THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT
By Midnight Rose 1994
Part 3
“He will burn you with the heat of his eyes!”
---Giry, Act One, Scene Seven.
Snow melted by the daylight heat of the sun froze to solid ice as the night temperatures fell making flat and slanted roofs too treacherous for an ill-placed foot. The hidden puddles in dark, narrow alleys were not much safer. He chose the lesser of the two dangers, less of a danger to his feet then his over-all safety. The moving shadow crept with soundless grace pass the cardboard and newspaper stuffed shelters of the homeless, warm cocoons heated by the bodies of its sleeping inhabitants. He was the only prowler out on this bitter night. He boldly crossed a deserted street, a dark mirror of ice reflecting the light of a street lamp and the changing traffic light on its glossy surface.
Were these frosted streets this brilliant in the sunlight of day? He would never know. He was forever a solitary prince of the kingdom of darkness; his reign held little tranquility for its lone inhabitant.
A domestic fight spills out into the street, two friends or two brothers fighting over the affections of one lady. Is senseless fighting the only way to solve a problem, to win an argument, or to handle a disagreement?
From the black mouth of an alley the hooded figure crouched and watched the dancing shadows cast on the weathered brick. So close to the manhole entrance of his secret home, too close a risk to reach the steaming safety unseen. He must wait invisible within the cloak of his nighttime friends. Forever became an eternity as the two men fought their way into the alley and drove its inhabitant further into dark cover.
The larger man slammed his enemy against the support beams of a wooden fire escape, bleeding fists and acid curses flying. Redness burns in his mind, the beast within longing to feed on the violence he is forced to witness. It is not his place to intervene when a life is not in danger of being lost.
All changes when the silver glint of pointed steel is raised to the heavens. The shadows move. A dart of red and silver embeds itself in the rotting post pinning the sleeve of hand-held death. Fear overtakes anger as a new foe awaits unseen, eyes glow in swallowing blackness, the voice of death itself. Terrified stares, screams of fright, and the duet of metal falling to the asphalt floor echoed in the confined space. Pounding feet fade into the distance. The shadows move to retrieve fallen weapons and silence returns to the bitter cold of night.
***
“Ah, Miss Daae quite the lady of the hour!”
---Andre, Act Two, Scene Three.
“It took less than six hours after he was let out of jail for him to start harassing her!” Catherine was nearly shouting at the unfeeling warrant officer on the other end of the phone. “Obviously, the restraining order is not working…What are you waiting for—a body bag?I want him brought in---yesterday…If she doesn’t press charges; I will…Be creative. If a violation doesn’t stick, try harassment---anything to get him off the streets until I can pin something heavier on him. ”Catherine slammed the receiver down and leaned back in her chair. She could just scream.
Catherine had arrived at her desk to find Dana Kenworth and her friend waiting for her. The poor women were terrified; Joseph had repeatedly called the friend’s home all night wanting to just talk to his wife. Dana did not want to speak with him and kept hanging up, until her friend unplugged the phone.
A husband just wanting to talk to his wife was not grounds for an arrest warrant, but it was still harassment. The restraining order did not have no contact allowed in the fine print. To add insult to injury, Dana still refused to press charges. She just wanted to go home and not deal with the overwhelming situation she was in.
Catherine let a long, deep breath slowly seep out and sought the encouragement of a soul connected to her through an amazing bond. Vincent’s calm presence soothed her and helped her to mentally braced herself for another round of persuasion in the nearby conference room. She had to convince Dana to press charges against her abusive husband.
“Radcliffe, do you have the Borgos summary ready? I need it. ” Joe Maxwell announced upon arriving at Catherine’s desk while trying to straighten his tie. He was late for a court appearance.
Catherine spotted the blue-tabbed folder among her spread papers and handed it to her hurried boss. “Even typed,” she bragged dryly.
Joe was halfway out of the office with the opened folder when he stopped. He marched back to the beautiful DA’s desk. “Chandler, this is not the summary. ”
Catherine’s face went blank.
“The Libretto?”
Catherine’s face flushed as she scrambled to find the summary file. She stood and held out the correct blue-tabbed folder to Joe.
“Libretto to what,” Joe asked handing her the file but not letting go.
