OOM: He's Here, the Autor of the Opera

[sunbaked_baker]

"I'm so ready for this lingering cough to quit," Rae mutters after clearing her throat and inviting Autor into her room. "It just doesn't want to give up yet."

She holds the door open for him with the hand holding the dvd box, the other carefully balancing two bowls - one large bowl of popcorn and a smaller bowl of many-flavored jelly beans - with ease of one who has worked in the food-service industry the majority of her life.

Comments

[herr_bookman]

"In the book they had to take a horse to the boat and it took a few pages to explain the trip," Autor explains sincerely, nibbling on some popcorn.

"Music lessons--it depends on the teacher, really? I know some who stand at the piano and whap it with a ruler and say, 'play!' Most don't, though," he says, shrugging.

The boy busts up laughing as the Phantom smooths his hands over his hair. "Oh, no, that's ridiculous, too. Christine has an impressive register, though."

The Phantom serenades Christine, telling her she has come with one purpose alone: to sing for his music. He steps towards her, moving his hands--and she responds as if on strings coming from his fingers, turning around slowly to his command so he faces her back.

"Silently the senses abandon their defenses," the Phantom sings, coming up behind her. "Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor. Grasp it! Sense it! Tremulous and tender. Turn your face away from the garish light of day..."

"Rae, he's... touching her face," Autor points out, stating the obvious. "Why is he touching her face, augh!"

[sunbaked_baker]

"Augh," Rae obviously doesn't approve of the weird, creepy face-touching. "He's trying to convince her of how awesome it'd be for her just to live down in the cellars being his muse all the time, and she's... gods, what kind of drugs is she on? She looks as though these damp, likely moldy and rat-infested cellars are the most glorious sight she's ever seen."

"She is so high right now. This is... 1905, right? So, opium, do you think?"

'Floating, falling, sweet intoxication,' indeed.

For the sake of Autor's blood-pressure and potential embarrassment, Rae is carefully not mentioning how the imagery in the lyrics (surrendering to one's darkest dreams, savoring each sensation, etc.) could be interpreted much, much differently. Though it's difficult, with just how... impassioned the Phantom is obviously getting, and the ecstatic, dreamy look on Christine's face. Ye gods.

"Aaaaaand she's suddenly asleep. Okay. Opium, it is."

[herr_bookman]

"Wait, 'music of the night'? 'Sweet intoxication'? This... This is innuendo, isn't it?" Autor says, and turns his blushing face away from the second time the Phantom gloms onto Christine from behind. "Good heavens, he's grabby!"

The boy clears his throat, retreating behind the safety of adjusting his glasses. "Yes, it would be opium, but this is about the 1880s--the year 1905 was the year of the auction, when Raoul was old," he says matter-of-factly, distancing himself from the Phantom's covering her up with his cape in the boat-bed. "Cocaine wasn't popular until 1910 or so."

The audience applauds, and Autor shakes his head. "I need tea. Do you need tea? Yes," he says, and refills their cups from the thermos.

The Phantom plays a discordant, jarring set of notes on the wire frame organ, and Christine rouses, appearing not to know where she is. She rises from the bed and unmasks him, smiling, and he throws her to the ground.

"Damn you! You little prying Pandora!" the Phantom shrieks, and Autor wrinkles his nose.

"You know, it occurs to me that he fell before her and wept during this entire Music of the Night song in the book," the boy remarks. "And after he screams at her here, he drags himself into his room, weeping, and plays Don Juan Triumphant, which she describes as 'one long, drawn out sob.'"

[sunbaked_baker]

"I most definitely need tea," Rae agrees, smiling a little at Autor's blush, but not going so far as to tease him about it.

"Though... I'm sorry - I'm calling bullshit on him playing all that loud mess and it being the delicate tinkling notes of the music-box that wakes her up. Was all that loudness supposed to be Don Juan Triumphant, then? It'd certainly make an audience sob. If not make their ears bleed."

The Phantom dramatically covers one half of his face with his hand as he prowls the stage and sings half-accusingly half-beseechingly at the silent Christine. 'Fear can turn to love. You'll learn to see, to find the man behind the monster, this repulsive carcass, who seems a beast but secretly dreams of beauty...'

