LND story seen from a third-party viewpoint?
Just as I thought I'd reached the bottom of my queue (and might even consider approaching the Double Agents de Chagny) I seem to have been afflicted with another "Love Never Dies" fanfiction idea! So much for my chances of asserting that I had finished with that show, having already rewritten most scenes in it at least once and some more often than I like :-p
The obligatory 'new line on Raoul' -- who according to precedent has to have a different marital backstory for every piece -- is something that occurred to me recently when discussing his surprising willingness to accept being rescued by Christine, having been first physically humiliated in front of his lady-love and then indebted to her for his life. Suppose the root of their relationship difficulties in LND is not any kind of money trouble, but the consequence of a Raoul who *can't* handle the memory of those indignities and debts in retrospect; who finds his marriage undermined by the experience of being the prince rescued by the maiden, instead of rescuing her as he had promised.
And the other inspiration was the unanswered question of what -- in the Australian Version -- became of Christine's engagement to sing for Hammerstein, who had presumably contracted her to come over to America to perform for him at considerable expense. What would he conclude when she never showed up? What would his employees do about it?
Enter Jos Perlman, junior dogsbody for Hammerstein's organisation and would-be gumshoe in search of a missing soprano...
I thought I had my story from the intersection of these two prompts, but in fact details of Raoul's backstory don't actually get you anywhere (beyond a boozy encounter when the word "Chagny" takes Jos to the husband's location rather than to the wife). But then the missing plot element hit me with wonderful clarity; Jos will change the story just by being there in the bar with a drunken Raoul, because his presence prevents the 'bet' from ever taking place! Which means that it is thus *his* influence and not the Phantom's that will prompt Raoul in trying to get Christine to refuse to sing, which brings up rather a different set of arguments.
The main thing I'm still a little hazy about at the moment is how to prevent a furious Phantom from simply carrying off Christine, and how to reconcile keeping her word to Hammerstein with breaking her subsequent promise to the Phantom. But after all, she only promised to sing for him the next day; she didn't actually promise what or where...
This entry was originally posted at http://igenlode.dreamwidth.org/84942.html, where there are
comments.
The obligatory 'new line on Raoul' -- who according to precedent has to have a different marital backstory for every piece -- is something that occurred to me recently when discussing his surprising willingness to accept being rescued by Christine, having been first physically humiliated in front of his lady-love and then indebted to her for his life. Suppose the root of their relationship difficulties in LND is not any kind of money trouble, but the consequence of a Raoul who *can't* handle the memory of those indignities and debts in retrospect; who finds his marriage undermined by the experience of being the prince rescued by the maiden, instead of rescuing her as he had promised.
And the other inspiration was the unanswered question of what -- in the Australian Version -- became of Christine's engagement to sing for Hammerstein, who had presumably contracted her to come over to America to perform for him at considerable expense. What would he conclude when she never showed up? What would his employees do about it?
Enter Jos Perlman, junior dogsbody for Hammerstein's organisation and would-be gumshoe in search of a missing soprano...
I thought I had my story from the intersection of these two prompts, but in fact details of Raoul's backstory don't actually get you anywhere (beyond a boozy encounter when the word "Chagny" takes Jos to the husband's location rather than to the wife). But then the missing plot element hit me with wonderful clarity; Jos will change the story just by being there in the bar with a drunken Raoul, because his presence prevents the 'bet' from ever taking place! Which means that it is thus *his* influence and not the Phantom's that will prompt Raoul in trying to get Christine to refuse to sing, which brings up rather a different set of arguments.
The main thing I'm still a little hazy about at the moment is how to prevent a furious Phantom from simply carrying off Christine, and how to reconcile keeping her word to Hammerstein with breaking her subsequent promise to the Phantom. But after all, she only promised to sing for him the next day; she didn't actually promise what or where...
This entry was originally posted at http://igenlode.dreamwidth.org/84942.html, where there are
comments.