Chapter 25- Faust
"OK... relax...you are going to do just fine." Whispered Meg Giry to herself, a script clutched in her right hand, eyes shut tight in concentration. Opening her eyes, she looked back down at the open script, and then clapped a hand to her forehead. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She said, hitting herself with each word. "You're not even in this scene!"
"Problems my love?" Byron Larogue entered the theatre. There were several people adding the finishing touches to the set, and Meg, standing in the middle of the stage, looking as though she had just been sentenced to death.
"Just, pre-performance nerves." Her voice was barely more than a whisper. Byron put his arm around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
"You will be fine. I bet you get this feeling every time and then after the performance you just look back at it and laugh." This didn't have any effect on Meg whatsoever.
"But what if I forget some of my lines? Or sing out of key in a chorus...or...or..." Byron thought she looked like she was going to faint, and was not to happy to see that he was right. She collapsed into his arms, totally unconscious.
"Meg...? MEG!"
"Oh don't worry Monsieur." Byron looked round to see Christine Daae walking towards him. "This isn't the first time. She sometimes gets a little worked up if she thinks she will do anything wrong in a production."
Christine bent down and picked up the script on the floor. Byron looked over her shoulder to see what scene she had been studying.
"She's not even in that scene." And so she wasn't. It happened to be the church scene which was near to the end of the play.
"Actually she is rehearsing. Her character is supposed to be dead at this point! I must say she is doing a very good job of portraying that." Madame Giry said loudly, coming over to join the two of them. This comment caused both Byron and Christine to laugh. "Getting worked up again is she?"
"Apparently so." answered Byron. Madame Giry walked over to her daughter and began lightly slapping the sides of her face. After a few minutes, Meg opened her eyes. She saw the script in Christine's hands and seized it.
"Damn, Damn, Damn." She whispered dramatically, skimming through the pages.
"MEG GIRY, HOW DARE YOU USE THAT LANGUAGE!" Madame Giry gave Meg a sharp swat on the back of her head. Christine started to laugh.
"How can you be so calm at a time like this!?" Meg began. "The performance is in..." She checked the clock on the far wall. "Four and a half hours!"
"Which is exactly why you have to calm down Meg, if you are like this now then what are you going to be like just before the curtain call." This didn't have the effect that Christine wanted, in-fact, Meg fainted yet again at the very thought of it.
"Oh great, she might break her own record of five if she keeps this up." Said Madame Giry. Byron laid Meg down on the stage and Christine started trying to bring her back to consciousness, which she had had to do in many previous productions.
-
"Four hours fifteen minutes!" Boomed Firmin. "And another full house!"
"Why are you getting so worked up Richard?" Asked André. "You've seen them in rehearsals. They are amazing!"
"Yes, but what if the audience don't like it?" He was truly in hysterics now. "I mean, this will be one of the biggest productions that the Populaire has put on. What if they don't like it? What if they ask for..." He then turned chalk white. "...refunds?" And with that, he gave a very small whimper... and fainted.
Madame Giry chose that precise moment to enter the room. "Oh dear." She sighed, shaking her head. "It seems like everyone has something to panic about."
"He wasn't like this for Il Muto." Said André, looking confused.
"That because Il Muto isn't a very well known opera, is it Monsieur?" Replied Antoinette.
"Well he certainly did pick a good time to lose his nerve. I mean, Faust is one thing, but also the..." There was a knock on the door and a stage manager burst in through it moments later.
"Excuse me, but have any of you seen the caretaker because somebody has been vomiting all over the stage. I think it's Meg Giry. She does look very nervous." Said the man, very quickly, not even pausing to draw breath.
Firmin had regained consciousness for that very sentence. "Vomit on the stage, what if the caretakers..." He fainted again, and André could just about hear him mutter. "...pay rise..." André then tried to revive him in the same way that Madame Giry had done with Meg.
"We haven't seen them. Just get it cleaned up as quickly as possible." Replied Madame Giry, trying to stay calm.
-
"Well that's new for you Meg." Meg looked over at Christine who was talking to her. "I've seen you faint plenty of times, but being sick is a new one to me."
Meg was still a very delicate shade of green. However she was still clinging to the script in her hand as if it were her lifeline, not even daring to put it down, as if she thought it were going to burst into flames if she did.
"Well Meg." Said a cleaning lady who had come to clean up the mess. "You're not alone this time. The man who came to fetch me told me that one of the managers fainted." This comment seemed to do the trick as Meg gave a weak laugh and managed to get to her feet.
"Right, now hand over the script." Said Byron, quietly, and slowly but surely, Meg reached out and gave the script to him. "I'm sure you've heard of over rehearsing?"
Not waiting for an answer, he gave Meg a swift kiss on the cheek, walked backstage and dumped the script in the bin.
"You're right. I know my lines. I don't need that script any more..." She looked as though she was about to make a dash for the bin, but managed to contain herself. "Which manager was it?" She called over to the cleaner.
"The tall one." The cleaner replied.