"Ew. Don't you even try," Rae says at the Phantom on the screen with disgust, only barely curbing a stronger remark. "Apart from the most superficial of elements, there's no comparison. Though 'Beauty and the Beast' would probably make a good musical, too."

[herr_bookman]

"I don't know if that was Don Juan," Autor says, shaking his head again. "It could have been, given that he was looking at his music and making notes afterwards, before she unmasked him."

Autor purses his lips. "I suppose that could be considered weeping," he says, motioning to the Phantom on his knees. "'Beauty and the Beast' would make a fantastic musical. I bet that exists. We should track it down."

The boy furrows his brow. "You know, his face isn't even half bad. In the book he didn't have a nose, and looked more like a skull."

Shaking, Christine offers him the mask, and the Phantom drags her off stage to return her to the theater. Ballerinas flood the stage and scream at Joseph Buquet, the stage operator, as he dramatically explains that the Phantom is ugly--only to have Mme. Giry chide him.

Next, the managers sing about scandal and how much publicity they're getting out of Christine's disappearance--and the Phantom's letters demanding his salary.

"Where is she?" Raoul demands, also having received a letter from the Phantom demanding that he not seek her out again.

"Where is he?" Carlotta shrieks about a letter that she believes has been sent by Raoul.

"Oh, great, she's back," Autor says, wrinkling his nose.

"Far too many notes for my taste," the managers sing, "And too many about Christine..."

[sunbaked_baker]

"For someone with crippling self esteem issues, the Phantom sure thinks a lot of himself," Rae remarks, as the various characters sing all of his demanding and threatening notes. She grins. "He must know he's the title character."

"The managers are a bit annoying, but I rather like them. More than Raoul, who is just arrogant and dismissive, and Carlotta who is just... arrogant and over-dramatic. The managers probably didn't know what they were getting into, taking over the opera house."

'Gentlemen,' Andre reads, 'I have now sent you several notes of the most amiable nature, detailing how my theatre is to be run.'

"He doesn't actually know what 'amiable' means, does he..."

The Phantom's voice-over details his plans for the new production of Il Muto, but the camera stays fixed for a pointedly long time on Madame Giry's face.

"I swear, what is up with her? Just how much does she know?"

[herr_bookman]

"Well, the Phantom is significantly more damaged physically and emotionally in the book; he is shown to be much more childish than he is in the musical. He talks to himself, and refers to himself in the third person. He calls the Persian a 'great booby' several times," Autor explains, shrugging.

"Ah, as for Madame Giry--she knows a great deal. She delivers notes and salary for the Phantom, and he promised that he would make an empress out of Meg Giry," Autor says, nibbling on some popcorn.

The Phantom demands that box five be kept empty for him, and Madame Giry warns against scorning his words. Carlotta pitches another fit, which leads to everyone singing different things at the same time, a discordant jumble of melodies.

Desperate, the managers ply Carlotta with song, likening her voice to an angel's and telling her that her public needs her.

"Can you bow out when they're shouting your name?" one of the managers sings, and Autor scoffs. "They're bending over backwards? For her?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"And Madame Giry believes the Phantom? He's shown no interest in Meg Giry! I don't know that he could even pick her out of the ballerina line-up," Rae remarks, then snorts. "Well, Christine has dark hair like Madame Giry, while Meg is blonde. If he didn't know Christine's full name, I'd say he might have made an honest mistake."

"None of these people are actually listening to each other. They're just... loud." Amidst Carlotta's drama and the managers' beseeching pleading, Madame Giry and Raoul's lines are nearly completely inaudible.

"No one cares, Raoul," Rae informs him through a mouthful of popcorn, as he demandingly sings words no one can hear over the managers and Carlotta.

"What. The lurid, multicolored hells is that wig. I think it's making me seasick."

[herr_bookman]

"I'm more concerned with, um--I mean, she sort of..." Autor says, fidgeting. "Carlotta just stripped on stage--behind a screen, granted, and all we saw was her shoulders, and that's too much!--but yes, that wig is awful, isn't it?"