“Phantom of the Opera,” she replied. Catherine had as oversized book at home, The Complete Phantom of the Opera, with a history of the Gaston Leroux tale, Hollywood’s numerous movies and the behind the scenes of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical. The full Broadway Libretto was in the back. Catherine had copied it and kept it in a file at work so she could study her lines when she found a spare moment.
Catherine tugged at the file; Joe still would not surrender it. He wanted to know more---so he would have something else to razz her about.
She sighed and cast her eyes away from his merry and inquisitive gaze. Joe loved to put her on the spot. “Some of my friends have me involved in the play for a Christmas party. ”
Joe gave up the file, but he stood there with a sly look on his face. Catherine ignored him by sitting down and nonchalantly putting the Libretto on the bottom of the other files she had prepared to take with her to the conference room.
“And what part are YOU playing?”Joe asked grinning at her.
Catherine gave her boss her biggest Cheshire Cat grin. “Christine, of coarse,” she quickly changed the subject with a wink, “Aren’t you late for court, Boss?”
***
“Rehearsals, as you see, are under way, for a new production…”
---Leforre, Act One, Scene One.
Five weeks into the production, the scene being rehearsed on stage this particular evening was Act One, Scene Eight set in the Manager’s office of the Opera House. Firmen, Andre, Carlotta, and Raoul had all received strange notes from the Phantom and were tiring of the intrigue surrounding this mysterious person.
Will, as Firmen, and Kainin, as Andre, were exclaiming in song.
Firmen and Andre together:
“Far too many notes for my taste
And most of them about Christine!
All we’ve heard since we came
Is Miss Daae’s name…”
As if on cue, Catherine appeared in the doorway at the top of the staircase. Vincent was coming up the stairs to his place on the landing, where he would speak his lines as the Phantom’s voice in the scene. He greeted her with a quick smile, his immediate thoughts on the script he carried.
“Giry,” he cued, his deep voice rumbling over the noise of hammers and saws. The older children were working backstage on their eight-foot cardboard cutout of an elephant, that they were nailing to a wooden frame that would make it stand upright.
Rebecca, as Giry, and Samantha, playing Giry’s daughter, Meg, appeared through a prop door on stage left.
Giry:
“Miss Daae has returned. ”
Firmen:
“I trust her midnight oil is well and truly burned. ”
Andre:
“Where precisely is she now?”
Giry:
“I thought if best that she went home…”
Meg:
“She needed rest. ”
While the scene played out below them , Vincent and Catherine greeted each other with an embrace and a kiss.
Jeremy was filling in for a very late Michael, the Opera’s Raoul.
Raoul:
“May I see her?”
Giry:
“No, Monsieur, she will see no one. ”
Carlotta:
“Will she sing? Will she sing?”
Giry:
“Here, I have a note…”
Kainen, Jamie, and Jeremy all moved to snatch at the paper Rebecca held, bumping into each other.
Andre, Carlotta, and Raoul:
“Let me see it. ”
The trio started to laugh. This would never do. Will made it worse by snatching the note away as Firmen was to do and ripped the paper in two.
Firmen:
“Please!”
Will nearly choked on the line, delivering it too solemnly.
“Cut,” Vincent chuckled, gazing down on the stage performers. He had Catherine in one arm and balancing the Libretto binder and pen in the other. “Let’s try it again…without the bumping. ”
The actors below moved back to their positions and gave the jostling movement a dry run. They decided among themselves how to make the scene run smoother.
Vincent released Catherine for a moment to make a note in the wide margin of his script. “OK, Giry, let us resume from your last line…Paul, the pitch note, please. ”
Paul, at the piano, gave the chords and the scene continued.
Giry:
“Here I have a note. ”
Andre, Carlotta, Raoul:
“Let me see it!”
Firmen (snatching the note)
“Please!”
Will held the two broken halves of the paper together to read the note.
Firmen:
“Gentlemen, I have now sent…”
“Vincent,” Will broke off, “Isn’t the note suppose to be in an envelope?”
“It will be,” Vincent assured him. “Continue. ”His strong arm snaked back around his soul mate’s slim waist as they stood at the rail watching the scene on stage.
Firmen:
“Gentlemen, I have now sent you several notes of the most amiable nature, detailing how my theatre is to be run. You have not followed my instructions. I shall give you one last chance…”
Vincent took over the narration as the Phantom’s voice and explained that in the production of IL Muto, Christine was to play the Countess and not Carlotta.
