Chapter Three:
THE THEATRE IS ALIVE
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THE NEXT DAY…"Oh my god…. We're standing backstage in the Phantoms theatre." Monique breathed. Kari laughed, they had arrived in the theatre 10 minutes before, and the whole time Monique had been giving a running commentary, which had started with "Oh my god, we're touching the stage door of the Phantoms theatre" and "Oh my god, we're walking up the stage entrance steps of the Phantoms theatre."
"You
know what would be cool?" Kari turned to Monique.
"What?"
she asked wide-eyed.
"If.. like, Oh my god, you would shutup in
the Phantoms theatre!" she replied.
Monique gave her a look of
mock horror, "Oh my god, you're a biarch in the Phantoms
theatre!" she mocked right back, and made a stupid face at Kari,
and she made an equally stupid one back.
"Come on…" Kari pulled her by the sleeve towards the stage, as the stage hands were descending from ladders, and appearing from beneath the trap door.
One of the
stage hands stopped when he saw them both, "Umm.. who are you?"
he raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I'm Kari – I'm here to practice my
Aria, don't worry, I wont get in the way."
"Uh-huh." He
nodded, "And who are you?" he shifted his gaze to Monique.
"Oh…"
Monique looked blank a moment, then grinned, "I'm her muse."
She replied.
Karis eyes widened, 'my muse? What the…!" she
thought to herself.
"Uh-huh." The stagehand nodded and walked
past them, disappearing to the stage door to join his buddies on a
smoko break.
"My MUSE?" Kari turned to look at
Monique.
Monique grinned, "I'm….. " she inhaled,
"inspiring" she exhaled luxuriously and ponced around the stage
dramatically.
Kari wandered across the stage, holding the Aria in her hands, more as a security blanket then a need to check words, or notes. She took a deep breath, consciously trying to relax her muscles, and invoke a feeling of confidence inside her. She began to visualise a full house, all waiting with baited breath to hear her sing. She breathed deeply once more and let her eyes open to survey her audience, catching sigh of Monique, preparing for a pirouette down stage left, she paused a moment then executed a tight double, tarnishing it with a wobbly finish. Kari relaxed her jaw, letting her mouth fall slack and then used her diaphragm to take a deep filling breath – and began to sing.
Monique stopped pirouetting, and leaping about the stage, and moved closer to the wings and turned to watch Kari sing. She always transformed when she began to sing, she held herself with such poise even as her voice danced up and down the scales. While Kari warmed her voice up, Monique sank back into the shadows, and found the door the connected the wings to the theatre foyer. She wandered through the foyer towards the grand front entrance.
The enormity of the place was staggering, she felt so small, beneath it's rich grandeur. At the main entrance at either side of the gold-handled double doors leading to the main floor of the house were two semi-circular grand staircases leading to the second floor circle and box seating. She climbed the left staircase, sensing the thickness of the red velvet carpet beneath her feet, trailing her hand along the luxurious dark wood banister, with it's intricate carvings of angels, and gargoyles. She breathed in the scent of the Opera house, trying to imagine the theatre in the time of the Phantom, 1881.
The images in her mind were so vivid from envisioning them so many times in her life; she felt the ghosts of the past all around her as if a cold mist had descended upon her. As she closed her eyes she could almost hear the voices, smell the musky smell of pipe tobacco laced with the potent aroma of whiskey. The sounds of the orchestra tuning reverberated from the main house, and sometimes, if silence descended a moment the faint sounds of sopranos warming their voices from the wings. Laughter, murmurings of conversations to her left… the clink of wine glasses meeting in a celebratory toast to her right… and a sweet caress across her collarbone. Monique jumped with a loud gasp, opening her eyes quickly, surveying her surroundings like a woman in danger. Something… someone - had just touched her. She looked each way, spinning herself around in a circle. Nothing. No one. Not a single sound to be heard bar her quickened heart beat in her ears. Her breath came out in short quick gasps, she consciously tried to slow it, breathing in deeply through her nose and out her mouth. Something or someone had touched her shoulder. But there was no one to be seen, nor a single sound to be heard.