He holds a fistful of popcorn, mesmerized by the Phantom warning them that a disaster untold will occur. "He probably means the chandelier."

Raoul and the managers seat themselves in box five, citing the fact that there are not other seats available. "In the book, they had an entire scheme to figure out whether or not the Phantom was pickpocketing the salary he demanded out of their pockets. They ended up safety pinning the money to themselves and lost it anyway. It was rather silly."

Technicians set up a couch for Carlotta to recline on, ever the Countess. More people in atrocious wigs step out to sing of shame for her for falling in love with a pageboy. Autor gives Rae a look. "It seems those wigs are popular."

[sunbaked_baker]

"They look like they're made out of steel wool," Rae remarks, as the lighting flickers dramatically and the Phantom interrupts the opera.

'Did I not instruct that Box Five was to be left empty?'

'Here's here!" shrieks Meg Giry, then singing, 'The Phantom of the Opera!'

"...Thanks for that, Meg."

'Your part is silent, little toad,' Carlotta hisses at the frightened Christine.
'A toad, madame?'

"Damn, everyone has amazing projection and phenomenal hearing, don't they?"

[herr_bookman]

Carlotta starts the aria from the beginning again--and then croaks in the middle, sounding very much as if she has swallowed a frog herself. Autor laughs, as does the Phantom.

"Poor fool, he makes me laugh, ha ha ha ha--" Carlotta sings, trembling, and interrupts herself with a croak again.

"Behold! She sings to bring down the chandelier!" the Phantom calls, and Autor nods sagely.

"I wonder how they're going to manage that?" the boy says. "In the book it killed some random woman in the audience."

[sunbaked_baker]

"They can't really drop the chandelier on the audience," Rae protests, glancing at Autor for confirmation as one of the managers insists upon the emergency ballet. "I mean, can you imagine? 'Congratulations, ma'am, your ticket is for the seat that has been selected as tonight's chandelier death!'"

There's verisimilitude, and then there's... no.

The ballet gradually becomes more and more ominous-seeming, complete with low, threatening sounds entering the music played by the orchestra, as the Phantom creeps across the catwalk to strangle Buquet.

"'That's for making fun of my nose!'" she intones, mimicking the Phantom's dramatic tone.

[herr_bookman]

Autor chuckles. "No, they can't. That poor audience, though."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats! It was an accident! Simply an accident!" one of the managers says desperately, waving his hands as Buquet's body sways from a noose above the screaming ballerinas.

Christine sweeps across the stage, panicked about the death of Buquet and telling Raoul that she can't perform anymore. He shuts her down, saying that the Phantom doesn't exist.

"Christine is a lot more sympathetic to the Phantom in the book, and wishes to sing for him before leaving, which is when he attacks and abducts her," Autor explains. "The Phantom abducts her more than once; she leaves his house on the lake and returns of her own free will, apparently."

[sunbaked_baker]

"I'm glad the Phantom was able to get his altered score to the orchestra so they knew when to up to tension and switch to his theme..." Rae snorts, taking a sip of her tea.

"Wow, she's literally wringing her hands and pleading and freaking out and he's... nope, nothing. No concern or anything, standing waaaaaay the hells over there. C'mon, Christine, wake up! It's obvious he doesn't love you!"

A small handful of popcorn is tossed at the screen as Raoul grabs Christine by the shoulders and shakes her, insisting there is no phantom of the opera even as she struggles out of his hold.

"And it's obvious he thinks she's crazy," Rae grumps. Raoul shakes his head as Christine sings her experience encountering the Phantom.

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, Raoul is awful, and totally self-centered. There's a line in the book at about this scene where she's telling him that she was abducted, and he says, 'Are you frightened? But do you love me?'" Autor says, pursing his lips.

The Phantom calls, "Christine", in a ghostly overtone, and she sinks to her knees, despondent. Raoul picks her up and lowers her hood before embracing her.

"No more talk of darkness," he sings, "Forget these wide-eyed fears. I'm here, nothing will harm you..."

"Oh, I'm so sure he'll be able to protect her!" Autor says, scoffing. "He's completely incompetent in the book, and doesn't believe her besides."

