Composer Philippe Boesmans writes: "I’d read On purge bébé! even before I composed Pinocchio. I said to myself: ‘This is a wonderful play... but it’s impossible to turn it into an opera’. And if I say something like that, it means that I’m going to do it — it’s like I’m setting myself a kind of challenge! I liked a lot of things in this play. It’s rather malicious, as it presents an image of a smug, pretentious, and uneducated petty bourgeoisie and their complete dishonesty. I don’t think anyone has ever done an opera based one of Feydeau’s plays — at least, not that I know of. People don’t think of turning Feydeau into an opera..."