Quick note...Don Juan's "aria" is taken from a song called "Endless Appetite," the English demo of Tanz de Vampire's "Unstillbare Gier."
Chapter Thirty-one - It Will Be A Disaster
Tension and chaos marked the rehearsals from the first hour.
The musicians complained constantly to Monsieur Reyer about the harsh, unfamiliar melodies. The harried maestro would respond only with a shrug.
Among themselves, the members of the corps de ballet puzzled over the slow and twisted movements of their dances.
Carlotta, cast as a tawdry madam, continued to fume over the size of her part. Even Meg's Harlot was a better role.
Christine was unnaturally quite as she went over her part of the beautiful gypsy girl.
Only Ubaldo Piangi seemed pleased with his part. The arias were difficult, but it was by far one of the best roles he'd had in all of his years at the Opera Populaire. He was aware of the fact that his appeal as a romantic lead had faded, slowly giving way to more comedic roles.
One afternoon, as Meg and Christine practiced a duet, one of theatre's many cats - a small, graceful black creature - suddenly leapt from a windowsill onto an unused piano.
Reyer's copy of the score went fluttering to the ground.
"Ah," snapped Carlotta, randomly striking at Piangi's knuckles with her closed fan, "you see! A sign! This opera…it will be a disaster."
She glared as Christine as if the whole thing were solely the ingénue's fault.
Christine turned and ran from the room, almost tripping on her full black skirt.
Meg, remembering that Christine was not to be left alone for a moment, started to follow her. Then she stopped.
Let the Vicomte look after her now…
She bent down and picked up scattered pages of the Phantom's opera . Sitting down at the piano, she began to put them back in order for Reyer.
It was one of Don Juan's arias, sung during the prison scene.
I long to be a flame and reduced to ashes,
But I have never burned.
I long to fly in total freedom,
But these chains keep dragging me down.
I long to be an angel or the devil himself,
But I am nothing but a creature longing for the things I can't have.
And the split goes through the very heart of me.
It's a wound that never mends.
Our desires are elusive
And the hunger never ends.
She bit her lip, holding back tears that would smear the thick black ink.
If only they knew the man who had written this, if only they knew the man they meant to destroy…would they show him mercy then?
Even as she closed the leather cover over the pages, she knew the answer was no.
