Menotti's third opera, "The Island God", was written for the Metropolitan Opera where it premiered to poor reviews in 1942. He believed this work failed because the libretto he wrote relied too heavily on metaphysics which resulted in an overly pretentious philosophical and symbolic work that failed to connect with audiences. In interviews he expressed that this failure taught him "how not to write an opera". Following this, he wrote his first dramatic play without music, "A Copy of Madame Aupic", in 1943. The work was not staged until 1947 when it premiered in New Milford, Connecticut. Other works from this period include a ballet, "Sebastian" (1944), and the "Piano Concerto in A Minor" (1945) which were written before Menotti returned to opera with "The Medium" in 1946. Commissioned by the Alice M. Ditson Fund, this fourth opera premiered at Columbia University and then transferred to a critically successful run on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 1947. This Broadway production also included Menotti's fifth opera, the short one act opera "The Telephone, or L'Amour à trois", as a prelude to performances of "The Medium". These operas became Menotti's first internationally successful works, notably receiving critically acclaimed productions in Paris and London in 1949 and later touring Europe in 1955 under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State with musical forces led by Thomas Schippers. "The Medium" was also made into a motion picture in 1951 starring Marie Powers and Anna Maria Alberghetti and competed in the 1952 Cannes Film Festival. It is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of opera on film ever made.