ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a portrait of Menotti, the person, and analyze three Menotti operas. These myths, although written in this century, sing of enduring truths. Yet, they are especially poignant in today's highly populated world that is becoming more and more conscious of childhood disabilities. The Queen and Billy in Menotti's A Bride from Pluto Nothing heal the heart quicker than its constant use. The Queen in Menotti's The Leper Love is space and time measured by the heart. Each of the protagonists in the three discussed Menotti operas are disabled because of societal labels: cripple, deaf, orphan, and gross. Each opera is presented in this analytic essay according to chronological order. Menotti reminds us that love from the heart and wisdom from the soul equalizes human beings. The disabled are whole persons a total of affective, cognitive, and psychomotor abilities and capabilities not simply the handicaps and limitations.
