The top of fame and fortune [Comprehensive British and American]

"Miss Parker, please start singing a cappella." Otto Schubert, head of MAJESTIC Theater, looked serious and professional.

In the "Phantom of the Opera" musical, "Thinkofme" is undoubtedly not the most difficult aria for Christine.Especially compared to her duet with The Phantom of the Opera.

At the end of the piece, Christine not only sings a series of high Cs, but even rises to the highest E possible.

Looking at it this way, Schubert's current requirements for Erica do not seem to be very strict.

At least, if she can perform well in "Thinkofme", which is Christine's first performance on stage, Schubert is very likely to officially regard her as the lead candidate for "The Phantom of the Opera".

So of course Erica has no other choice right now, she is bound to conquer the audience like Christine in the musical.

Although her audience at the moment seems to be only the theater managers Schubert and Pacino, as well as a few sporadic stage technicians, they are resting and adjusting the stage equipment on a daily basis.

The red velvet chairs in the auditorium are empty, and the classical boxes surrounded by high hanging heights are even darker. Erika stood on the stage and noticed that in the box with golden arches in the most central position, a thick velvet curtain fell, blocking the inside view. .

Just like in "The Phantom of the Opera", in the Paris Opera House, the fifth box that is always occupied by the phantom and belongs to him alone.

It might just be a coincidence, but Erica intends it to be an aid to her performance today—

She looked at the box with the curtain down, as if there was a phantom in it.

Then she began to sing, in an ethereal, emotional voice, "Please miss me, miss me tenderly, even though we have said goodbye."

Erica has a correct and pure way of speaking. With her very lyrical and sincere voice, Schubert showed a little appreciation. He looked at Pacino, "She is very smart, and her skill is so profound that it is far beyond ordinary people. , I chose to win with emotion.”

Then Schubert found that Erica on the stage did not pay attention to the conversation between him and Pacino. She was completely immersed in the performance, and the speed of entering the scene was amazing.

Erica took off her woolen coat before going on stage, and now she is standing on the stage, wearing a French white silk dress, shining and perfect, and her shiny brown hair fits Christine's image so well.

Her face is really outstanding, and this may be the most beautiful Christine in history, but her expression is completely different from that before she took the stage. The original aggressive radiance was transformed by her into a soft and classic youthful atmosphere.

As she sings, Erica is amplifying her expressive acting skills, trying to embody Christine as best she can, with body language and facial expressions.

In addition to emotion, acting talent is of course her advantage.

And the dramatic atmosphere she showed is leading the witnesses into the song situation.

"We never said that our love is enough to last forever, or as eternal as the sea," Erica combined traditional classical singing with lyrical pop texture, and she tried to create more romantic and gorgeous temperament, "but if you If you still remember, please stop and think of me."

Off the stage, Pacino said to Schubert, "Although she didn't show off her skills, she perfectly achieved the interweaving and transformation of different timbres."

Schubert had to admit, "It is true that the transition between the high-pitched area and the low-pitched area is extremely smooth, but what is even more eye-catching is that she endows the singing with vivid emotional content, especially the dramatic atmosphere, as if she has completely became Christine."

He had already noticed that Erica was treating that dark box as the exclusive fifth box of the "Phantom" in the musical.She uses this to get into the play faster and make her audience feel as if they are on the scene.

And Erica is showing more stage dominance, her face is full of love, her voice is gorgeous and soft, "Imagine me, try to forget you, but I can't erase you from my memory." go."

On the basis of classical singing skills, she changes her voice smoothly and naturally, and even the depth of her breathing seems to be endowed with delicate emotions, so full, sincere, and classically noble.

Erica looked again at the dark box where the curtain fell, which she regarded as the existence of the "Phantom". She processed her voice more abundantly and admiringly, "And the day when I don't miss you anymore, I know this day will never come .”

She is really good at shaping reality, her eyes are full of 'Christine' style of aura, her beautiful face is youthful and moving, and her voice is even more gorgeous and mellow.

At this moment, everyone in the theater who was listening to her singing seemed to have forgotten for a moment that this young man standing on the stage was only singing to get a role.

She looked, literally, like the rising star of The Phantom of the Opera, Christine.

"Promise me that you will always miss—" Finally, at the end of the song, Erica began to show a gorgeous belle soprano coloratura full of tension while maintaining abundant sincere emotions.

When she sang the last 'thinkofme', she gave full play to her classical bel canto skills, her voice was clear and ethereal, full of power, and she fully interpreted the high-pitched coloratura, but it was still gorgeous and moving without any sharp feeling.

At this moment, when Erica fully combined her extraordinary skills with a full of emotion and a real dramatic atmosphere, the unaccompanied "Thinkofme" a cappella piece was fully displayed by her performance.

"bravo!" Cheers and applause echoed from the sparsely populated stage.

Erica showed a perfect smile, and gave a stage curtain call to the audience. Schubert gave her a high-five and congratulated, "It's very good."

"Do you still need me to continue to perform other repertoire?" Erika asked in a quiet voice before the theater manager Schubert made the next request.

