"Swan Lake! How does she expect us to do Swan Lake? And in Magdeburg. The woman is raving."
Harvey Matowski glanced back up the road. Nearly half a mile away, just outside the high school, he could see the headlights of a bus as it started its next run carrying patrons home from the ballet. He was surprised that it had taken this long for his wife to explode. "Yes, dear."
"There aren't even any suitable buildings. You realize she expects us to put on a performance on an open air stage."
"Yes, dear."
"The whole thing is impossible. And did you hear Her Ladyship? I should move my ballet school to Magdeburg. It's all right for her, but my people have to stay near their jobs. If I move the school to Magdeburg, I'll lose half my senior dancers, and as for the youngsters . . . they have to stay with their parents. If I move the school to Magdeburg I'll lose Cathy McNally." Bitty wailed.
"I'm sure Mrs. Simpson doesn't mean you should move the school immediately, Bitty. Just start thinking about moving. I'm sure some of the dancers are going to want to move to Magdeburg anyway. For a start, there's Carl. I know he's still at the party networking for work for Kelly Construction in Magdeburg."
"Bloody Carl. Bloody Army. If it wasn't for the Army I'd still have Joel to lead and I wouldn't need Carl."
"Yes, dear."
"I'm cold, Harvey." Bitty sniveled, rubbing her hands over her bare arms and shoulders.
Harvey draped the coat he had been carrying over her shoulders. The cocktail dress Bitty was wearing might have been comfortable in the cafeteria where the first night "Meet the Cast" dinner and cocktail party was being held. However, it had never been designed to keep a woman warm outside in the early hours of a mid-winter morning. He was surprised that it had taken his wife this long to cool down enough that she could register the ambient temperature. Mary Simpson must have really upset her.
"My feet hurt."
It was a plaintive cry, but totally understandable. Not only had Bitty been on her feet since the early hours of the previous day, but high heels were not suitable for stalking in high dudgeon half a mile down a road.
Next morning
Bitty looked at the sorry remains of what had been a favorite pair of high-heeled shoes. They were badly cut up from last night's extended walk on the road. Maybe Uncle Mark or his partner Hans Bauer could repair them. It was no use crying to Harvey. He'd only point to the small mountain of shoes littering her wardrobe and ask what was wrong with the other few dozen pairs. Men just didn't understand a woman's relationship with her shoes.
The exertions of the last thirty-six hours were coming firmly home to roost. Her feet still hurt, but she was used to that. Years of en pointe dancing had almost immunized her to foot pain. It was the total lack of energy that was so distressing. While she dressed Bitty wondered where Harvey was. When she opened the bedroom door, the smell informed her that he was busy in the kitchen. Hurrying as best she could, she followed the tantalizing smells to their source.
After inhaling the last of the pile of blueberry pancakes and syrup, Bitty finally noticed the empty kitchen. "Where is everybody?"
"They were up and had breakfast earlier. I insisted they leave you to wake up naturally."
"Did they have pancakes, too?"
"No, love. I made them especially for you. After last night you needed a pick-me-up, so I made your favorites."
"Thanks. I really needed them. But it's a pity the girls and Joseph are gone. I wanted to talk to them about Mrs. Simpson's commitment for us to do Swan Lake to celebrate Independence Day."
Harvey shook his head. "I'd wait until the end of the Nutcracker season. They have enough to worry about just getting through this weekend. No need to give them new worries just yet. There'll be plenty of time next week.
Bitty stood back and watched while Amber Higham passed out the paychecks for the previous weekend's short season of Nutcracker. There was an air of noisy celebration among the younger dancers as they compared checks. For most of the boys and girls it was more money than they ever had at one time before.
Glenna Sue Haggerty called out. "Miz B, when's the next season of ballet, and which one are we doing?"
The room went silent. Everybody waited on Bitty's response. She wasn't really ready for this, but she couldn't keep putting it off. "Mrs. Simpson is arranging a season of performances of the arts in Magdeburg around the fourth of July. She has asked that I put on a short season of ballet."
"Where in Magdeburg, Mom?" Bitty's elder daughter Staci turned to Carl Schockley. "Carl. You've been there. Is there anywhere suitable for a performance?"
Carl shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. There are a few guildhalls and the like. They might be suitable for taking class or putting on small musical recitals, but until the opera house is built, there isn't going to be anywhere to perform for an audience."
"Carl's right," Bitty interrupted. "However, Mrs. Simpson wants an open air performance in Hans Richter Square."
Staci looked shocked. "Where did she get a dumb idea like that, Mom?"
"Kirov's Gala performance in Red Square was on television before Christmas. She seemed to take the view that if the Russians could put on a performance of ballet on an open air stage, then we should be able to."
"Oh. So, Mrs. Simpson wants us to put on a collection of scenes from selected ballets?"
"If only. No. She wants Swan Lake."
"What! But Mom. That's impossible. There's no way we can find enough dancers."
Bitty smiled wryly. "You and I know that. However, I don't think Mrs. Simpson is really aware of the problem. Which leaves us with a second problem. She's already told her society friends that we'll be doing it. If we let her down, well, we can kiss Mary Simpson . . . and her patronage, goodbye.
