empire superstar

Chapter 202 The Ghost of the Opera House
"Mr. Liao, Mr. Liao..."

Zhao Ping'an's voice interrupted Liao Yuan's thoughts. He rubbed his hands excitedly: "Mr. Liao, Mr. Zhao has a kind request. I wonder if Mr. Liao can help..."

Liao Yuan snorted, "Tell me about it."

Zhao Pingan coughed and said seriously: "Mr. Liao, our Jiangnan Grand Theater was one of the best in China a few years ago, even compared with the Imperial Opera House, but in recent years, But it has plummeted, widening the gap with the Imperial Capital Opera House. Alas, in the final analysis, talent is dying. Many musicians want to participate in some international music industry for the sake of their so-called ideals and ambitions. Competition, want to become famous, I am not saying that the competition is not good, it is just that once you are successful, you will be exhausted. For example, Mr. Liao, everyone has seen your glory, but who ever knew that the One Emperor and Four Emperors Piano Competition How many tens of thousands of participants are there in the world?"

"what do you want to say in the end?"

Liao Yuan jokingly said: "You don't want to keep me?"

"Don't, don't, Mr. Liao, you're making a big joke. How dare I keep you! Our temple is small, so we dare not keep your big Buddha!"

Zhao Pingan laughed and said, "It's just that you should also understand our situation. In recent years, the Grand Theater has been worse than every year. In addition to the talent withering, the audience is also tired of those old songs. After all, the old songs are classics. , but you can’t watch it all day long, just like eating delicious food, you will vomit if you eat it for a long time.”

"Can you explain directly?" Liao Yuan said speechlessly.

Zhao Pingan coughed again, and said with a dry smile, "You are a great musician and an excellent novelist. Combining the two, you can write an opera, which is naturally easy..."

Wait a minute, why do I think this sentence sounds familiar?
Liao Yuan remembered the conversation he had with Zhou Yijun, the dean of the Kyoto Opera House two days ago. The other party also liked his ability to write novels and compose music, and wanted to help him write an opera.

Only two days later, the same scene happened in Jinling.

But compared to Zhao Ping'an, Liao Yuan is obviously more willing to cooperate with Zhou Yijun.

First, in terms of status and popularity, the Kyoto Opera House is obviously not comparable to the declining Jiangnan Opera House.

Second, he was not happy watching Meng Han, so he was also not happy watching Jiangnan Opera House one after another.

"I'm sorry, I just promised Dean Zhou Yijun about this matter two days ago."

Liao Yuan said very apologetically: "I believe there are many excellent playwrights in China besides me. As long as you are sincere enough, you will definitely be able to get help from these playwrights."

Zhao Pingan was stunned, and immediately said anxiously: "Mr. Liao, my sincerity is absolutely the highest. No matter how high the qualifications of Dean Zhou are, I will definitely give you the same treatment, or even higher. There is no shortage of operas, they have a lot of talents, your operas are the icing on the cake for them, but our Jiangnan Opera House is different, you write operas for us, it is a timely gift, we will remember you forever!"

In view of the performance at the Jiangnan Grand Theater in the next three days, Liao Yuan did not immediately refuse, but said that he would consider it for a few days.

Despite the disappointment, Zhao Ping'an still maintained great enthusiasm. During Liao Yuan's rehearsal, he put down the face of the general manager and tried his best.

Xu Sanguan, director of the opera house, watched this scene from a distance and shook his head secretly.

The Jiangnan Grand Theater used to be able to compete with the Kyoto Opera House, but it has nothing to do with the general manager Zhao Pingan when it has fallen to this point.

Deducting musicians' salaries and cutting daily expenses led to constant complaints from employees, and good musicians left one after another. Zhao Pingan regretted it when he saw that the performance of opera actors was not as good as each year.

However, no matter how regretful it is, it is too late.

After Zhao Ping'an left, Xu Sanguan tiptoed to Liao Yuan, handed out his business card with both hands, and said warmly: "Mr. Liao, I am the director of the opera house, and this is my business card."

Liao Yuan took the business card, feeling a little annoyed by the politeness, but still smiled, "Director Xu, hello."

Xu Sanguan said enthusiastically: "During the theater, if Mr. Liao encounters any difficulties, he can call me at any time. As long as there is anything within his power, I, as the director, can solve it."

After Xu Sanguan left, Liao Yuan continued to rehearse.

However, some thoughts about opera in my heart are slowly forming.

In the evening, in the hotel.

Liao Yuan turned on his laptop, kept his inspiration, and began to write the score.

But before composing, he still needs to roughly sort out the main plot of the whole opera.

So on the blank document, lines of text slowly emerged with the typing of the keyboard.

"In an opera house in Paris, strange things happened frequently. The original leading actress was almost killed by a chandelier, and a creepy, illusory male voice appeared in the theater. This voice came from the 'ghost' who lived in the underground labyrinth of the theater. He loved He fell in love with the actress Christine, taught her to sing secretly, and helped her get the position of the heroine, but Christine fell in love with the theater manager Raoul, which caused a series of plots such as jealousy, pursuit, and murder. In the end, the 'ghost' found that his love for Christine had surpassed his own desire for possession, so he freed Christine, left the cloak and mask behind, and disappeared into the dark underground labyrinth alone."

The full name of the story is "The Phantom of the Opera House", and the story is not very good.

But the so-called opera, in addition to the plot, the singing is also the most important.

A good piece of music can turn an ordinary story into something extraordinary.

Liao Yuan began to write down the lyrics. The original version was in English, but if he wanted to perform at the Kyoto Grand Theater, he had to translate the lyrics into Chinese.

"Sleeping and waking, dreaming and real
This blurred call shakes my heart

Is it a ghost or who, by my side

The phantom singing in the middle of the night

keep calling me..."

After writing the entire lyrics, referring to the outline of the plot, Liao Yuan slowly closed his eyes and began to dig deep into the fragments of his memory.

In his previous life, he had watched "The Phantom of the Opera" several times around the world.

In addition to the compact plot, due to the extensive use of classical music such as Verdi and Offenbach's opera melody, the stage lighting, scenery and costumes in the play are also extremely luxurious. Therefore, since it was staged in 1986, the "Ghost of the Opera" The box office is on the rise.

The global box office has exceeded 30 billion US dollars, and the play has been performed in more than a hundred cities around the world.

Liao Yuan is not an opera lover.

He didn't have much interest in opera, so he never read the script of the opera in its entirety.

But the various musical elements in this opera made him feel excited and enjoyed it.

Over time, in addition to the music, the general plot of the whole opera is also deeply imprinted in my mind.

The story begins in 1919.

The old nobleman Raoul was participating in an auction at the Paris Opera House. The auctioneer bought a music box. After some competition, Raoul finally got his wish. Looking at this familiar and unfamiliar music box, Raoul revealed Complicated gaze.

Afterwards, the auctioneer mentioned the next lot: the large chandelier that fell to pieces during the famous Phantom incident.

In order for everyone to see the restored chandelier clearly, the auctioneer turned on the newly installed electric lights on the chandelier.

For a moment, the hall was brightly lit, and under the theme music of Phantom, the large chandelier on the stage also began to rise faintly.

Time began to go back to 49 years ago...

(End of this chapter)