“…I shall watch the performance from my normal seat in Box five, which will be kept empty for me. Should these commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur. ”
Firmen (taking over):
“I remain, Gentlemen, your obedient servant. O. G. ”
Just then, Vincent and Catherine found themselves in a blinding spotlight. The scene was interrupted again.
“It works!” Came a happy cheer from Mouse at the back of the Great Hall.
“Yes, too well,” Catherine said under her breath as she shaded her eyes from the brilliance.
“It grows soft too,” Mouse announced and then the light dimmed.
“Mouse, aim the light on the stage please,” the leonine man directed as he descended the flight of stairs and walked back to Mouse and his spotlight. The two men worked to adjust the brightness on the spotlight and mark the point of comfortable light.
The rehearsal resumed without further interruption in the song of Prima Donna. Catherine moved from the stairs to the row of chairs set up in front of the stage area and awaited the end. Vincent finished out the scene as the voice of the Phantom from the floor at center stage.
Phantom:
“So it is to be war between us!
If these demands are not met,
A disaster beyond your imagination will occur!”
Then strongly proclaimed by all on stage in song,
“Once more!”
“Bravo!”Paul was clapping his hands as he rose from the piano. “The song is finally coming together. ”He glanced at his pocket watch and then tucked it back in his shirt pocket. “Take a few minutes to catch your breath and we will do the Second Act’s notes scene, now that our Christine is here…Hopefully, our Raoul will show. ”
Catherine noted that the crude sound system, consisting of her tape deck, stereo speakers, and amplifier, was set up and wired to a car battery, ready to use. (She was always amazed at the resourcefulness of the Tunnel community. )Microphones were not needed on stage due to the Great Hall’s acoustics; however, they were needed off stage for the Phantom’s voice and in the scene where the Phantom spoke from within a mirror.
“Mouse, is the sound working?” Catherine called to the feisty young man at the back of the room. Catherine fished in her purse and produced the Phantom of the Opera music tapes Lawrence had promised to secure for the Tunnel’s production.
“All ready,” he beamed.
“Shall we try the next scene with the sound track?” She asked her burly husband, who was for the moment, sitting in a nearby chair writing another note on his script.
He looked up. “We have not tested the system yet…” A hint of a smile sneaked across his features, his deep-set blue eyes dancing beneath the bristle of his topaz brow. Mouse had rigged all the wiring. “Do you have faith?” he chuckled quietly.
Catherine let her delicate fingers trail across her mate’s broad shoulder as she passed behind him. She chuckled, “I will keep my fingers crossed. ”
Within minutes, the Overture of the Second Act was filling the Great Hall. Those hammering nails, sawing wood or painting stopped to listen to the haunting orchestrations. Catherine let the Overture play through as she adjusted the base and treble for the best sound quality. Vincent moved slowly around the walls of the large chamber listening intently and cocking his golden head from side to side judging the acoustics for the four speakers sitting around the room. He adjusted their positions a few times.
“The play is going to sound great. ” Was the united response from the cast and crew in the vast hall when the music finished and Catherine turned the tape off. She began to search the tape for the music for Scene Three.
“We need to move these speakers,” Vincent was saying to Cullen, “I think they would sound better if we can get them off the floor. ”
“No problem, I can set a peg in the wall and hang the speakers in a sling. ”
Vincent nodded gripping Cullen’s shoulder, “Excellent. I leave it in your hands. ”
“Don’t you always…” Cullen chuckled rudely.
“Mouse!” Cullen called across the room as he walked away from his tawny friend. Cullen beckoned the tinker to him and wrapped his arm around the young man’s shoulder. “Mouse, we need to talk…We need more wire and rope. ”
Michael, who was playing Raoul, came rushing into the Great Hall. “Sorry, I am late. The music sounds great, even from outside. ”He said this all in one breath as he bound down the staircase and dumped his armload of college books in a chair. He beamed proudly at everyone in general. “I think we are going to out do ourselves this Winterfest. ”
“Yes, how will we ever live up to it next year?” Jamie mused from her seat on the railroad ties lining the front of the stage.
“Lets not worry about next year,” Vincent returned dryly his eyes on his bulging script. “We still have to survive this year. ”