There seemed to be some brightening of faces at the prospect of Mary Simpson dropping her involvement with the company. Bitty acted quickly to correct their misconceptions. "And no, that would not be a good thing. Mrs. Simpson made a valid case for a move to Magdeburg. And she's right. We'll never make the company pay here in Grantville, and when we move, I'd much rather have her on my side than against me."
"Move the company? Is Mrs. Simpson going to provide enough money to support the company? I mean, most of us have jobs. We can't just move to Magdeburg because she wants you to move the company."
"Magdeburg's out for me," Babette Goss said. "If I go anywhere it'll be to Erfurt to be with my husband."
Lynette Fortney held up her hand. "If you're short of people, I might be able to get a transfer to the law courts in Magdeburg,"
Bitty looked at her remaining senior dancers. Glenna Sue Haggerty and Natasha Fortney were supposed to start teacher training after they graduated from high school. Richelle Kubiak was also graduating this year, but she already had a job lined up with her foster mother and would probably be staying close to Grantville. Marcie Haggerty had a year to go in her teacher training. Bitty's younger daughter Melanie had only been training as an electrician for a year and wasn't sufficiently qualified to find work in Magdeburg yet. That left her daughter in-law Alice, her elder daughter Staci, and Casey Stevenson. "Alice, do you think you could get a transfer to Magdeburg?"
"I don't know, Mom. I don't think the Air Force has anything going in Magdeburg."
Carl Schockley spoke up. "If the Air Force won't hire you, Alice, Kelly Construction will. We need trained drafts people. Heck, if you're interested I can probably sign you on now and start you on your way to Magdeburg on the next train. Believe me; we need people with your training."
Bitty sighed. "I guess that means you'll be spending a lot of time in Magdeburg this year, Carl?"
"Yes, it's my turn to be based in Magdeburg."
Bitty turned her attention to Staci and Casey Stevenson.
"I'd like to help you Bitty, but what can a physical education teacher do in Magdeburg?" Casey looked over at Staci. "Staci's a bit better off having done the ESOL course, but what can a couple of teachers do in Magdeburg?"
"Teach."
All eyes turned to the source of the comment. "What do you mean, Elisabeth Sofie?" Casey asked.
Stepping forward, a little embarrassed at suddenly being the center of attention, Elisabeth Sofie tried to explain. "Fraulein Casey, you are a teacher. An up-time teacher. What you should do is start a school in Magdeburg. A secondary school for girls. Something that will take girls from schools like St. Veronica's Preparatory Academy and prepare them for the new women's college, or just to teach the advanced skills that the wife of a successful merchant or land owner needs. My Tante Dorothea Sophie has a secondary school at Quedlinburg. If you wish, I can ask her if she thinks it is possible."
"Thank you, Elisabeth Sofie. If your Tante Dorothea Sophie thinks a secondary school for girls in Magdeburg is a good idea, Staci and I will look into it."
Bitty, who had stepped back from the discussion, stared at Elisabeth Sofie, names tumbling through her mind. Somewhere she had heard the name Dorothea Sophie before. With a shake of her head she turned her attention back to her students. "Back to our original problem. What are we going to do about Mrs. Simpson and her open air performance of Swan Lake?"
"Offer some alternative." Joseph Matowski called put.
"What do you mean, Joseph?" Bitty asked her younger son a little tersely.
"Its obvious to everyone we can't do Swan Lake, and you said you didn't want to get on the wrong side of Mrs. Simpson. The only way to stay on her good side is to offer an alternative when you tell her we can't do Swan Lake."
"And does the font of all wisdom have any idea what we could put on?" Staci asked sarcastically.
Joseph smiled. "Yes."
"Well? Speak, little brother. What is this great idea you have?"
"The life and death of Hans Richter." With barely a pause for his audience to absorb what he had said, Joseph started speaking again. "Just think of it. A ballet in three acts telling the story of Hans Richter, from lowly mercenary to hero of Wismar."
Some of the girls laughed, but Bitty nodded. "That might actually work." The idea had merit. However, creating a totally new ballet presented a few problems. The only advantage was that here and now, they could create their own rules as to what a ballet should contain. "Casey, Alice, you both studied some choreography at college didn't you?"
"Yes, Miz B. We both did some papers. Are you really thinking about Joseph's suggestion?" Casey answered.
"It's the best idea I've heard since Mrs. Simpson dropped her little bombshell. If you and Alice could come to my place, we can start working on it."
Ever since Elisabeth Sofie mentioned her Tante Dorothea Sophie, Bitty had been worrying the thought that the name was familiar. Seeing Elisabeth Sofie being collected by her cousin Countess Emelie had jogged her memory. Laughing, she looked at her startled companions. "I've just remembered where I heard the name Dorothea Sophie."
"Well, Mom, don't hold us in suspense. What's so special about Elisabeth Sofie's Tante Dorothea Sophie?"
"I think you've all forgotten who Elisabeth Sofie is. Do you remember the ladies that turned up at rehearsals with Mrs. Simpson?" At their nods Bitty continued. "One of them was an Abbess Dorothea Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg. She rules the Damenstift of Quedlinburg."
"Oh! When Elisabeth Sofie talked about her Tante Dorothea Sophie having a secondary school, she really meant her secondary school. Not one that just happens to be close to where she lives, but one she runs," Staci said.