Still trying to control her breathing Monique pushed on up the stairs, hurrying along the corridor her eyes scanning the walls before her. She paused a moment at a set of heavy red velvet curtains, eyeing the number on the wall she continued on for another 20 feet, before pausing again at an identical pair of curtains. A metallic plaque on the wall, declared BOX SEATING: 5 in engraved gold lettering. Now she really had to fight to control her breathing. She reached one hand up gently to part the curtains, it was dark inside, she took a calming breath and stepped through the velvet, over the threshold and into Box 5. She could hardly believe it. She walked straight towards the front, leaning against the railing of the balcony box. She looked out at the stage, "Excellent taste… my friend." She said aloud to herself, referring to the Phantoms choice of seating. The view afforded by the premiere seating was exquisite. She gazed down at Kari from her vantage point, she seemed so small for such a big, bright voice that reached her ears.
Kari had fully relaxed now, into her flow and singing as though there really was a full house and enjoying every moment of it. She projected high up into the balcony seating, imagining the men and woman sitting in the back row observing her with gilded opera glasses. She saw the gloves on the womans hands, and soon her dress came into view, a tight corset and voluptuous flowing skirt. The man with her was dressed to the nines, suit, top hat and cane at his side. Suddenly the theatre was filled with wealthy patrons, dressed in the period of the 1800s. They gazed at her through ornate old fashioned opera glasses, fanning themselves distractedly while she sang her heart out. She raised her eyes to regard the balcony patrons, their eyes fixed on her like hawks. And then she saw it. A blur of movement from one of the boxes. Her heart skipped a beat. Box 5. Suddenly her breathing was so out of control, and hitting her high notes wasn't so easy. She stared up at Box 5 – it seemed still… empty. She tried to focus back on her song, but remained ever watchful of the ominous Box 5 – another glimpse of movement, as she went for the climax of the song. She forced herself to look away, and tried to relax her jaw, casting her eyes skyward for a second. The chandelier! The glass beads jiggled against each other, as though chattering excitedly about the imminent journey. Suddenly she forgot the words… all Kari could think of was the chandelier about to fall on her. Panicking, she jumped off the stage and into the orchestra pit, with a high pitched scream that disintegrated to a groan as she landed.
"KARI!" Monique screamed from box 5. What the hell was she doing? She had just leapt off the stage like a madwoman. Monique ran from the box, back down the hauntingly beautiful staircase and through the large double doors into the main house. "KARI?" she called again, running down the aisle towards the orchestra pit at full speed, she had just reached the front section of seating when Kari stood up. "I'm okay." She breathed hard, running her hands over the birds nest that was her hair. "What the hell did you do that for?" Monique demanded looking at her as if she'd gone crazy, which it seemed, she had.
Kari bit
her lip, "I… the chandelier!" she pointed upwards. The
chandelier remained in it's rightful place, pristine, and still. As
beautiful as a sleeping lion. Perhaps as dangerous as a sleeping
lion?
Monique frowned, "What about the chandelier?"
"It…
it was moving. It was going to fall. I don't know!" she threw
her hands up. "I saw.. things." She admitted with a small degree
of shame.
"You too?" Monique leaned forward. "I saw them…
I heard them… smelt them, the patrons they were with me… on the
staircase. And then… then something touched me – and I snapped
out of it." She explained anxiously, still out of breath.
Kari nodded, "I saw them too. In the theatre… watching me, waiting for me to entertain them."
"The Theatre is alive…" Monique trailed off, then suddenly encircled Kari in a hug, "I know this is the place." she whispered in their embrace.
Kari nodded, "Then lets do what we came here to do." She whispered back. They broke from the embrace and climbed back up onto the stage, heading into the massive backstage area, each one taking a cautious gaze over their shoulders at the barren stage.
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