And I have a Leitmotif!

So, after pondering further and further on the point of quoting Dies Irae, I think I've got a great way to start the show in a way parallel to the movie. The first scene of the movie is rather vague and dark, establishing the evil that is Clapet. It features him sharpening a knife while an unnamed character in another room dresses himself in trash and hops in the trash can.

Now, establishing this musically can be an interesting thing. The silence of the movie is beautiful--eerie, off-putting, and full of anxiety. So I don't know if it would be distasteful of me to adulterate the silence. However, my goal is to portray the story musically, and I was thinking I could establish Clapet's power by giving him a piano solo on stage while the character dressing in trash monologues about fate.

This gave me a wonderful idea of having all of the actors play instruments respective of their personalities on-stage. It would be fantastic. I mean, Julie already plays the cello in the movie, and Louison the musical saw. I could really bring out the characters through their instruments--I imagine Aurore playing clarinet, her husband Georges on the accordion, and for some reason I think Plusse should play something sophisticated, like the harp. I really think there's a depth of character to Plusse I could really play with.

But as for the opening scene, what I'm thinking is opening with the Dies Irae quote as a big flourish on the piano as if to say "I am Clapet, and I am in charge of this music!" and then going straight into a combination of two leitmotifs I have in mind--a descending chromatic scale representing fate, and another churning, engine-like sound to represent Clapet's scheming. The two come to a head when the trash can workers throw a cigarette into the trash can (in the movie, it's Clapet who does so, but he won't be able to do so on stage when he's playing the piano) and the unnamed character says "ow!" The trash can workers then bring the trash can into Clapet, who suddenly stops the music, picks up a meat cleaver and walks over to the trash can in silence. The lights suddenly go black, and Unnamed Man screams. This is followed by all the lights coming up on stage, and all of the actors start playing a joyous, quirky Musette, highlighting all of their leitmotifs, and I think I'd like to end it with a good ol' fashioned Rossini crescendo à la Candide.