"Fräulein Casey, Fräulein Anastasia, I have talked to Tante Dorothea Sophie and Papa. They think the idea has merit. Also, Papa suggests that such a school would benefit from having a suitable patron." Elisabeth Sofie ducked her head for a moment before looking back at Staci and Casey, then in a rush, she said, "Papa suggested that the school could be called 'The Duchess Elisabeth Sofie Secondary School for Girls.'"
Staci and Casey looked at each other, then at Elisabeth Sofie. "Why would you want to be patron of a school?"
"Papa thinks it would not hurt for me to develop a public profile as a person of influence. And under the circumstances, starting with a school would be ideal."
"Why do you need a profile as a person of influence? And why would a school be ideal?"
"It is to protect my inheritance. Papa has no faith that his heir will respect his will."
Bitty led Lady Beth Haygood to the four watching young women. "Lady Beth, I'd like to introduce you to the Grantville Ballet Company's brain trust. There are my daughters Staci and Melanie, Joel's wife Alice, and Casey Stevenson. They helped me put together the proposal for the ballet on the life and death of Hans Richter."
"Did Mrs. Simpson go for Joseph's idea then, Mom?" Alice asked.
"Yes, love. She had already been getting reports of problems from Marcus Wendell, so she was ready to compromise. Mary loved the idea and is happy for us to work on it. She's even authorized a budget to get the music prepared, just as soon as we can work out what music we want. I'll be checking with Marcus to see what is and isn't possible over the next couple of days."
"So the useless little runt has finally managed to justify his existence," muttered Staci.
"He's never going to let anyone forget it either," Melanie agreed.
"Staci! Melanie! That's no way to talk about your brother. We'd really be up the creek without a paddle if he hadn't come forward with his idea."
"Yes, Mom. Sorry, Mom."
"Did you ask Mrs. Simpson about helping with the school, Miz B?" Casey asked.
Bitty shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Casey. I totally forgot. I'll try and talk to her tomorrow."
"School?" Lady Beth asked, looking with interest at Casey.
Casey nodded. "We were talking about moving the company to Magdeburg and how one of the problems would be how could we earn a living. Melanie is training to be an electrician, which will be a trade very much in demand. Alice already has a firm offer to work for Kelly Construction as a draftsman, but all Staci and I are qualified to do is teach. One of the down-time dancers suggested we should think about opening a school for girls in Magdeburg and offered to talk to her family, and the Duchess Elisabeth Sofie Secondary School for Girls was born."
"What sort of help are you hoping to get from Mrs. Simpson?"
"We aren't really sure yet, Mrs. Haygood. But she has all sorts of connections. We desperately need someone to help. Staci and I don't have any idea what's involved and we're not sure we can impress the parents. They'll look at us, see a couple of young women, and either try and talk down the fees, or take their daughters elsewhere."
"What you are looking for is a school principal then? A mature person with administration experience?" At Staci and Casey's nods, Lady Beth continued. "What sort of salary package are you offering?"
Staci and Casey exchanged blank looks. "That's one of our problems. We don't know how much we should pay. We don't even know what a teacher should be paid, how much we should be charging, or how many teachers we really need. We don't even know what questions to ask."
Lady Beth smiled. "So you need someone to do the work of getting your school up and running from scratch, and then to keep it going?"
"And who works cheap." Casey smiled as she said it. "We know getting the perfect person is a pipe dream, so we might as well ask for the impossible."
"Actually, girls, I think I know just the person you need. An up-timer with just the right qualifications comes to mind. She won't be cheap exactly, but well worth the price if the numbers add up."
"Who, Mrs. Haygood?"
"Please call me Lady Beth. I might be interested."
"You?" Bitty asked.
"Yes. It would be a perfect solution for me. I want to be with Jere in Magdeburg, but there's nowhere suitable to send Bethie Ann. I've just about resigned myself to waiting until she's old enough to leave school. However, if your school can take her, then I can go to Magdeburg to be with Jere. Of course, it would be even better if I had a job in Magdeburg to look forward to. Can you tell me a bit more about your school? Who is Duchess Elisabeth Sofie? And how much money is she putting up?"
"Elisabeth Sofie is one of our down-time dancers. Her father, Duke Johann Philipp of Saxe-Altenburg, is offering us title and the rents for a village with about fifteen hundred acres just outside the walls of Magdeburg. He's also offered to arrange a long-term lease on some land inside the walls for the school. And said we can use some of the rooms in his new town house while the school is being built."
"So you have a noble patron, a lease on some land, and you own a village and farm land that will help support the school? Sign me up."
"Well, I'm sorry, but if you want any of the Sibelius, then you're going to have to stick to canned music for a while," Marcus Wendell said. "Even the piano score will take a while to transcribe, and if you want any of the music rearranged, that'll take more time."
"I guess that means we have to do what we did with Brillo."
"What did you do for the Brillo performance?" Marcus asked.
"We made a tape."
"Ah!" Enlightened, Marcus looked from Bitty to the Sibelius CD and the boom box. "So you don't really need a live orchestra for the ballet?"
"I was promised a live orchestra, Marcus."
"Yes, yes I know," Marcus answered. "But, if worse came to worse, you don't absolutely need a live orchestra, right?"
