I can finally do this…..GENTLEMEN! x Overture Plays x Enjoy!

Chapter 10

**** Evangeline's POV ****

It was Thursday, two days since I had last seen Erik. After thinking it over I had decided that I would go see him today. We had two days to cool off, if we could not be civil to each other by now…well at least I could ask him if he was still coming over to dinner tomorrow night and we could try again then.

I was waiting outside of the Opera House waiting for my Uncle Richard to arrive. Today would be his first day as co-owner of the Opera along with his friend Gilles Andre. I had figured that it would be the best time to try to see Erik without causing too much suspicion.

A carriage arrived within a few minutes. The door opened and Uncle Richard and Andre stepped out, each with an expression of excitement and pride. They were dressed in some of their bests wanting to make a good impression. Uncle Richard wore a top hat over his graying dark hair, his mustache was combed so that it curled up, Andre's gray hair was still a bush upon his head even though there were signs that it had been combed his small beard had been trimmed.

"Uncle Richard!" I called out walking over to them.

"Isn't this a nice surprise," exclaimed Uncle Richard, "Gilles, you remember my niece Evangeline?"

"Of course I do. It is a pleasure to see you again." Said Monsieur Andre.

"It is a pleasure to see you too." I said.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" asked Uncle Richard.

"Can't a girl come see her Uncle?" I asked innocently.

"Good try, but you are my sister's daughter and if you are anything like her you are up to something." Said Uncle Richard.

"I was wondering if I could join you today." I admitted.

"Why?" questioned Uncle Richard

"I want to visit a friend of mine…Antoinette Giry." I lied, "She is the ballet mistress."

"It is fine by me," said Uncle Richard, "Do you mind Gilles?"

"No, not at all." Answered Andre.

I followed them inside; we were met by an older gentleman at the door. He had gray with a matching mustache. The man introduced himself as Monsieur Lefévre, the retiring manager of the Opera House. Monsieur Lefévre escorted us in and gave us a tour of the Opera House; I could not believe how busy everything was. I could not see how Erik could go around without being caught with all these people about. We ended up in the atrium where there was a dress rehearsal in progress for tonight's show,

Carlotta: The Trophy, from our saviors, from our saviors. From the enslaving force, of Rome!

Female Chorus: With feasting and dancing and song. Tonight in celebration, we greet the victorious throng. Returned to bring salvation!

Male Chorus: The trumpets of Carthage resound. Hear, Romans, now and tremble. Hark to our step on the ground.

All: Hear the drums, Hannibal comes!

Piangi: Sad to return to find the land we love, Threatened once more by Roma's far-reaching grasp.

The conductor stopped everyone with a few taps of his baton, "Gentlemen, Gentlemen. Monsieur Piangi it is ROME, not Roma." He scolded.

A plumper gentleman with brown hair and a thin beard spoke up, "Rome, Rome is very hard for me I am from Italia." A woman I recognized shook her head obviously annoyed, she was none other than Carlotta, it was a change to not see her in pink.

Lefévre led us on stage explaining things as we walked, "Rehearsals are under way for a new production of Chalumeau's Hannibal.

"Monsieur Lefévre, I am rehearsing." Said the conductor.

"Monsieur Reyer, Madame Giry…," said Lefévre in an apologetic tone, "Ladies and Gentleman, please, if I could have your attention?

Every eye in the house turned towards us, I suddenly felt very self conscious. From the other side of the backstage I could see two other well dressed gentlemen. One I recognized right away, Philippe whose face lit up when he caught sight of me, the other was no doubt his brother. He was perhaps 23 years old by the looks of him, with features similar to Philippe, but he seemed to have a more child like air to him and had shoulder length hair…this had to be Raoul.

"As you know, there have been rumors of my imminent retirement. " said Lefévre, "I can now tell you that these were all true, and it is my pleasure to introduce you to the two gentlemen who now own the Opera Populaire…Monsieur Richard Firmin and Monsieur Gilles Andre."

There was some polite applause from a few of the chorus members, Andre waved happily at them. None of the actors or chorus members seemed to pay attention to me, a fact I was quite happy about. "I am sure you have read of their recent fortune in the junk business," added Monsieur Lefévre.

"Scrap metal, actually," interrupted Andre. I could not help but to laugh a little, that was one of the things that me and my brothers were taught not to call Uncle Richard's and Andre's business junk. Even after many years we never could figure out what exactly they did, we just knew that it was not junk.

Philippe and Raoul began to walk forward, "And we are deeply honored to introduce our new patrons," began Uncle Richard.