"Firmin..." Christine giggled, showing an amazing amount of self composure.
The rest of the time before rehearsals began was rather uneventful. Firmin had managed to faint no less than ten times, with different excuses such as 'What if a prop goes missing? What if a backdrop falls?' This greatly annoyed Meg, due to the fact that her record had been broken by an 'amateur' as she called him.
With one hour left until the curtain call, Christine started to feel her nerves getting the better of her. Not wanting to stay around someone like Meg, who was likely to get very dramatic if she saw Christine's nervousness, Christine made her way back to her room.
She was startled to see that the mirror was open when she got there. However her door had been locked, and there was no trace of anybody going down to the lair.
"Good evening Christine." Christine whirled around and was startled to see that Daroga was sitting on the end of her bed. She must have walked right past him, focusing on the mirror.
"I... didn't see you there." She said faintly.
"Strange how short sighted an open mirror can make you."
"And how witty it can make you, Daroga." Came a voice Christine recognized as Erik's from the open mirror. "I've never seen you run so fast in my life."
"I just wanted to put a bit of distance between myself and that bloody platform!" Erik laughed at this.
"Call it a 'lift'. I think it sounds better than 'platform'."
Daroga opened his mouth to reply, but Christine cut him off. "What are you doing here?"
"Why do you think? I'm here to see the production, and of course to wish you good luck." He replied.
"No..." Said Christine again. "I meant what are you doing here, in this room."
"This is the only exit that was safe to use, all of the others have somebody outside them." Replied Erik.
Daroga got up and walked over to Christine. "Well, good luck Miss Daae. I had best leave while there is a panic so that nobody notices." He swept out of the room.
"Are you feeling OK, angel?" Asked Erik, walking over to her, a look of concern on his face.
"Just a bit nervous..." Erik lifted her chin.
"I know something that can fix that..."
-
With fifteen minutes until the curtain call, everyone had to try and remain calm and quiet due to the fact that the audience were taking their seats. Meg had to be calmed down by Byron backstage as she was hyperventilating madly. It was no secret that she was so nervous because this was her biggest role in a production yet.
Ten minutes to go, and the managers had one final word of encouragement to the performers.
"Everyone..." Began Firmin. "If I were to wish you luck it would be because I feel I need to..." He paused, and then gave them all a big smile. "...but if I thought that you needed luck for this then I would need professional help!" There was loud applause from the cast. Firmin and André went to take their normal box seats, and there were a few exchanges of luck between the cast.
With five minutes to go to curtain up, everybody took their places for act 1...
-
Erik was sitting in his normal seat in box five, he had asked Daroga if he would like to join him, but Daroga had said that it would cause a lot of suspicion.
Faust consisted of five acts, making it a very long opera indeed, and in every single act Erik could not spot one mistake at all. The Duet in act one between Mephistopheles and Faust was flawless. The finding of Byron Larogue was, in Erik's view, a gift to the Opera House. The first time Christine appeared was as a vision of Faust's, with her sitting at a spinning wheel, the orchestra started up a dramatic song as Faust signed his soul away to Mephistopheles, so he could look youthful and be with Margarita.
Act one seemed to have set a standard for the rest of the opera, because it seemed that each act after it had more effort and passion in it than the previous one. Meg Giry, who Erik could remember being so nervous earlier that day, out performed herself by a mile and gave the best performance that she had done in her entire life. It seemed that having a large role was not too much trouble at all for her.
However if anyone excelled the most, it was Christine, who seemed to be putting in so much effort and passion that the rest of the cast could not emulate her, no matter how hard they tried. She sang to her very best, and acted so brilliantly that it reduced several of the audience to tears. Her most emotive performance was in the church scene which concluded act four.
Margarita was centre stage kneeling before a font. She dipped her fingers in the water and formed a cross on her forehead and then she moved and knelt on another part of the stage and began to sing.
Lord, deign to permit
Your humble servant
To kneel
before you.
A voice then rang out loudly from somewhere that couldn't be seen. It was Mephistopheles.
No, you will not pray,
No, you will not pray!
Strike her
with terror!
Spirits of evil, hasten, all of you!
All the way through the duet between Mephistopheles and Margarita the audience were on the edge of their seats, until finally the act came to an end.
Be Damned! To Hell With You!
Margarita then let out a high pitched scream, and the curtain fell. The audience were on their feet and clapping harder than they had at any other point during the opera and, with one act still to go, Erik felt that this would indeed be a night to remember.
The curtain rose once more for act five, and Mephistopheles and Faust walked onto the stage.
"Where are you taking me?" Asked Faust. "Where is she!? Where is..."
"Shhhhh." Hissed Mephistopheles. "The mountains contain more that just rock my friend..."
There was a flash of light and a bang like a gunshot, which made several members of the audience jump, and both of them were surrounded by witches. They began to sing the song 'Un, deux et trois', in their cold, high pitched voices, cursing Faust to hell and damnation. Faust tried to run but Mephistopheles led him away. The backdrop changed to the setting of a cave, in the far corner of which was Margarita.