[sunbaked_baker]

"How can she expect him to protect her from something he doesn't believe exists!? And what the fuck - excuse my language - look at his face! Obvious contempt and exasperation! Not love. What even is this?"

She would throw more popcorn, but it'd be a terrible waste and would do no good.

'All I want is freedom,' sings Christine, 'a world with no more night...'

"Then run! Just... go, and keep going. Leave these two jerks in the dust!"

[herr_bookman]

Autor glances at Rae, amused. "It's true, he looks like he's just putting up with her," he says quietly. "There really is nothing keeping her from running."

"Say you love me," Christine sings, and Raoul responds with, "You know I do."

Autor groans as they passionately kiss. And again. And again. "Nope, she's hopeless," the boy says, indulging in more popcorn.

[sunbaked_baker]

Rae grips her pillow, restraining herself from throwing it. "Augh! Autor - heh, augh-tor," Rae interrupts her own diatribe's beginning with unexpected giggles. "Hee, sorry. Autor, I wanted to say, if you ever ask someone for confirmation of their love and they pull that trick and try to sidle out of it, insist. If they still won't, the jig is up and you know they don't."

"Also..." Rae continues to talk over the insipid singing, "Where are they that they think the Phantom isn't like... right there in the shadows where they can't see? Why do they think they're safe and secret where they're here, singing... damn, you two, sing a bit louder why don't you? Shiva wept."

Of course, that's when they decide to drag the song to a close. Then they start a strange, happy song they exit the stage to, and the resounding silence that follows...

"Oh, there he is."

[herr_bookman]

"Pfft! You're ridiculous, I hope you know," Autor says, bumping her shoulder with his own. "But that's good advice. I'll keep it in mind."

Autor smiles a little as the Phantom sings an anguished reprise of All I Ask Of You. "Those are real tears, there. This guy is good."

"Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime," Christine and Raoul sing from offstage, and the Phantom jerks his head in the direction like a angry bird.

"You will curse the day you did not do all that the Phantom asked of you!" the Phantom says, and disappears as the chandelier explodes with fireworks and sparks, terrifying the people on stage and inciting cheers in the audience.

"Oh, it's intermission?" Autor says, and stretches. "Want more tea, Rae?"

[sunbaked_baker]

"I am very well aware," Rae smiles, leaning on his shoulder.

"Were all the sparks and lights there the great disaster they were talking about at the beginning, then? Seems a bit of a disappointment..." she remarks, sitting up and stretching. "More tea sounds like a great idea. We're a bit low on popcorn, too. Want more, or something else?"

[herr_bookman]

"I'm good for popcorn and jelly beans, but more tea will never go amiss," Autor says, refilling their cups with the last of the thermos.

The orchestra on screen starts up with the main theme of Music of the Night, followed by All I Ask of You and some others. "I have to say, the orchestra is really talented," Autor says, nodding along with the harpist's close-up.

Autor hops off the bed. He raises his arms above his head and touches his toes. "Thanks for watching this with me, Rae."

[sunbaked_baker]

"They really are," Rae agrees, humming along with the theme as she gets up off the bed and gathers the mostly-empty popcorn bowl. "It's good the orchestra gets its time to shine, too, even if it's when people are milling about and taking a break."

"Thank you for watching this with me, as well. It's much more fun with you here," she smiles, picking up the remote. "Gonna pause it while I run downstairs for more tea and popcorn, if that's okay. I don't want to miss anything."

[herr_bookman]

"Of course, this has been a blast," Autor says, and waits until she leaves before crouching down to pick up the popcorn that she threw at the screen before.

[sunbaked_baker]

When the music changes again into something more purposeful - the full theme, in fact - she hurriedly pauses it before whatever next act begins.

"Don't feel you have to worry about those; I'll clean them up later. For now, though, I'll be right back!" Taking the empty thermos and the nearly-empty bowl of popcorn with her, she goes out into the hall, closes the door, and heads down towards the kitchens.

[herr_bookman]

"Bah," Autor says, paying no attention to that. He cleans up the thrown popcorn and straightens the bed, hitting the restroom before she returns.