Aurore's Mad Scene

So, this weekend, I was incredibly inspired to write Aurore a coloratura solo. It could very easily be the only time her voice is heard on stage, as she spends most of the action coming up with many plots to commit suicide that don't involve much verbal action. As a result, I want this to be monumentally awesome, especially since it has to, quite literally, end explosively. I will set the scene now, and follow that with the text I've written.

So, throughout the show, Aurore hears these voices telling her to commit suicide, as her illegitimate lover has (in no uncertain terms) deplorable character, and the only way to escape him is through death. The voices, of course, make no mention of her husband, who is quite happily married to her (even if she doesn't return the sentiment.)

She takes the voices' advice and attempts suicide several times, inventing Rube Goldberg suicide machines, each more absurd than the last. On her third and final attempt, she creates a fool-proof plan: the gas stove is running while a Malotov cocktail slowly burns down; she is standing on a chair with a noose around her neck so that, should this fail, she can always hang herself; she is also holding a bottle of pills and a glass of water to protect against that; and, should her husband ever open the kitchen door to see what she is doing, she has a shotgun rigged pointing at her face that will fire when it opens. Of course, this all fails epically: when her husband makes for the doorknob, she puts all of the pills in her mouth, and upon his opening, the shotgun fires through the noose above her head, and she loses her balance and falls, spitting out all of the pills, shutting the oven door, and dumping water on the Malotov cocktail. (I realize this may have been hard to understand, but fortunately, you can watch the whole scene here)

The song commences when Georges (her husband) sees her sitting on the floor and asks her how she's feeling, and she commences into this song about singing to birds (the birds representing the voices in her head telling her to commit suicide):

The birds in the trees sing a song of love
I hear them calling in the month of May
Their voices like angels from up above
Can brighten the very most gloomy day

They're calling out to me: "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!"
My heart, growing wings, turns aflutter
I'm moved to return their fond "Cuckoo!"
And these are the words that I say:

I tell them "Tra la la, tra la la, hey, little birds
Can you hear the song that I sing?
Tra la la, tra la la!" Those are the words
That cause them to take wing.

But one little bird stays behind
To bid me a fond farewell
He sits on my shoulder, just to be kind
Or perhaps out of spite; I can't tell.

But this little bird, he tells me
To come and fly away
That the heavens will set me free
And then he starts to say a lovely

"Tra la la, tra la la, come, Aurore!
The world is much better when you're up in the air
Tra la la, tra la la, life could be so much more
To live without a care."

("ah" vocalization interlude, gaining momentum until just before the big cadence, sudden fermata on the dominant)

But the bird flew away
Yet I wish he would stay
I begin to pray
And the words that I say are

"Tra la la, tra la la, hey little bird,
Pleas return to your dearest love
Tra la la, tra la la, I hope you heard me
So far up above."

("ah vocalization, gaining in momentum before huge cadenza over dominant, with a fermata on the highest dominant chord member she can sing, at which point the room explodes)

***

Let me know what you think!

Choose one, and only one

So, I've been absent for a while, and for that I apologize. There are plenty of reasons, but let's just hope none of them happen again.

I've got the overture pretty much entirely written in my head, and I think it sounds pretty cool. Notating pretty much anything is a time-consuming process, though, and I've been distracted with lots of other scenes I'm growing interested in. Long story short, I've got it sketched out and will hopefully return to it soon.

I have this dream for Delicatessen that all of the characters on stage will also play instruments, but it's starting to get challenging. You see, I really want to focus on the instrumental music to convey emotion, similar to the beautiful way Jeunet and Caro use silence in the movie; I've got several "ballet" scenes (really just meaning people doing motions to the music) planned in my head, such as the date between Julie and Louison or any of Aurore's suicides. I think the music in these scenes will be much more effective than a song where the character lays out their emotions clearly in verbal form; also, this way, the audience can derive meanings for themselves, which I think is one of the fantastic things about the movie--it dares you to find motivation for the characters through silence, and so you feel more engaged with them.

I have also been inspired in the other direction, however, by arias from operas. The first of these is the Preghiera from Maria Stuarda. This melody is just breathtaking, and Mariella Devia's voice in this video is just impeccable. I can truly see Julie singing something like this, though much lighter in texture; I can also see Madame Plusse having a similar scene, as part of my plan to really heighten the audience's sympathy for her. I can also imagine Aurore having a mad scene with a coloratura solo, in the style of Offenbach's Les Oiseaux dans la Charmille or Bernstein's Glitter and be Gay after her third failed attempt at suicide, where she tries to convince herself (and everyone else) that she is feeling wonderful. This, of course, could end hilariously tragically with her room blowing up anyway once she actually calms down.

But this causes a great deal of debate in my head: I'd love for all of the on-stage actors to play all of the instruments to support the show, and feel like it could be a wonderful effect. However, I worry that the demand placed on the singers (especially the three sopranos I just mentioned, who will probably end up being the center of the show) will be too high for them to also play such equally demanding repertoire on their instruments. I feel like I have to decide which is more important to me: acting, singing, or playing instruments. All three are incredibly important, but I know I'll never have all three. Not without millions of dollars to pour into this, at least.