The accompanying instrumental ensemble consists of accordion, harp, trombone, cello, double bass, piano and percussion (including anvil and spoons).
With the help of the North Wind, the Moon and the Sun, Flora tracks down the pig to beyond the Milky Way, where he is kept in a drugged stupor by the witch and Adelaide.
Offering herself to Adelaide as a spy to keep watch on the pig, Flora is enabled to release him and to live with him in human form happily ever after.
[6] In a review of the original production, the critic Michael Billington wrote in The Guardian: "This is a show that proves opera, at its best, is source of magic and enchantment.
"[7] Reviewing a 2009 production at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Rupert Christiansen wrote for The Daily Telegraph: "Dove is a highly skilful pasticheur, and Britten, Sondheim, and Bartok are among the more respectable sources of his inspiration here.