{"product_id":"9780881457179","title":"The Return Of Pinocchio","description":"\u003cp\u003e “Nelson’s brief play takes place in a tiny Italian village after the Allied victory in World War II. This village is the birthplace of Pinocchio, the puppet who became a real boy—a fact advertised on a huge billboard decorated with the toy boy’s famous smiling face. But the billboard is dilapidated and defaced now; and the pretty town we remember from the opening frames of Walt Disney’s movie has become a cesspool of corruption and poverty. Geppetto has been knocked off by black marketeers; Jiminy Cricket is squashed by a bored townsperson before our eyes; theft, abortion, and murder are common occurrences. Pinocchio, now an all-too-human grown-up U S O entertainer (like so many one-time movie stars), arrives at his birthplace with pockets full of U S dollars and cigarettes and dreams about America, where anyone can become a millionaire. Once easy prey for wicked foxes and donkey-boys, Pinocchio is still a gullible naïf, and he is soon easily victimized by various villagers. But underneath his easygoing exterior, he’s also a dark and frightening figure capable, it is implied, of cruel violence. The script’s peak is a long monologue in which Pinocchio tells a village girl about the American dream: becoming a millionaire. All you need is to be ruthless, dishonest, and hardworking. Pinocchio’s lecture includes tips on working the night shift (so you can sleep when no one’s looking), loan-sharking, cutthroat business practices, secret takeovers, and insurance fraud. This information is delivered with good-natured casualness as Pinocchio sweeps a barroom floor to pay off his debt—except, we notice, he doesn’t really do any work, but spends all his time spinning his vision of success American-style…a study in ironic contrast between the surface brightness of Pinocchio’s image and the underlying darkness of his reality.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlbert Williams, Chicago Reader\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadway Play Publishing Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47033605718256,"sku":"9780881457179","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780881457179_p0.jpg?v=1763847479","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780881457179","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}