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All right, I've wanted to do this for a while:

The problem with operas is that they're too long. By which I mean, if anyone in them was sensible they'd all be at most half the length.

So: comment with an opera name (*) and I'll respond with a short snippet of a canon-divergence AU where the opera is Much Shorter. Warning, of course, that at least some of the characters will be wildly out of character. That is to say, probably much more sensible. :)

(*) If it's an opera I know, you'll get the ficlet much sooner. If it's one I haven't watched yet, I'll put it on my list to watch and you'll get the ficlet once I've watched it. This is a good opportunity for you to get me to watch your favorite opera, since after I finish Norma with Caballé I'm gonna go back to RL opera friend and ask for more DVDs! (Though given my previous track record, this might also take a while.)

(cross-posted to tumblr)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rosefox

Oooooh please do this for Carmen! I'd ask for Aïda, but I fell asleep somewhere around the fifth third act, so I don't actually remember any of the story.

Bonus round: RENT. I have a strong preference for "Angel lives" AUs (somewhere in my head is an AU in which Roger gets Angel's death scene and everyone else lives more or less happily more or less ever after) but as you please.

Edited Date: 2019-03-06 06:04 am (UTC)

From:

isis

Hee, I was going to ask for Carmen also, so this is me seconding this request!

From:

cahn

Done, see below :D

From:

cahn

That works out great because Aida is the last major Verdi I haven't seen yet! OK -- here's one for you -- where Carmen is slightly more sensible, and Micaela is rather more, hm, maybe sensible isn't the word? :D

(And I will think on Rent! I've listened to it a bunch but have never actually watched it through -- this is a good impetus :) )
------

Micaëla, coming back to look for José, heard the sound of singing coming from the mostly-empty square.

She hurried near. It was the gypsy girl -- la Carmencita? -- of whom her friends at the Seville factory had told her. Micaëla watched for a second, fascinated, as Carmen sang of dancing the seguidilla, the curves of her body moving sinuously as she sang. Micaëla saw José, trying very hard to pretend as if he were not paying any attention, but occasionally his eyes would dart over to Carmen.

Micaëla shivered all over and walked boldly into the square. José jumped up and came to her, looking slightly guilty. "Micaëla --"

She said softly to him, "Let me speak to Carmen. Privately. Just for a moment, José."

He searched her eyes, then nodded. "But just for a moment. When Lieutenant Zuniga comes back he must not find me away from her."

José walked away a little space, just out of earshot if she spoke quietly. Micaëla said to Carmen, "Stay away from José. He is a good man, but weak, and you could break him." She loved him, but she had known José since childhood, and saw clearly through that love.

Carmen laughed, showing pearly teeth between her red lips. "I go where I please, little dove, and I fear no man, no matter what the danger. But perhaps... for a price. What will you give me for him?"

Micaëla frowned. She had very little money. And then she thought, and straightened her back and threw back her shoulders. "Myself."

Carmen raised her perfect black eyebrows, but for the first time a look of seriousness came on her face. "You?"

"Me. I will stay with José, I will marry him, but José will not mind if I am with another woman." He had rather enjoyed Micaëla telling him of the women back in their village, in fact. "And I know that you change lovers with the wind, and that won't bother me either. You see that this has many advantages."

Carmen broke into a smile. "Ah, and are you worth going to jail for, my pretty?"

"It will only be for a night," Micaëla said; "the Lieutenant is not very angry. And," she said, daring to smile, "I like to think I am worth it."

Carmen tilted her head, and Micaëla knew she had won. "We shall see, little bird. Tomorrow, then."

From:

rosefox

HI YES OKAY I SHIP IT :D

If you want to watch RENT, watch this filmed Broadway production, not the terrible movie version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhG3JTchKDA

From:

cahn

ahahaha I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT

Oh, thank you for the link!

From:

ashkitty

That's a much more pleasant ending, yes.

From:

cahn

Man, I actually kinda like all these characters, it's just that they're SO BAD for each other! At least in the configurations the opera puts them in...