Mystere La Amore
A Man in Pink and La Belle
*All elements of Mystere belong to Cirque Du Soleil
Mystere was one of the few Cirque Du Soleil shows you'd attend if you were looking for a story of romance. Usually, if one wanted to attend a story of romance and experience the famous "Circus of the Sun" at the same time while they were in Las Vegas, Nevada, they might attend Zumanity, the human zoo of forbidden lust and pleasure. However, if they were looking for a bit more story romance, they might attend KA, the story of two royal twins coming of age, finding romance on their journey to reclaim the throne. When one looks into Mystere, however, the first thing that comes to mind is a mystery. Indeed, anyone who has seen the show would tell you that it is just that.
Mystere tells the symbolic story of man from the beginning of time to the end of a millennium. When watching the show, it may even have felt like one was dreaming, surrounded by vibrant colors, banging drums floating from the ceiling and strange, human like creatures and even more bizarre characters decorating the stage, walls and even isles of the theater. Some of the more creature-like characters include the Fire bird, male red bird and mascot to Mystere, his younger sister, known as the Ruby bird, Stas the yellow imp (or yellow bird as he is sometimes referred to due to his feathery appearance), the Lizards, their predators known as the Birds of Prey, and the two babies embarking on their symbolic journey, Bebe and her more comic brother, Bebe Francois. Amongst even more characters still, there is an intruder to the story who serves as comic relief alongside Bebe Francois: Brian le Petit, a mischievous trouble maker who intrudes the show to steal the spotlight: Brian Le Petit (yes, Brian the small, he apparently took over the role from a Mr. Benny Le Grand, or Benny the Great. He was passed down some "official Cirque Du Soleil documents," so the Cirque officials can't do anything to him). Constantly pursuing the cause to kick Brian out, however, and restore order to Mystere's stage, is the central character of this particular tale, and possibly the least likely character to star in a romance…
Moha-Samedi, named after the first day of the new millennium, is the narrator that no one listens to. He gets extremely angry and disagreeable when no one takes him seriously* and prides himself as the emcee and ringmaster of ceremonies to Mystere. Also known as the man in pink, due to his magenta tuxedo and bowler hat, he and his puppet companion usually open the show with the announcing of the house rules. As he starts addressing the audience in Cirquish, the foreign language of Cirque Du Soleil (kind of like all the words in all languages you can think of mixed with a bit of gibberish), his caterpillar/butterfly puppet smacks him on the head and whispers to him; "They can't understand you, stupid."
Either way, the man in pink prided himself on his duties as keeper of all knowledge to the acts and characters of the show, as well as looking out for their safety. He seemed pompous enough when the audience first met him, but it was really for all the wonders he got to emcee and his knowledge on Mystere once one really thought about it…if they weren't immersed in all other spectacles of the show. He also got along well with the other characters, especially Stas, who would follow him around like a puppy, doing tricks such as hand balancing and jumps and flips in his presence. Of course, the one exception to Moha's friendliness was Brian, who not only served as an annoyance, but also served as Moha-Samedi's spiritual opposite.
Whenever Moha-Samedi had the spot light, Brian would try and steal it away, or when Moha-Samedi enforced a rule, Brian would break it. No matter how many times Moha would kick Brian out, that devilish clown would always find a way back in. However, Moha-Samedi's failures at truly capturing Brian le Petit or being taken seriously (or understood by the audience) were not to completely rule the emcee out as a useless character. He was quite the ventriloquist with his puppet, he had amazing climbing and acrobatic skills, and when he and Brian had their final ham-to-ham combat showdown, a true test of order verses chaos, Moha-Samedi would always prove that order prevailed over chaos.
In between shows, he went above and beyond his in-show talents. He was a genius and a multi-artist, a composer and a writer, musician and choreographer, always looking to expand on his understanding of life with the arts. No one ever seemed to notice these talents, however. It was almost like everything this man did to express his genius was in vain, ruling his destiny to life as a fool who was truly a witness to the past while creating nothing.*However, little did he realize that someone was watching him, understanding him silently from afar…
La Belle was indeed a beauty. When she danced, all of Mystere and thus time itself would seem to stand still just to watch her. Of course, La Belle's dance may have been beautiful, but to her, it was also dangerous. After all, if time could rob once of their good looks, than did that mean that by standing still, her beauty would slowly fade away? Scared of this concept, of not being beautiful, of slowly fading away into death, she constantly kept of the move, dancing through her life as a glimmer of the present. One moment she would be there, the next, somewhere else.
However, one time in a rare moment of rest from her constant fleeing, her attention was caught by a strange, yet beautiful sound coming from the right-stage tower. Noting that all the musicians had descended their balcony perch and where nowhere near their instruments, decided to see where the beautiful music was coming from.