"Marcus, have you any idea how hard it is to perform to a tape? Do you realize just how difficult it is to restart without a signal from the conductor?"
Marcus didn't know much about ballet, but he had dealt with enough stage shows as a teacher to know that the conductor needed to keep an eye on the stage to keep the music in time with the action. "Bitty, I understand what you're getting at, but there're problems in Magdeburg. Have you thought about the acoustics of the square?"
"I wouldn't have thought it had any." Bitty answered without giving the question much thought. "Aren't you going to use amplifiers and stuff? I'm sure Mrs. Simpson said something about borrowing the Navy's PA system."
"We were. I mean, we are. We were planning on borrowing one of the church control boards to run everything, but none of them can cope with the number of different input devices we'd have to use. And it's going to be pushing it to get enough good quality microphones for everyone."
"Are you saying you can't deliver live music for the ballet?" Bitty asked.
Marcus's posture collapsed with a heavy, heart felt sigh of utter frustration. "No. I'm not saying we can't deliver. Just that you should look at developing a backup plan. We're having a little trouble with the down-time performers. They've had a few problems adapting to the new instruments, and some of them are having difficulty with the new music." He gave Bitty a wry grin. "They find it too dissonant."
"If you need any help making the tape I can probably loan you a couple of my people, and with a finished tape, transcribing to get a complete score should be much easier."
"Staci, Casey, Alice, how are you all? I've just this minute arrived back from Magdeburg. That bit of land inside the walls the duke's agent has found is ideal. It's just off a main road where they plan to install a tramway sometime in the future. That'll increase the radius from which you can draw pupils. And being just down the road from the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg's townhouse means the location can't be better."
Staci waited until Lady Beth paused for breath. "So you're still interested in running the school then, Lady Beth?"
"What? Oh yes, definitely, and some of the up-timers in Magdeburg are also interested in your school. I spoke with Rowan Washaw and she was very enthusiastic." Catching the blank looks, Lady Beth elaborated. "Rowan is getting the St. Veronica's Academy in Magdeburg up and running. That'll be a useful feeder. And I've found a possible extra up-time teacher. Ceci Jones. She did English at college and is certified to teach. Currently she's running a single room school for the children of up-timers, but she likes the idea of having the support of other teachers."
"I know Ceci. We did the ESOL training together." Staci said.
Lady Beth nodded absently, "Good, now, Abbess Dorothea Sophie has given me a list of local families she's been forced to turn away from her school in Quedlinburg. I've spoken to some of them, and as long as the abbess approves the curriculum and graduates are qualified to enter one of the proposed new colleges, they're interested. A couple of the families commented that a local school with up-time teachers would be much better than having their daughters go to Quedlinburg as boarders." Lady Beth gave the girls an apologetic smile. "I think they mean 'a lot cheaper.' Anyway, I know you were planning on starting with just a fifth and maybe a sixth grade, and introducing new grades as the pupils advanced, but a number of the potential fifth and sixth graders have older sisters. It would save the parents a lot of trouble if you could accommodate the older sisters as well."
"I guess that will be okay," Staci said. "But what sort of numbers do you think we'll have, and can we earn a living?"
"To pay the rent on the school, a living wage for you and Casey, me, Ceci Jones, and a handful of down-timer teachers and other staff, and provide everyone with room and board, I estimate we will need something like one hundred and eighty pupils to break even. The abbess thinks that your first year you should easily get thirty fifth graders and maybe twenty sixth graders, with another twenty or so pupils spread over the higher grades. Based on the parents I spoke to, those numbers seem possible. You should expect to reach break even point and be adding more staff inside five years."
"So what do we live on for the next five years?" Staci asked.
"The rents from the village," Lady Beth replied. "They won't be high, but if you can encourage the tenants to adopt some of the up-time farming techniques they should grow fairly quickly, especially the way Magdeburg is growing. Of course, if you had some capital to invest, the farm yields could increase much faster."
"If we had investment capital for what?" Casey asked.
"Farm productivity on the property is low because of the damage years of rampaging armies have inflicted. The tenants are farming with the bare minimum of tools and draft animals. If you can raise some money to supply modern farm implements and draft animals, not only will you improve the estate's chances of attracting tenants, but the rents you'll be able to charge will be higher."
Bitty joined the rest of the company watching the pair on the practice floor rehearse their moment of glory in A Falcon Falls. She held her breath as they approached the finale of the routine. It was supposed to end with a particularly spectacular hands free fish dive, and this was the first complete dance through at normal speed.
"Joe's looking good, isn't he, Mom?"
Staci's words echoed Bitty's thoughts. "Yes. It'll be nice having a reliable lead male again."
"Hey, Carl's reliable."
"When he's around," Bitty muttered, giving Staci a meaningful look.
Lady Beth led Bitty through the crowd of spectators to the enormous stage that dominated the southern edge of what was an extremely large public square.
Bitty gestured to the people who were spread over the bleachers and sitting on blankets on the ground. "Who are all the people?"
"Just normal people. They started coming out during their lunch break to watch the stage being built. When rehearsals started, there was a surge in interest."
"Why are you letting them watch?" she demanded, her waving arms reinforcing her dismay at what she is seeing. "Rehearsals should be away from the public gaze. That way the magic isn't lost."