"The Comte and Vicomte de Chagny," continued Andre. He added quietly to me Uncle, "I still can't believe we managed to get them. It is such a coup for us."

As the brothers stepped closer, I noticed that one of the dancer's eyes grew larger than the others. She looked to be in her early twenties with thick curly brown hair and dark brown eyes, her cheeks were turning bright red. The girl was talking to a blonde who seemed to be not much younger than myself.

Raoul looked back at the brown haired girl ever so slightly just enough so that it was not noticeable but still enough to show that he was distracted. Philippe on the other hand was anything but distracted, even though he seemed to look directly at me. His head was held high with a smile showing proudly upon his face. He took his eyes off me for a few moments and looked to his brother, he must have been told to say something. Philippe shook his head and looked back at me. "Our family is honored to support the arts, especially the world-renowned Opera Populaire." He said.

There was some more polite applause, was this all the people who work here do? Carlotta came over and presented her hand to Philippe, who took it but still looked at it like it was a foreign object, "Gentlemen, Signora Carlotta, our leading soprano for five seasons," said Lefévre. She bowed before Philippe as her entourage applauded. The plump man coughed loudly not wanting to be forgotten, "Signor Ulbaldo Piangi," added Lefévre.

"An honor," said Philippe, starting to nudge his brother in the side to get his attention, "I believe we are keeping you from your rehearsal. My brother and I will be here this evening to share in your great triumph. My apologies."

"Thank you, Monsieur." Said Reyer as Raoul and Philippe walked away.

Suddenly Philippe came scurrying back over to me; he grabbed my hand and took me along with him. I looked back at my Uncle with pleading eyes to tell the Comte to leave me here, he seemed to not notice. I then looked to Antoinette who nearly came to my rescue but was ambushed by my Uncle and Andre as the rehearsal resumed. Great, just what I needed…Erik could be looking out at this very moment and here I was getting dragged away by a man.

Raoul kept on going outside but Philippe took me over by the door. He let go of my hand, "Sorry about that," said Philippe, "I realize that it is improper"

"What was that for?" I asked.

"I needed to talk with you," replied Philippe.

"About what," I said, "Wait on second never mind."

"But…" said Philippe.

"But nothing," I said, "Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to my Uncle."

"Your Uncle?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered, "Richard Firmin, one of the new owners."

"Will you be joining him tonight, for the performance?" Philippe questioned.

"No, I do not believe so." I replied, "Why?"

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about," he explained, "I was wondering…."

I could tell where he was going with this, "Philippe I told you, I am already seeing someone." I said.

"I know," said Philippe, "But I am wondering if you could come to the gala with me tonight, as my guest…as my friend?"

"We are not friends Philippe," I said, "We know nothing of each other."

"I realize that," said Philippe, "I thought that this could be our chance to get to know each other. Unless you already have plans to with…um"

"Erik," I said, "That is actually why I am here, to see him. He works here."

"Which department?" asked Philippe.

"I am not sure actually," I lied, "Behind the scenes, that is all I know about it."

"I see." He said thoughtfully, "Does he have to work tonight?"

"Yes, I believe so." I said. What am I saying; it is the night of a performance. Erik would be in his private box watching the show in secret or causing mischief for the actors and stagehands. "Why do you ask?"

"Because, if he is working tonight then you can sit with me during the show," explained Philippe. I was about to protest but he added, "Then you can go see him afterwards."

"Philippe, I…" I began.

"No, I will not be taking no for an answer," he said quickly, cutting me off.

"But…" I began to say, there was a scream from the main stage. The first thing that came to mind was what did Erik do?

"I better be on my way. I shall see you tonight then, I will meet you outside the manager's box," said Philippe. He exited through the door leaving me all alone.

Just what I needed, here I was trying to go see Erik and what happens? Somehow get a date to the gala with a Comte. I started to make my way back to the stage to see what had happened. Just then from the corner of my eye I caught sight of a shadow, moving along the rafters above…Erik. I looked around to see if anyone was watching, before I moved away from my original path, and made my way upstairs to find Erik.

REVIEWS!

A/N: We are finally at the part of the story that parallels the actual play. I actually do not have much to say on this. I know that this is the second Evangeline POV chapter in a row…but I promise the next one is an Erik chapter. Philippe just cannot seem to get the message her can he, how will Erik react? I wanted to show Raoul in this chapter as having a more OMG is that Christine reaction now…before the who can it be can it be Christine, since in the original novel he recognizes her right off the bat. That's all for now folks.