters.
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Kyon seemingly randomly asks Haruhi if she has read The Bluebird of Happiness. This initially appears to be a random reference, however it has since been noted that the Land of Memory, the Palace of Night and the Kingdom of the Future which appear in L'Oiseau bleu may each correspond to one of Haruhi's three unusual companions (the aliens, the espers, and the time travellers, respectively.)
Ballet Shoes
Pauline and Petrova Fossil, two of the principal characters of the 1936 children's book by Noel Streatfeild (and the subsequent 1975 BBC television adaptation of the tale) play Tyltyl and Mytyl in their ballet academy's production of "The Blue Bird".
K-PAX
Prot helps one of the patients by assigning him three tasks, the first of which is to find the Bluebird of Happiness.
L'Oiseau bleu/Aoi Tori
Japanese TV drama from 1997 telling a "tale of tragic love between Yoshimori, a station employee at a quiet, rural station, and Kahori, the wife of the heir to a family fortune." Kahori's daughter Shiori is reading "L'Oiseau bleu" as a child and the story is cited several times during the 11 episodes.
Yellow Submarine
At the end of the movie, the Chief Blue Meanie says that "My cousin is the 'Bluebird of Happiness'". It also shows bluebirds on his head when he says this.
Maurice Maeterlinck commemorative coin
Maurice Maeterlinck commemorative coin

[edit] Other references

The Dutch school types Mytyl schools and Tyltyl schools are named after Mytyl and Tyltyl: they are for children with a physical disability and for children with both a physical and mental disability, respectively. The Scouting Nederland section for children with special needs (Extension Scouting) is named: "Blauwe Vogels" (Blue Birds).

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Maurice Maeterlinck's greatest contemporary success L'Oiseau Bleu, his play was selected as the main motif of a high-value collectors' coin: the Belgian 50 euro Maurice Maeterlinck commemorative coin, minted in 2008.

The works of Maurice Maeterlinck
Plays Princesse Maleine | The Intruder | The Blind | The Seven Princesses | Pelleas and Melisande | Alladine and Palomides | Interior |The Death of Tintagiles | Aglavaine and Sélysette | Ariane and Bluebeard | Sister Beatrice | Monna Vanna | Joyzelle | The Blue Bird | Mary Magdelene | The Miracle of St. Anthony | The Mayor of Stilmonde | The Betrothal | The Cloud That Lifted | The Power of the Dead | Berniquel | Marie-Victoire | Joan of Arc | Father Setubal | The Three Justiciaries | The Last Judgment
Poems Hothouses | Twelve Songs
Short Stories The Massacre of the Innocents | Onirology
Ballet The Dance of the Stars
Essays, Prose The Treasure of the Humble | Wisdom and Destiny | The Life of the Bee | The Intelligence of Flowers | The Life of the Termite | Blue Bubbles