"Bitty, there just isn't anywhere big enough to rehearse in Magdeburg. At least, not with a suitable floor." Lady Beth paused while Bitty filled in the blanks.
"Stone floors?" At Lady Beth's nod she shuddered.
"Or undressed timber," Lady Beth added
Bitty nodded. "Okay, so the floors had no life or they would shred slippers, but why haven't you closed off the stage?"
"It's only for half an hour during lunch hour that rehearsals are public Bitty. And never in costume." Still Bitty didn't look convinced. "Carl and the girls think its good PR to let the people see what the new ballet is about."
Bitty could see Carl and the girls arranging the performers for the next piece. "Explain!"
"It started quite innocently, Bitty. As soon as they finished laying the floor, Carl and the girls tried it out. They didn't bother to hide what they were doing and a bit of a crowd stopped to watch. You know Carl. Give him an audience and he puts on a show."
Bitty nodded. That explained why they'd started, but it didn't explain why they were still giving even a short free performance. She'd have words with Carl and the girls later. Meanwhile she turned her attention back to the stage. They were rehearsing the last sequence from the first act. The battle scene, where the hero first meets his love interest. Several lines of men, the mercenaries, moved in slow time. Opposite them, a single line of soldiers, the Americans, tapped time in place. Suddenly a dancer, Bitty was able to recognize Mike Song, shot diagonally across the stage from the American side. He stamped his heels rapid fire as he spun, to finish with a full splits leap, a grand jeté, over the falling mercenaries. Mike was good in his role as the machine gun tracer.
Mike's entry was the signal for the Americans to start clogging in earnest. This was supposed to represent rifle fire, and more mercenaries fell. One more pass by Mike and the Americans charged the mercenaries, breaking their line and routing them.
Then it was time for the ministering angels. While other dancers checked out the fallen soldiers, four of the dancers, Elisabeth Sofie, Catherine Matzinger, Ursula Sprug, and Richelle Kubiak, joined hands and started a sequence stolen directly from the second act of Swan Lake. It had been included more as a sop to Mary Simpson and her friends than for any real choreographic reason. While they danced, Casey ministered to the fallen hero. The scene ended with Carl being carried off in a litter, Casey at his side.
There was a moment of silence as the music died. Bitty was among the last to rise to her feet. Once standing she turned her amazed gaze over the crowd. They had rushed forward, in a remarkably organized way, and were now crowding around the dancers on the ground in front of the stage. Bitty pointed to the melee. "What . . .?"
"Groupies. It was a bit of a shock the first time it happened."
Bitty was nervous. The performance of Brillo earlier in the day had been a rousing success. However, this was different. For a start, the crowd was mostly high-priced glitterati and they were here to be seen, rather than to see the ballet. The crowd for Brillo had been aficionados, or people out to be entertained. They had been the kind of crowd that performers love. One that they could feed back on, one that helped them reach new heights. And reach new heights they had. Having more than three thousand vocal fans cheering and applauding everything you did had that effect.
Tonight would be different. The glitterati liked to pretend that nothing impressed them. Not even the electric flood lighting that allowed them to find their seats easily as dusk fell. Tonight was unlikely to be a rousing success because the wealthy just didn't respond that way. Success from tonight would be measured by how willing the audience was to be associated with the new ballet. It would be measured in pledges to Mary Simpson's new arts center. And that was another thing. Where was Mary Simpson? She should have been here. Her absence was being noticed, and not in a good way. People were calling her absence a snub of the highest order. If the Lady Admiral didn't consider the premiere performance sufficiently important to attend in person, maybe the ballet was not sociably important. If that perception was allowed to settle, then Bitty's hopes of bringing ballet to the seventeenth century could die in its infancy. Mary had to make an appearance soon, and with a really good excuse for why she missed the premiere.
The sun had sunk below the horizon and the flood lights had been turned off. Inside the fenced off area for paying customers the audience were chatting to each other. In just a few moments Bitty's company would present its first offering to the wealthy of Magdeburg.
Lady Beth settled as comfortably as she could. Jere sank deeply into his seat, casting an eye around the crowd as if to check that nobody he knew could see him. When sweet reason had failed to persuade her husband to accompany her to the ballet, Lady Beth had been forced to bring out the heavy artillery. Jere had finally agreed to come, but did so with muttered references to horses and water.
She had seen the final dress rehearsal, but having seen the boost the live audience had given the dancers in Bad, Bad Brillo earlier in the day, Lady Beth had high expectations of this evening. However, Bitty had warned Lady Beth not to expect too much. Her experience from up-time being that audiences could be divided into two groups, those that attend to see and be entertained, and those that attend to be seen. The audience for Bad, Bad Brillo had been there to see the ballet. Tonight's audience was mostly here to be seen.
The first chords of Mussorgsky's "Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition" caused the audience to settle. With the last notes of the Promenade, the curtain raised on the first scene. It was a military camp, with Tilly's soldiers and camp followers the night before the big battle. The one that the up-timers called the battle of the Crapper, but which was more correctly called the Battle of Badenburg. The audience was treated to a series of dances performed to Borodin's "In the Steppes of Central Asia" by mostly down-timer dancers. There was a lot of jumping, leaping and thumping of boots in the male-dominated dances. In the background soldiers were drinking, fighting, and getting up close and personal with some of the females. A group of soldiers from Carl's group picked up one of the girls and carried her struggling form off stage. Carl turned to watch, then returned to drinking until he collapsed.