But in fact, when Pacino called her this morning and invited her to come to the MAJESTIC Theater this morning, after Erica guessed that the recommendation might be related to "The Phantom of the Opera", she only had time to revisit the song "The Phantom of the Opera" as much as possible. Thinkofme".

For the next few pieces of music, she didn't grasp it well enough for the time being.

The reason why Erica took the initiative to ask Schubert at this moment is obviously a bit of retreat, so as to make herself more proactive and trustworthy.

The reason why she has the confidence to carry out this "gamble" is that most of Christine's other songs in the musical are duets with "Phantom" or "Viscount Raul", which requires the effective cooperation of the opposing actors.

But the candidate for the 'Phantom' that MAJESTIC Theater values ​​is still in Australia, isn't it?As for 'Viscount Raul', it's also very unlikely that he's in the backstage of the theater right now.

After all, before she appeared on the stage to sing a cappella, Pacino had proposed to Schubert—"After the male actors arrive on the scene, they will conduct a duet audition to test her singing skills."

At that time, Schubert did not call out an actor from the backstage on the spot, and asked her to perform a duet immediately.

Of course, if Erika's luck is not going well, and Otto Schubert calls out the Phantom and Raul's replacements from the backstage at this moment, then she can only continue to perform.

Whether it's Hollywood or Broadway, whether you can get a chance is a big gamble.

But Erica seemed to be lucky today. Her trick was successful again. The theater manager Schubert said in a satisfied voice, "Miss Parker—oh, I hope you don't mind me calling you Erica."

"Of course." She replied with a smile.

"Erica, for other songs, I'm afraid we have to wait until the actor is in place before we can go to the next audition."

Although Schubert has not completely let go of his mouth for the time being, he officially handed over Christine to her to play the role.But in his words, he undoubtedly showed his recognition for Erica, and even the title has changed from the slightly unfamiliar Miss Parker to a more friendly name.

Erica still maintained a calm smile, and did not show any relaxation because of Schubert's words.She walked off the stage, thinking about how she could arrange enough singing and dancing courses during the filming of "The Godfather 3" in New York.

"Actually, I know enough that by the standards of a Broadway actor, my singing level is really not the best." After her confident and outstanding performance in the audition, Erica showed a little bit of humility, of course , This is also true, "But I think, I will present enough attention-grabbing Christine for the MAJESTIC theater."

After her voice fell, Pacino said to Schubert, "What surprised me most about Erica was her speed of self-improvement. Today's introduction is my temporary notice to her this morning. Didn't even say it was about The Phantom of the Opera. But lo and behold, her performance just now was almost impeccable."

Otto Schubert looked surprised, and looked at Erika with a little more surprise than appreciation, "Perhaps your current level of singing and dancing is not deep enough. But enough talent, maybe You have the talent to make up for the disadvantages."

In fact, her performance just now has proved this point.

She is very clever and quick-witted, making use of her strengths and circumventing her weaknesses. With her extraordinary performance, sincere emotions, and even her outstanding appearance, her last dazzling classical coloratura looks even more dazzling, far exceeding the impact brought by her superb singing skills alone.

Schubert finally offered her an olive branch, "Erica, congratulations, you have now become my chosen actress."

"But—" he changed the subject, appearing a little merciless, "this is not the final decision."

"In one month, I will invite the actor of 'Phantom' to come to Broadway, and I need you to show more outstanding talent than today when you audition with him." Schubert said to her.

In other words, Erika is currently a leading actress who may be replaced at any time.

And she showed a confident and decisive smile for this, "I will never let what already belongs to me be lost."

"I look forward to your outstanding performance." Schubert smiled. Perhaps, he could really see a high-profile Christine?

After the referral meeting temporarily concluded with a "triumph", Erica and Pacino did not continue to stay for a long time. After a polite and thoughtful exchange of pleasantries, they said goodbye to Schubert and left.

While Erika's figure was far away from the Majestic Theater, a man with curly blond hair walked out of the box with heavy curtains in the center of the classical boxes surrounded by high hangings.

He wasn't very handsome, and his slightly pale face looked dangerous. It was a feeling that he could be suppressed by his all-seeing intelligence, which brought an inexplicable sense of danger and weirdness.

Otto Schubert, the manager of MAJESTIC Theater, obviously knew that this man had been in the dark box for a long time.

In fact, twenty or ten minutes before Pacino and Erica came to the theater, this real estate tycoon, who owns most of the land on Broadway Avenue and had to "work" for the Schubert family, came here. theater.

Schubert was a little confused, and looked at the man in the high-hanging box, "Mr. Luthor?"

After this Mr. Lex Luthor approached the theater, he entered the box without any explanation, and Otto Schubert was obviously deeply confused by this.

And out of politeness, of course he couldn't reveal to Pacino and Erica who came later that our Mr. President-to-be was sitting in the box.

And Lex Luthor has always been extremely egotistical, and of course he is not interested in answering Schubert's doubts.He propped his palms on the golden railing, looked at the empty theater stage, and said in a pleasant voice, "From now on, this box will be vacated as my exclusive seat."

In the empty theater, Lex pursed his lips—please miss me, Erica.