The stronger attack occurs during the hypnotized dance sequence. The novella merely has the children laughing and jumping for joy at the antics of the dancers. Stefan rushes down to the stage and confronts Cipolla. The confrontation ends in a stalemate. Stefan resists Cipolla's order to dance but the price of his resistance is separation from his family.
Composers know that too many words just get in the way of the music.
And directors know that too much of either merely slows down the action on stage. Well, they know that none of this has any impact without the right design. So in opera none of us is entirely free. Individual freedom within cooperative constraints is better than no freedom. And taking some liberties for the sake of the whole is particularly apt for a work whose whole theme is the preservation of liberty.