At the end of the scene there was polite applause, nothing like the same scene had garnered in rehearsal, even without costuming. With grudging acceptance that this was going to be a hard audience to please, Lady Beth continued watching. Maybe when the girls went en pointe after the battle scene things would improve.
The second scene was well underway before there was the first hint of interest from the audience. It occurred when Mike Song streaked across the stage in his red costume, the harsh light of the spotlight making him seem to glow. He actually drew a reaction close to awe when he finished each pass by leaping over the falling soldiers. The running jump with full splits, something Bitty insisted on calling a grand jeté, seemed to defy gravity, so long did he seem to stay in the air. Maybe there was hope for this crowd yet.
Finally Casey and the ministering angels entered. There was an attentive silence from the audience while they danced. Whether it was the costuming, or the fact that they were females performing in public, Lady Beth couldn't be sure. She had heard that the strong black Casey was wearing was more difficult to obtain than the whiter-than-white the angels wore. However, both were surely going to be talking points.
Casey at his side, Carl was finally carried from the stage. The lights faded out and the curtain fell. Then the music stopped. There was some very cultured applause when the dancers lined up to take their bows, then, the curtain falling for the last time, the floodlights in the square flickered on, signaling the end of the fist act. Lady Beth nudged her husband. "Well, Jere? What did you think of that?"
"Not bad. How long is the intermission? Do we have long enough to catch a drink and something to eat?"
Lady Beth sighed with exasperation. "Jere. You're here for the ballet, not to feed your face."
"It was okay, nothing stood out, but then, you were saying that it gets better as it continues." He led Lady Beth to one of the concession stands. "Maybe it'll grow on me."
"Jere." Lady Beth gave her husband a disappointed look. "We'll grab something to eat and drink, then circulate. I want to be able to tell Bitty how the audience reacted. And you—" She looked pointedly him, "If you can't say something good, keep your mouth shut. Understand?"
"Sure thing, Beth."
Jere was already seated and Mussorgsky's Promenade was playing when Lady Beth returned from having a quick word with Bitty. So far most comments from the audience had concentrated on the costumes and the colors, with a few comments on Mike Song's performance as the machine gun tracer. Lady Beth hadn't heard any negative comments on the music, which was fortunate for Marcus Wendell. It was bad enough that Marcus had been unable to provide the promised live orchestra, but given how he had vetoed a lot of Bitty's suggestions and requests on the grounds that the audience wouldn't like them, Lady Beth didn't like to imagine how Bitty would react if the audience panned the ballet because of the music.
The second act started with a combination of bits from every joyful scene Bitty and her brain trust could remember, set to the overture and a few bits of the pastorale of "Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld." From Don Quixote there was the flirting Basilo making up to all the girls until Kitri marks him as her own. Of course, that had to be Carl and Casey. There were solos by Melanie as a street dancer, and Staci and Alice combining as Casey's two friends. The guys weren't left out. They had sequences culled from various ballets. It was a long scene with mass dancing mixed around the solos. Bitty and her team had chosen to go for the dramatic when they choreographed the scene, cutting out all the "boring" bits, as Joseph called them, and inserting lots of leaps, lifts, and pirouettes.
"What do you think now?" Lady Beth asked Jere in a whisper.
"That high prancing step the girls do is cute. And I like the costumes, especially the way the skirts float when they spin."
"Jere! You're supposed to be watching the dancing, not staring at the girls."
"But that's the most interesting part," Jere protested.
"Shush. The flying scene is next."
The flying scene started with Joe as Jesse Wood and Carl in flying uniform. First Joe would demonstrate a move, and then Carl would follow it. When the intermezzo from Sibelius' Karelia suite started in earnest, Carl literally took to the air. Where the audience had been drawn to acknowledge Mike Song's grand jeté in the previous battle scene, they were spellbound by Carl's solo. Then Joe joined him. Together they really cut loose. The glory and freedom of flight could be seen in the way they danced. The brain trust had been forced to rewrite the sequence several times when Carl and Joe continually surpassed expectations. The speed of the pirouettes and the astonishing amount of élévation and airtime the two dancers achieved was remarkable.
Lady Beth nudged Jere. "Happy now?"
"How do they stay up so long?" an astonished Jere asked?
"Bitty said it's just an illusion caused by shifting the center of mass."
"That's some illusion."
"Carl claimed it could have been better."
"How could anything be better than that?" Jere asked, gesturing towards the stage with his head.
"Carl suggested that dance could be enhanced if they performed en pointe, but Joe nixed that. I don't think he cares for dancing on his toes."
Lady Beth glanced around the audience. They were quick glances, she really didn't want to miss anything. Seeing the videotaped version of this just wouldn't be the same. The audience, the impossible-to-impress glitterati, was spellbound. Well, not all of them, but enough of them were sitting up and taking notice.
Carl and Casey launched directly into the grand pas de deux when the flying scene finished. Lady Beth had thought that Carl wouldn't be able to maintain the pace, but the first moves of the pas de deux to Smetana's Vltava were a crowd scene, and gave him a little time to catch his breath. And he needed to.
