The Opera

MARYA D.

The opera, the opera!

Stop mooning and moaning, we’ll miss the curtain!

SERVANT

Ladies

Welcome to the opera

SONYA

Bare arms and shoulders

Brilliant uniforms

Pearls and silk

Glittering before our eyes

Feminine envy

A whole crowd of memories

Desires and emotions

Natasha, smooth your gown

Chorus

Natasha, smooth your gown

NATASHA

Looking in the glass

I see I am pretty

Not a girl anymore

I’ve never felt like this before

Hundreds of eyes

Looking at my bare arms

My bare arms and neck

My bare arms and shoulders

Chorus

The two remarkably pretty girls

Had not been seen in Moscow in many years

Everybody knew vaguely of Natasha’s engagement

One of the finest matches in all of Russia

SONYA

Look, there’s Alexey, home from the war at last

MARYA D.

He has changed

Dear me, Michael Kirilovich has grown still stouter!

Chorus

There’s Boris and Julie, engaged

And Anna Mikhaylovna, what a headdress she has on!

HÉLÈNE

And is that Natasha

Chorus

And is that Natasha

And is that Natasha

NATASHA

They are looking at me

They are talking about me!

They all like me so much

The women envious

The men calming their jealousy

SERVANT

Announcing Fedya Dolokhov

He dominates Moscow’s most brilliant young men

He stands in full view

Well aware he’s attracting attention

Yet as much at ease as though he were in his own room

MARYA D.

Dolokhov was in the Caucasus

And he killed the Shah’s brother!

Now all the Moscow ladies are mad about him

Dolokhov the assassin!

SERVANT

Announcing Countess Hélène Bezukhova

The queen of society

Beautiful, barely clothed

Plump bare shoulders, and much-exposed neck

Round which she wears a double string of pearls

Chorus

Hélène and Dolokhov, arm in arm

Pierre the cuckold sits at home

Pierre the cuckold sits at home

The poor man

PIERRE

No, I am enjoying myself at home this evening

NATASHA

Oh, that neck

Oh, those pearls

HÉLÈNE

So beautiful

What a charming young girl

So enchanting

NATASHA

I blush scarlet

MARYA D.

Countess Bezukhova, Pierre’s wife

Have you been here long?

And where is dear Pierre?

He never used to forget us

NATASHA

Yes Pierre, that good man

A little sad, a little stout

He must come visit us

HÉLÈNE

I will implore him to do so

MARYA D.

There’s a woman one should stay far away from

Now Natasha

The curtain rises

Chorus

The curtain rises

NATASHA

Everyone in the boxes and the stalls became silent

All the men, old and young, in uniform and evening dress

All the women in the hall

With gems on their bare flesh

Turned their whole attention

With curiosity to the stage

(Two singers perform a scene from an avant-garde opera. It is grotesque and amazing.)

NATASHA

Grotesque and amazing

I cannot follow the opera

Or even listen to the music

I see painted cardboard

Queerly dressed actors

Moving and singing so strangely in the lights

So false and unnatural

I’m ashamed and amused

And everyone else seems oblivious

Yes everyone feigns delight

SONYA

And feeling the flood of brilliant lights

The warm perfumed air heated by the crowd

Natasha little by little

Began to pass into a state of intoxication

NATASHA

Oh I’d tickle you all if I could

Oh I’d tickle you all if I could

SONYA

And then

A rush of cold air

NATASHA & SONYA

An exceptionally handsome man walked in

With a confident yet courteous air

HÉLÈNE

This was Hélène’s brother

Anatole Kuragin

He moved with a swagger

Which would have been ridiculous

Had he not been so good-looking

And though it was the middle of the act

He walked right down the aisle

His sword and spurs jangling

His handsome perfumed head held high

And he looked right at Natasha

ANATOLE

Mais charmante

HÉLÈNE

And he took his place in the front row next to Dolokhov

NATASHA

How handsome he is

How intoxicating

SONYA

In the second act there were tombstones

The moon over the footlights

Horns and contrabass

Black cloaks and daggers in their hands

NATASHA

I turn around again and our eyes meet

He gazes straight into my eyes

He is talking about me

SONYA

Candles burning

A crimson throne

The Tsar wails a mournful tune

They all wave their arms

And everybody cheers

“Bravo, bravo!”

NATASHA

Every time I look at him

He’s looking at me

Every time I look at him

He's looking at me

Every time I look at him

SONYA

A terrible noise, a clatter in the crowd

A storm of chromatic scales and diminished sevenths

With rapturous faces everyone was shouting

Screaming and shouting, “Bravo!”

Chorus

Bravo, bravo

Bravo, bravo

Bravo, bravo

SONYA

And then

A rush of cold air

And Anatole entered the box