The Climax

Good evening, Doctor.

Doctor? Yes.

Dr. Hohner. The theater physician.

He lives just around the corner. What's he doin' around here this time of night?

Uh, somebody sick? Yes. He is.

Marcellina. Marcellina.

Oh, yes.

Uh, did the police ever find her? No.

After 10 years, they've given up trying.

Marcellina, it has come. At last, it has come.

What, Luise? I couldn't wait. I opened it.

The king invites you- no, commands you to sing for him.

Luise, I'm going to faint. Not now, my sweet.

After you sing for the king, you can faint all you like.

Will you find the maestro? I want him to hear the good news.

This is the biggest moment of my life.

"Ah, we bid you welcome to this fete"

"Ah, we're sorry if we made you wait"

"Ah, let violins begin the dance"

"Ah, let there be joy and gay romancing"

"Ah, tell me why this doubt"

"Should fall to me"

"Whose tragic power seems to call to me"

Friedrich, I asked you never to come here again.

I had to see you. Well, I don't want to see you.

I thought you understood that. But I love you, Marcellina.

No, Friedrich. You love your own private, selfish world.

You want to lock me up there with you,

give up my career.

That's what you've got to do.

I can't bear the thought that any man can hear you sing for him,

feast his eyes on you...

just for the price of a ticket.

I worked hard for my success, Friedrich.

Tonight, there were 11 solo curtain calls.

More than any other singer's ever had in this theater.

The king commands me to sing for him.

Why, I'd be a fool to give that up for you. Darling, listen to me.

No, Friedrich. I've listened to you for the last time. Now please go.

This isn't really you speaking, Marcellina.

You've forgotten how happy we've been and will be again.

Now let me hear you say once more, just as you used to,

"I love you, Friedrich."

I can't say it... because I don't love you.

I hate you.

I don't hate you.

I only hate the thing that's come between us-your voice.

Yes, I know.

You were out front tonight.

I felt your eyes on me.

Like you're looking at me now.

Go away.

Get out of here!

I'm afraid of you.

You needn't be.

I love you, my darling. You know that.

I'd give my life for you.

This thing that shuts me out- I won't let it.

I tell you I won't let it.

It's here,

now, between my fingers.

I've only to close them to silence it forever.

Friedrich, you're hurting me.

Friedrich, you're-

We'll always be together now.

Your voice will never come between us again.

Marcellina.

Dr. Hohner, are you all right?

Yes. Yes.

I'm all right.

Good morning, Count Seebruck.

Good morning.

Good morning, Count Seebruck. Good morning.

Good morning, Count Seebruck. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, Jean. Good morning, Count Seebruck.

What a lovely morning. The air is like wine.

Chestnut trees are in bloom. All nature is in harmony.

Well, even our friends the critics have been kind to us this morning.

Oh, it's good to be alive.

Everything is serene, peaceful, quiet.

I have never been so insulted in all my life.!

I positively will not stand for it.

I am the prima donna of the Royal Theatre, not a barmaid in a cheap beer hall.

And I won't be insulted by- I was not insulting you.

I was merely trying to show you- You show me.

Why, the insolence.! Now, children, children. Please. Please. What's wrong?

Stop it! Stop it!

Now, you, Brunn. What is it? And stop bobbing.

Yes, madame.

Uh, Count Seebruck, if you please.

We were just rehearsing the duet between MadameJarmila and Signor Roselli...

when for no apparent reason, MadameJarmila-For no apparent reason?

Why, this-This creature here was handling me like a pan of unbaked dough.

I was not. I merely put my arm around your waist.

- Carl, you were in the prompter's box. You saw it all. - I'm sorry.

You know how it goes, Count Seebruck.

"I love you La-la-la-la, la-la-la"

Will you take your hands off my stomach!

Perhaps you'd rather I didn't touch you at all. Nothing would please me better.

For 20 years, the baritone embraces the prima donna at that particular moment.