"How does he do that?" Jere whispered. Carl was lifting Casey above his head with one hand again. "He's not that big, and Casey isn't particularly small."
"It's all in the technique, Jere. Just watch and appreciate it."
The curtain fell with Carl and Casey embracing. This time the audience exploded into applause. The curtain was raised and the dancers advanced to the front of the stage to acknowledge the applause, until finally, someone decided enough was enough. The curtain fell and the floodlights came on signaling intermission.
Lady Beth decided that seeing Bitty to report on crowd feedback on the second act would be redundant. Instead, she continued circulating, making contact with the important guests, asking them how they were enjoying the performance. Most of them, even some of the males, were enthusiastic.
The third act was the final battle scene. The battle of Wismar, where Hans dies. Mussorgsky's Promenade again warned the audience that the curtain would soon rise, and the few stragglers hurried to their seats. The curtain raised to ships of the invasion force moving across the stage. When the enemy warships left the stage it was the turn of the three American motor boats with their rocket batteries to dance around the stage searching for the enemy. This action was repeated a couple of times before the stage was cleared a final time. There was a quick change of scene to the airfield. Carl and Joe were getting ready to leave. Casey kissed Carl goodbye, and then she joined the small crowd to see them take to the air and fly off.
Once in the air, Carl and Joe searched for the enemy and flew toward them. When Carl and Joe left the stage the enemy fleet crossed the stage again, to be followed by the motor boats. Then the special effects guys really earned their money. The first shots fired were rockets that shot across the stage on wires. The audience didn't know how to react. There were explosions off stage and gun smoke drifted on stage from the wings. More rockets were fired, to be met by a volley of cannon fire. Again only the muzzle blast of the cannons appeared on stage. Then a "boat" containing Joseph speed across the stage, tossing Joseph overboard before speeding off stage, to be followed moments later by another explosion. There were a few shocked reactions as clever use of fabric and lighting made it appear that Joseph was shy half a leg. Lady Beth smiled, that was that for the Navy, payment in full for the use of their generator, lights and sound system.
The curtain fell, to rise a few moments later. There were ships stationary in the water. Special effects had some of them "burning." Joe continued to circle at a distance while Carl attacked a Danish "ship." With a graceful grand jeté that took the audience by surprise, such was the élévation he achieved and how long he seemed to float in the air, Carl cleared the ship, only to stumble as he landed on the other side. Lady Beth stifled a gasp. That wasn't how it had gone in rehearsal. She had to admire Carl's quick wits when he took advantage of the stumble to imply he had been hit by gunfire. The wounded Carl then circled the warship. The strong twisting turning jetés that Bitty called "Coupè Jetè en Tourants" that Carl executed put the lie to his deadly injury. But Lady Beth had to agree with Bitty and her fellow choreographers, if opera could get away with the dying heroine singing on forever while dying of consumption, Carl could continue to astonish the audience with his élévation and speed while taking his time to die. But die he must. With one last look towards Joe, and by some amazing coincidence, the audience, Carl launched himself at the enemy ship. This time he timed his grand jeté so that he landed within the "ship." Coming down in full splits, he hit the concealed pad with a loud thud. Immediately the special effects crew let off the fireworks. Under the cover of the cloud of smoke the ship was wheeled from the stage, leaving Joe to dance a solo for the fallen hero.
Then started the penultimate scene. It was a complex arrangement. Casey danced to Sibelius' The Swan of Tuonela from his Lemminkäinen Suite. Lady Beth shuddered as the pure mourning and lament of the English horn solo penetrated. On the stage she could see Joe "landing" and telling Sharon that Hans was lost. There was interplay of horn and cello as Joe and the ministering angels tried to comfort Casey in her grief. The scene lasted all of nine minutes, finishing with Casey dancing to the English horn solo in an almost wistful restatement of the solo theme, answered by the softly surging strings, and the return of the cello solo. The music alone was enough to send a shiver down Lady Beth's spine. Wiping a tear from her eye, she doubted there could be a dry eye in the audience.
Carl returned as the dead hero after a quick costume change. To the strains of a hacked arrangement of the hymn from Sibelius' Finlandia, his spirit danced. The finale was a pas de deux without the partners touching, danced to a rearrangement of Mussorgsky's "The Great Gate of Kiev." The majesty of the music perfectly complemented the grandeur of the dancing. Several times Carl and Casey passed close. But never close enough to touch. While Casey danced as the mourning heroine, the ministering angels danced around her, combining with four young men dressed as pilots. With the new falcons and their partners always between them Casey danced with Carl as her shadow, replicating every step. With the penultimate restatement of the fanfare, the new falcons took to the sky and Casey collapsed, the angels gathering around her, leaving Carl still dancing in the background.
The stage darkened. Only a single narrow spotlight on the mourning Casey lit the stage. Carl was the only person left moving on the stage. The audience could follow him as he circled the stage in a slow coupè jetè en tourants by the ghostly glow of the specially treated white pilot's costume he was wearing. Then the ultra violet lamps that were causing his costume to fluoresce were slowly turned down, causing Carl to gradually fade out. Finally the only light was that on Casey. It stayed on for several beats, before it too faded, leaving the stage pitch black.
