The Curtain lifted on Erika's opera, unmasking a brightly lit scene set in a courtly parlor. Several well-dressed nobles began the show's opening lines.
A woman dressed primarily in pink began the chatty number. "Have you heard the news?"
"What news? What news?" Replied a blue-clothed man across the stage.
"The duchess is to be wed!" The excitement was inherent in the pitch, which rose a full octave.
"And what lucky man has her bed?" The sultry descending music emphasized the sexual undertones.
"It's been arranged with Count Von from France!"
"So young! I'm shocked she would give him a glance."
The two courtiers continued in this manner, melody emphasizing words and emotions, rising and falling with the importance of the details being discussed. When it was divulged, with a scandalous look, that the marriage was arranged, the music slowed and drew out the word. When the talk was of the wedding itself, the music skipped and tripped in its carefree tones and rhythms.
Waiting for his entrance in the next scene, Christophe admired his wife's skill. Her writing was fantastic, humorous, lifelike, everything one could want in an opera. Even her set and costume designs were excellent, making the court look pompous in comparison with the more understated scenes outside the make-believe palace. The couple had finished their informative duet and exited the stage on either side as the lights dimmed and Christophe entered the scene completely alone.
"I am fluent in Latin, mathematics, and dancing.
I can name every city from Paris to Lourdes.
I am still a young man, built for freedom and prancing.
But I must give it up just to please courtly hordes."
He paced the stage, his fury building in the music. Oh, how he loved the way she had choreographed this scene. He paused at the right side of the stage, to sing the next movement.
"I am more than my breeding and more than my blood,
With a strong, beating heart and a sharp-witted mind.
They would leave me alone if my name were but mud.
But as count, I am subject to whims of their kind."
The music rose with his elevated frustration, volume swelling and tempo keeping pace with his accelerated raving.
"The duchess took husbands for status and more.
Now my parents would cling to her skirts for the fame.
By relinquishing me, they would open the door
To the luxury given to one with her name.
Why must I be the sacrifice paid for their comfort,
My wish for a family and beautiful wife?
The duchess is old, though I might make the effort.
I will never have daughters and sons in my life."
The song nearly over, it rose to a pitch only he could hit melodiously, accenting the moment in its importance. The volume stretched his capacity to the limits, making the next words soar through the entire building, catching on every ear.
"I would give all the gold in the world to be free!
Free, to feel, free to choose, free to live, free to love!
But my family's place won't permit me to be,
As I drown in my fate, that dream taunts from above.
If only I had but the freedom to love."
The stage went dark and the roar of applause stormed the stage.
After that initial scene, Christophe played his part perfectly, acting just barely within the realm of acceptable behavior. It helped that whenever his character interacted with the duchess, he pictured Rachel. He would later be congratulated on his disgusted facial expressions. Finally, the scene where he announced his distain of the marriage publicly, effectively leaving the countess at the altar. That scene successfully concluded the first act and the lights went dark, excusing the audience for intermission.
The second act was staged almost completely inside the inn where Trisha and her mother lived. The only character onstage was an older woman, dressed entirely in peasant garb. "Trisha, dear, the guests are gone. It's time to come on out."
"Mother, I must stay up here. The boys are still about." A flute of a voice answered from offstage. It sounded a little frightened, which intrigued the audience.
"Trisha, dear, you wear a mask so no one else will see.
I don't care about the scars. You're beautiful to me."
Slowly, a girl dressed in more peasant garb, but with a white mask over the upper half of her face, entered from offstage. She stepped shyly, hesitantly, and approached her mother who quickly engulfed her in her arms, helping the girl to calm down and relax. The audience wanted to turn away, as if what they were seeing was far too private. It was perfect.
They continued their back-and-forth duet as they tidied the set, dispersing pertinent information, the same way the pair of courtiers had at the beginning of the show. Their inn was a prosperous one, mainly because of the legend that a ghost dwelt within the walls, playing the most beautiful music, and patrons traveled from far and wide to witness the fabled songs.
In truth, the ghost was actually, the girl, Trisha, who was never allowed where people might see her face, or mask. As her contact with the human world was limited, she took solace in song. Von entered the room just as she was beginning her next line.
Trisha was caught with a dishrag in her hand and no way to shield her appearance from this highly attractive stranger. In a flash of terror that rocked the whole audience, she melodiously screamed and ran out of the room and off the stage.
Von, noticing how he had scared the poor girl, sang apologetically, "I'm sorry ma'am. I'm unannounced. I just saw the sign." He gestured the way he had come where there was doubtless an advertisement for the inn.
"I understand. You look exhausted. Please come in." The mother gestured towards the counter Trisha had been wiping before she ran off and Von sat down at one of the stools. The young man sat down and the two began to talk about the weather, the state of the roads, and even a little about the woman's daughter.
Backstage, the soprano playing the part went to the refreshment table and grabbed a glass of water. She took one gulp…and fell to the floor, completely knocked out. Erika quickly emerged, picked up the girl and hid her in one of the set pieces from the first act before waiting for her next entrance, fully dressed in the costume she'd prepared in anticipation of this moment, although her mask was rather finer.
When she next entered the stage, the character dynamic had shifted. Von now knew all about Trisha, how she had been assaulted as a child and how her attacker had mutilated her face. He felt horrified at the story at first, but he had slowly become more and more infatuated with the glimpses he caught of the young peasant girl.
The scene was out in the open, staged at night, the only time the innkeeper would allow her daughter outside in fear of exposing her to pity or cruelty. Trisha was sitting in the middle of the field, gently singing.
"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation
Darkness wakes and stirs imagination
Silently the moonshine twines itself in starshine.
Sun cannot compare with such a sight.
Nor daytime song the music of the night"
Von entered the room, but she turned and looked at him without flinching. She acknowledges her eyes on her, then returns to her singing.
"Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendor
Silver silence, delicate and tender
Once you've come away from the garish light of day
Turned your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light,
Then you hear the music of the night"
Christophe approached his love, lifting her with a gentle hand. He began to sing himself, softer than any of his previous songs, as if he feared to break the silence she described.
"Bring me in. I surrender to your moonlit dreams
Purge my thoughts of the life I knew before,
Bring me in. Let our spirits start to soar
And we'll live as we've never lived before."
She gently put her hands behind his head, embracing him while still maintaining an appropriate distance. He, in turn, clasped his hands around her slender waist and the two began to dance slowly across the stage as Erika crooned the next verse, seductive and soft.
"Softly, gently, music shall caress you.
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you.
Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind.
In the shallow night you know you cannot fight
The deepness of the music of the night."
Let your mind start a journey in a brave new world.
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before.
Let your soul take you where you long to be!
Once you do, you'll share a life with me.
And then, in a mastery of set and staging, a panel of stage below them began rising into the air until they were parallel with the stars hanging in the rigging above them. Both voices soared along with the stars as the two lovers, in both the opera and real life, mingled their voices in the last verse of the duet
"Floating, falling, sweet intoxication
Touch me, trust me, savor each sensation
Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in
Let your angel's wings of black extend for flight,
And carry on the music of-"
CRASH!
A cliffhanger, yes, but I needed to end the chapter before it became unmanageable. Review to encourage my muse and help me write the next chapter!