Now she's trying to tell... I defy anyone to sing in one of your deathlike grips.

My dear, if you are unable to sing, I refuse to take the blame.

Unable to sing? Just what do you mean by that insult?

Oh, stop it. Stop it.

Roselli, you're as temperamental as a prima donna.

And as for you, Jarmila, I'm getting a little bit tired of your constant bickering.

So am I, Count Seebruck.

And if you, as the impresario of this theater, don't do something about it, I shall.

All right.

Is madame's understudy ready? Yes, Count Seebruck.

Miss Metzger, please.

Miss Metzger. Yes, Count Seebruck.

Come in, my dear.

- Do you know the soprano role? - Oh, yes, sir.

You shall sing it tonight in MadameJarmila's stead.

Tonight? Oh!

Oh.

If some composer would only write me an operetta without any women, I'd make him immortal.

Count Seebruck.! Count Seebruck.! Count Seebruck.! Well, what is it?

There's a-There's a-Well?

There's a dead man in one of the dressing rooms.

A dead man? In which room?

T- Twenty-two.

But, Jarmila, darling.

Oh, it's you, Dr. Hohner.

I must have fallen asleep.

Thank you. Brunn, continue with the rehearsal.

I'll be there as soon as I can. Yes, sir.

On stage, please.

Are you all right now? That was silly of me to fall asleep in the dressing room.

Oh, I understand.

Carl, get some black coffee and bring it to my office.

And as a doctor, you must realize that this constant brooding over Marcellina is bad for you.

You've had a brilliant career.

Your clientele is most distinguished.

But you must put this tragedy out of your mind.

- "Ah, tell me why this doubt" - Who is that singing?

- You hear it too? - "Should fall to me"

"Whose tragic power"

"Seems to call to me"

Who are you?

Who are you? She's Angela Klatt, a music student. We are both students.

Do you know what you were singing? Of course. It's from The Magic Voice.

That music is sacred. Sacred?

Sacred to the memory of Marcellina.

No one must ever sing it again. Do you hear?

No one. Hohner.

And now may I ask what you're doing in my music library?

Count Seebruck, forgive me, please.

I am altogether to blame. You know these young people?

My nephew, Franz Munzer. And this is Angela Klatt.

I've been smuggling them in here to study these old scores.

I shouldn't have done it without your permission.

It's quite all right, Carl. There's no harm been done.

But Dr. Hohner. I met him in the corridor.

Yes. Why was he so angry with me? He was in love with Marcellina.

Ten years ago, she disappeared. But I still don't see why.

You know, it's a strange thing, my dear,

but as I came down the corridor, I thought I heard Marcellina singing in here.

The doctor was convinced of it.

You mean my voice is anything like hers?

It's far more beautiful. Did you ever hear Marcellina?

No. She was before my time, but there's never been anything like Angela's voice. It's the most beautiful voice in the world.

They are engaged to be married.

He could be right, you know.

How long have you been studying?

Eight years. At the conservatory.

Franz is going to be a great composer.

Indeed.

They have heard every performance in the theater for the past three years.

They have season tickets, eh?

I smuggled them under the prompter's box.

Incorrigible.

- There's an aria in the second act of The Boulevardier. - "Someday I Know. "

"Someday"

"I know"

"My heart will know"

"The thrill of love"

"Supreme"

"And so until"

"I know that thrill"

"I'll dream"

"And gladly wait"

"For him whom fate"

"Has said will be"

"For me"

"In some great plan"

"Since time began"

"To be"

How are you to find him? Where are you to go?

Will you recognize him?

How are you to know?

"Our eyes will meet"

"Our lips will speak"

"Across some crowded hall"

What's the matter, dear? Stifling in here. Don't you think?

- Not for baritones. - "I'll touch his hand"

Ah. Jarmila, Roselli.

Come in. Come in. MadameJarmila, Signor Roselli.

Miss Angela Klatt. Mr. Munzer. Franz Munzer.