There was a moment of silence when the curtain fell. Lady Beth was excited with the way the performance had gone, but that moment of silence seemed to last forever. Then the applause followed. It was something between the unabashed enthusiasm of the morning's audience for Brillo and the polite indifference Bitty had feared. A reasonable compromise, Lady Beth felt, especially for the first performance of a new ballet.
In the cruel light of the morning Bitty made her way to Hans Richter Square in company with her husband. The first night party had continued well into the early hours of the morning, and with Mary Simpson still not making an appearance, Bitty had been forced to stay until the end. The party had been a success, except when people continued to ask after Mrs. Simpson. But at least Bitty had had an answer to the second most asked question. Lady Ulrike, the princess's governess, had briefed her during intermission at the first showing of Bad, Bad Brillo. The princess had "asked" that Bad, Bad Brillo be performed. The quiet emphasis Lady Ulrike had put on the word clearly indicated that the request had not been open to negotiation. As a result Bitty was placing responsibility for the performances of Brillo exactly where it belonged, firmly on the slender shoulders of Princess Kristina. In response to the astonishment of the questioners that the princess had ignored the situation in Franconia when asking for the performances, Bitty pointed out that, yes the princess was a princess and as such there were certain expectations. However, when all was said and done, she was still just an eight-year-old girl. One couldn't always expect a young girl, even one as precocious as the princess, to understand the political repercussions.
The smell of cooking food was the first indication that they were close to Hans Richter Square. Bitty had to smile when she cast her gaze over the milling crowds. Surely the king and his courtiers hadn't envisaged this use for their square. There were colorful tents and pavilions spread from one end of the square to the other.
Bitty noticed that Harvey was gently guiding her to one side. She almost asked why, but then she saw what Harvey, with his superior height, had seen. In a sunny corner behind the stalls a group of boys and young men were trying to replicate some of the moves from the ballet. There were some stamping their feet, just like the clogging line, others were attempting to leap and pirouette. Further away a group of girls were trying to pirouette on their toes. Most of the girls had fans just like those used by the dancers. After a moment to take in what they were seeing, Harvey pulled Bitty away. "They would have been embarrassed if they knew you'd seen them, Bitty."
"But they were trying, Harvey. They were interested enough to try. I've never seen that kind of reaction before, not even after we did Nutcracker over Christmas." What she had seen perked Bitty up. She no longer felt the effects of the late night and insufficient sleep. She started to bounce a little.
A Week Later, Duchess Elisabeth Sofie Secondary School for Girls, Magdeburg
All was well with Bitty's world. Today would mark the official opening of the first stage of the purpose-built facilities of the Duchess Elisabeth Sofie Secondary School for Girls. The Magdeburg Arts Week had been a success, helped in no small part by the breaking news that Mrs. Simpson and Veronica Dreeson had been kidnapped and delivered as prisoners to Duke Maximilian. What he would want with a couple of elderly women, Bitty had no idea. However, everybody who mattered seemed to consider the kidnapping sufficient excuse for Mrs. Simpson to miss her Arts festival, and it garnered a lot of sympathy to her cause. The company had played to full houses for five performances of Bad, Bad Brillo and three well attended performances of A Falcon Falls. Bitty had been fielding inquiries about the Ballet Company and the proposed Magdeburg ballet school ever since the story broke. Pledges and more tangible forms of support for Mary's proposed center for the performing arts were pouring in. Lady Beth had reported that it was possible that there were sufficient funds to not only secure the desired land, but also, to actually pay for the proposed opera house. All that was needed was for someone to approve a design.
There had been some further news. Bitty wasn't sure if it could be called good news. That would depend on how the funding for the stage had actually been arranged. However, the city of Magdeburg was making arrangements to purchase the stage for use in other events, and already there was talk about next year's Fourth of July season.
From her vantage point at the back of the school hall, Bitty could see over the sea of interested family, students, potential students, and their parents. On the stage she could see Casey, Staci and Ceci sitting quietly with Lady Beth, the down-time teachers, the new music director, Marla Linder, and the important dignitaries present for this most important occasion. Bitty tried to stop herself fidgeting while she listened to the gentle drone of the mayor and other less important people. Finally, Duchess Elisabeth Sofie, her father, and then her aunt, Abbess Dorothea Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg took their turns. Everyone appeared to listen. Not, Bitty was sure, that the parents were overly interested in what Elisabeth Sofie had to say, but they were polite people. They listened to Duke Johann Philipp, her father, because he was after all, a duke. What Dorothea Sophie had to say though, was listened to intently. They had seen the literature the school had been handing out. The presence of the abbess suggested support for the claims made in the literature. Actually hearing the abbess confirm her support for the school, hearing it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak, would have a considerable influence on the listening parents. Her confirmation that the curriculum for this new school had her approval, and that graduates from the school would be eligible to attend her new woman's college in Quedlinburg could be all many of the parents needed to hear before deciding to send their daughters to the school.
Eventually the speeches were over and Elisabeth Sofie officially declared the school open. First the personages filed out, then the parents and children followed. Finally Bitty and her husband joined the teachers as they left the hall. "What now?" Bitty asked.
"We go into sales mode, Mom," Staci replied. "We show people around the new school and try to get them to sign on the dotted line."