As she moved closer, she saw a light coming from the balcony window, which she re-called to be the Pink-hatted narrator's domain and home when not performing. As she looked closely, she saw him, sitting in a strangely rare moment of disorganization. He had taken his magenta jacket off, his white shirt untucked, hat off his head, fiddling with what appeared to be a violin at hand. As he experimented with different notes and pitches, he would stop every minute or second to scribble something down.
It was an odd sight for La Belle, but the next morning she soon found out what he had been up to. As she was warming up by the left-stage mountain balcony, she noticed the Man in Pink over with the violinist on the balcony. They shook hands and the violinist sat down, Moha-Samedi setting what appeared to be a piece of music in front of her. Slowly, she began to play.
The music was so soft and graceful, that she began to quiver with excitement. Such a beautiful piece, yet strangely poetic and sad, it was unlike any other piece she had ever been able to relate to. She wanted to dance to this piece, to reveal the tragic anguish of trying to escape the possibility of losing her own beauty, and yet express her joy and happiness of beauty and belonging that she had felt for years…
However, she dared not move from her place, least reveal herself. As she watched the narrator move his hands in time to the music, eyes closed and mouth forming words, she began to see him in a whole new light. He was not a fool like the others said he was, but a genius; a handsome, passionate, artistic genius who was misunderstood on so many levels. Sure he spoke words that no one understood, and of course that strange, crazy man from the outside who would call himself "Le petit" and yet prove a greater problem than expected would always make fun of him, but Moha-Samedi was truly a genius in his own right. At that moment, La Belle fell in love with the Man in Pink's talent…thus falling in love with the man in Pink himself.
As soon as the song ended, Moha-Samedi tipped his hat, shook the violinist's hand, and saw her off. As he did so, however, he couldn't help but feel as though he was being watched. As soon as he looked around, he did not see anyone, however. Little did he know of the events that would change his life forever after performance the very next night…
It was after performance, everyone was settling down for the night, another performance having been successful. He sat calmly in a front row seat, enjoying the settling calm after another successful night. Suddenly the band leader calm out onto the stage and asked if everyone could find a seat on the sides of the stage, for one of his musicians and another artist wanted to give a special performance of some kind.
Just as Moha-Samedi was about to speak out and ask what after performance would be planned without his knowing, he was caught off guard when the violinist came out with a blushing, seemingly anxious La Belle. As La Belle whispered to the violinist on their agreement, the eager young musician nodded. As La Belle positioned herself center stage amongst the whispers of the eager creatures and characters, only Moha-Samedi saw the violinist look his way…and wink at him. Then, she began to play.
As La Belle began to dance, everyone's whispers became absolute silence. The strings bending waves and tugging emotional strings, La Belle's dance that seemed to merge future and past into present…it was like a hypnotic lullaby of old and new memories flooding into one. Especially for Moha-Samedi, as his breathe caught in his lungs, and all emotions seemed to turn his very heart into water, for this wasn't just any music.
It was his music, his song, which he hadn't even written more than about two nights ago.
As he was pondering why the violinist would dare to violate their agreement that this song be kept private, he suddenly noticed La Belle dancing towards his direction. As the music suddenly stopped for a brief pause, La Belle suddenly seemed to tower right in front of him, arms over her head, gazing down at him with un-readable emotions across her face. Moha-Samedi felt his heart leap in his throat. He knew that La Belle was beautiful, but never had she gotten this close to him.
Then his life changed as she bent down, put her hands on his face, and kissed the corner of his mouth.
A moment seemed like an eternity as the Man in Pink, in all his knowledge on man's quest for love, seemed to forget something as simple as breathing. The warmth of her hands and lips on his face…it was if it was conjured out of his imagination. Or perhaps it was déjà vu from a dream he had once? He didn't have time to enjoy the moment long enough to recall, for as long as the kiss lasted (a split second, to be exact), La Belle had fled the stage in a whirlwind of confusion and clapping.
From the other character's points of view, her dance had been the most beautiful and romantic thing they had ever witnessed. Moha-Samedi, however, completely forgot about claiming credit to the song, or reminding the violinist of her broken promise, as he was now in a world all his own. La Belle, somehow, had found his song, she had asked the violinist to play it, showing not only did she love it, but she had actually shown affection to him during a pause in the measure. She had kissed him, him ofd all people! Performers didn't just do that out of the blue for attention, especially one as shy as her…
As Moha-Samedi, still in the same spot he had been ever since La Belle had kissed him for almost half an hour. Didn't realize that another face had been watching him.
A pair of dark, feminine eyes, beautiful, yet full of secretive danger, watched him from the shadows, envying the one who had earlier put that smile upon his face and won the affection that should have been hers.
*Taken from official Cirque Du Soleil description. That's chapter one! Sorry it's so long…I'll work on chapter two when I have another writing rush like I did with this one!