Men in space suits amble in low-gravity gaits and nap in sleep pods, mixed in among a hallucinatory spectacle: a boy with large red balloon, an illuminated yellow Chinese dragon, acrobats, juggling waiters and a stiltwalker. Indelible images of inconsolable isolation were created by Pluss, Eva Dessecker (costumes), Fabrice Kebour (lighting), Teresa Rotemberg (choreography) and Arian Andiel (video).

“When I thought two times about this and I listened once again to the opera, I really thought it was what Puccini could have dreamed to imagine, because he’s speaking already about this in his music,” Pluss said. He estimated nearly 200 LED and neon lights were used. Set designer Étienne Pluss, taking inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey, ” created a doomed spaceship on a raked stage for the first two acts and a bleak planet for the final two - substituting ashes for snow in Act 3. Guth envisions the action unfolding across an unspecified future, perhaps 50 years from now or possibly 1,000. (Oct.Puccini set the first and fourth acts in a Parisian garret, the second at the Latin Quarter’s Café Momus and the third at Paris’ Barrière d’Enfe, beginning the drama on Christmas Eve 1837 and ending it months later. Long's intricate pen-and-inks add to the gifty package. But those searching for a lush and leisurely Yuletide read may not mind the flaws. Nick comes and goes without losing his?) and readers may feel gypped by the quick showdown between Holly and Herrikhan after the book-long buildup. Gaps in logic may trouble fantasy fans (e.g., why does Tundra's partner lose her immortality just because she fell outside Forever, even though St. Holly eventually meets (and falls in love with) Christopher, now a man-but he no longer believes. In the second half, Holly and Tundra and a team of reindeer set off for New York City, shortly before Christmas it is now 1896 and Herrikhan awaits.

The book's first half follows Holly growing up in her 'frozen wonderland' within the Land of the Immortals, and her relationship with Tundra, a noble wolf. Herrikhan turns the baby's heart to ice, necessitating that she be kept cold or die.

The evil warlock Herrikhan, for instance, is 'condemned to Odyl, the fortress that sweats beneath the earth in its bed of molten fire.' The only way to break his curse is to 'possess the purest and most compassionate heart ever born.' That heart, of course, belongs to Holly. Ryan borrows from Christian allegory and fairytale. Saint Nick realizes that he, the King of 'Forever, the Land of the Immortals,' wants a child of his own, and soon Holly Claus is born. Wants for Christmas-something no one has ever done before. In 1878 New York City, 10-year-old Christopher writes a letter asking Santa what he In florid prose, first-time author Ryan expands the Santa Claus mythos with this meandering novel.

The legend of holly claus