"My love!" Cried Faust, he tried to free her from the cell she was locked in, with no success.
"I believe you may need this." Said Mephistopheles, holding up a silver key. Faust seized it and released her from her cell. She was asleep but woke up when she heard Faust. Both of them then sang the love duet 'Oui, c'est toi que j'aime', which reduced most of the audience to tears. Erik was sure that he saw Daroga wipe his eyes at one point.
"Margarita..." Began Faust. "Run away with me, leave this life behind..."
"Faust..." She replied, looking up into his eyes.
"NO!" Cried Mephistopheles. "Come with me, both of you, you can stay young and youthful together forever." He was positively begging the two of them, but Margarita wasn't fooled.
"Or serve in hell forever, you DEVIL!" Cried Margarita.
Mephistopheles then started to mutter a deadly curse and Faust dropped to his knees in prayer, head bowed.
"Go back to the fiery pits from whence you came." Shouted Margarita. She then closed her eyes and put her hands together as if praying. There was a flash of white light, a terrible scream from Mephistopheles and her voice spoke out once more. "See you in heaven my love..."
The light died... When Faust looked up, both Margarita and Mephistopheles had gone. The Chorus then struck up the final song 'Christ est ressuscite' telling Faust that she had indeed gone to heaven and Mephistopheles back to hell. The curtain then fell when the chorus had ended, and Faust was over...
The Audience clapped harder than ever, shouting out things such as 'brava' and 'excellent'. Back stage, Meg was positively singing with delight that she had remembered all of her lines and Firmin looked ready to kiss the entire cast, but didn't seem to have time, as he and André then walked out to centre stage, signalled for the rest of the cast to do the same, then signalled for the curtain to rise once more.
The applause still continued unabated. As it rose, Firmin gestured for the cast to give a bow, several flowers were thrown onto the stage and Meg even heard her name called out from the crowd.
Firmin raised his hand for silence, which took a short time considering the size of the audience. "Thank you all for coming tonight, I hope you enjoyed watching these splendid performers..." There was more loud applause. "Especially our new leading man Monsieur Byron Larogue." The applause continued.
"But..." Called André. "We have to consider everybody involved with this production, such as our stage managers." He signalled for them to come out onto the stage, there was even more loud applause from the audience.
"Our Ballet instructor, Antoinette Giry!" Cried Firmin, there was still more loud applause from both the audience and the cast as she walked out onto the stage.
"And of course..." Boomed André. "...Our fantastic Orchestra!" Reyer turned round to face the audience, giving them all a very nervous smile, and the musicians made their way onto the stage. Erik applauded along with the rest of the audience.
"And now it is time to tell you the reason for getting you all here on stage." Began Firmin. "As well as to congratulate you all on the amazing work that you have done to make this production possible, there is a surprise for everyone here."
There was a lot of curious muttering from both the cast and the audience. Even Erik did not have a clue what the managers were talking about, and after all, he was supposed to know everything that went on inside the Opera House.
The managers seemed to be admiring the tension just as they had done when announcing that they would be performing Faust.
"So... just to add to the surprise let's wait another minute before we tell you." Joked André, there was a groan from the audience, which seemed to delight the managers even more. The audience and the cast started to mutter to each other.
"What do you think this is all about?" Whispered Meg to both Christine and Byron.
"I don't know..." Replied Christine and Byron at the same time.
Christine looked up at box five and could just about make out the expression on Erik's face. It was clear that he too did not have a clue what the managers had in mind.
What are you planning my dear managers? What have you tried so hard to keep from me and succeeded? If this was anything that he didn't like then he would have to talk some sense back into them both.
"It is our great pleasure..." Shouted Firmin. "...to introduce to you our new patrons of the Opera Populaire!" There was a huge round of applause as a man and a woman walked out into centre stage, smiling at the applause from the cast and the audience.
Erik however, did not applaud. It was the last thing he had in mind and yet it wasn't because the managers had done something without his say so or his knowing. It wasn't even because they had gone and found two patrons for the Opera Populaire. He just sat there, stunned, not daring to believe what it was that he was seeing.
Christine was looking at Erik the whole time and yet could not work out what he was thinking. Yes, the managers had done something without him knowing.
But surely this isn't a bad thing... it will help with funding for productions. Surely he must be able to see that...
"Where are my manners?" Joked André, looking at the patrons, who smiled politely back at him, André chuckled slightly. "Quieten down please. You need to know who they are." The audience laughed at the joke like tone that André had said these words in. Then eventually fell silent. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce Monsieur Ivan and Madame Catherine Beaumont!"
Christine looked over at Zurie at the word 'Beaumont'. She could just about lip read the words 'Father and Step-Mother.' Then she looked back up at box five...
Erik looked ready to kill. His eyes were burning and he was clutching the arms of the chair so hard that he thought they might break. Breathing very heavily he finally managed to whisper two words over the applause. "Hello Mother..."
