The Spell of the Theater
The Ambassador stretched, shook off the sleep, and opened his eyes.
The honeymoon phase was over, the months had passed. It was time.
The technical team began setting up the stage, adjusting each piece of the set according to the plans designed by Marcus, with suggestions from Leonard. Lighting is key, and the technicians spent hours programming the lights, creating the necessary effects for each scene, and ensuring everything was synchronized with the music; making sure everything was perfect. The hustle and bustle were beginning to be felt.
The costume designer and her assistants adjusted the costumes, which had been carefully designed and tailored to fit the movements and demands of each performance. The makeup artists and hairdressers searched for their materials and organized each one with precision.
In the orchestra pit, the musicians tuned their instruments, adjusting the acoustics of the space; finding the most comfortable positions, the correct distances, and the conductor set the tempo and dynamics to guide them all. The coordination had to be perfect.
A dress rehearsal is where all the elements come together: the set, the costumes, the lighting, the music, and the voices. It’s when the final details are polished, and everyone ensures that each team member is ready for the big night. And the expectations were sky-high.
The Diva’s return to the stage had to be an event filled with everything that drives the gears of music: passion, dedication, emotion, and energy. Leonard handled the publicity while Marcus polished every corner of his theater. The billboards lit up her name with neon lights, and the posters and banners at the Ambassador's doors displayed her in her costume for the show.
A show that started with everything and would end with everything: Madame Butterfly. But this time, it would have a different meaning; it would no longer be a farewell but a reunion with what made Deanna’s soul vibrate: music. And this time, she would be surrounded by her entire family, by everyone who listened to her rehearsing behind the door of her music room or sat silently on the couches. By her husband, who looked at her full of love and pride, by her little daughters who opened their eyes wide at the high notes, by her son with whom she shared that musical language. Her father, her first fan; her soul siblings: Harry, Susan, and Amanda. Camila and Charles, dusting off their best outfits, and Philippa and her grandmother, ready to give the loudest applause.
Deanna stepped onto the first step and climbed onto the stage of the empty theater. Below, her husband, her father, and Marcus stood in the front row to watch her. The music began, she opened her throat, and the first notes came out of her. They did so as if she had never stopped, as if she had continued singing in Rome, in Sydney, and in Paris.
The wave of her magnetism swept over the three men watching her in amazement from below. Marcus was in awe of her innate talent; one of the most powerful and graceful voices he had heard in his entire career. Leonard was transported back to those few years of happiness, and his body vibrated with the music. Daniel, Daniel fell in love over and over again; amazed by everything his wife was: by the magic of her body to carry and bring their daughters into the world, by the dazzling power of her beauty, and by the boundless passion she exuded up there.
And despite it being a dress rehearsal, it couldn’t be taken lightly. It was serious, it was important, it was the prelude to fixing the small mistakes that could really happen during the performance. A misplaced light, an out-of-tune instrument, a button coming off the costume, a poorly adjusted set piece. All of it was fixed and sewn back, the spotlights were readjusted, and the loose boards were tightened.
When everything ends, the cast and the technical team process what just happened; observations are shared, minor changes are made, or everything is left as it is. It’s another process that doesn’t end when the curtain falls.
Deanna listened to the director while observing her husband’s eyes, Leonard coming and going behind Marcus; but he just stood there, enchanted. At moments like that, when Deanna displayed all her charm, he felt a pang of inadequacy before such a woman. But the simple, frank, and broad smile she gave him always reminded him that he was on her level, that they resonated together; that nothing could separate them.
He waited for her in her dressing room just to wrap her in his arms; Daniel seemed happier than she was about her return.
“How can you be so wonderful? Don’t you realize you disarm me?”
“Words of a love-struck poet! That’s the best part of all this, you know?”
“No… the best part is something else,” he said, leaning closer to her painted lips.
The theater has its own magic, its own energy, its own life. And that invisible gravity enveloped everyone who crossed its doors; it enveloped Daniel and Deanna as they sealed that final rehearsal with a passionate kiss before opening night.