Chapter 423
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Chapter 423: The Script
In this era, after work, people had very few entertainment options. Besides drinking and chatting, there was only storytelling.
However, the storytellers’ tales were limited, repeating the same few stories over and over.
Luo Ji himself was busy with myriad affairs.
As the supreme ruler of Luo Ji’s civilization, how could he have the leisure to constantly think of stories for storytellers?
But if he let them think for themselves, their minds were not flexible enough, lacking the imaginative thinking, and most of the stories they came up with were boring, failing to attract customers.
There was no other way; they could only continue telling the original few stories.
But no matter how good a story was, after hearing it so many times, people would get tired of it.
So, recently, the status of storytellers within Luo Ji’s civilization had declined.
They no longer received the kind of preferential treatment they initially enjoyed, like being surrounded by admirers wherever they went.
Under such circumstances, what would happen if Luo Ji introduced ‘opera?’
There was no need to even think about it; it would definitely be an unprecedented grand occasion!
Therefore, what Luo Ji needed to do now was to use the medium of opera to allow people to actively learn about Beastman culture during their “entertainment,” ultimately changing their perceptions of Beastmen and accepting them.
As for what this almost historic first opera would perform, did it even need to be said? Of course, it would be Beauty and the Beast!
It had both Beastmen and Humans, wasn’t that just perfect?
The story of Beauty and the Beast was also very famous in his original real world, at least among his generation.
Even Luo Ji, who wasn’t particularly fond of movies, had watched the animated movie Beauty and the Beast when he was a child, and it could be considered a famous IP.
A live-action movie adaptation seemed to have been made a few years ago, and its popularity was quite high, but he hadn’t watched that one.
Luo Ji actually didn’t remember the plot of this animated movie very clearly, as so many years had passed.
He only vaguely remembered that the plot seemed to involve a prince who, after being cursed, turned into a Beastman monster resembling a lion.
The heroine’s father was imprisoned by this monster in the castle, and to save her father, the heroine risked herself, exchanging herself for her father, and remained in the castle.
The ending seemed to be that the monster turned back into a human and lived happily ever after with the heroine, which was also a common trope in animated films.
He racked his brain for a long time, but only managed to write something resembling an outline, with only a few words put together.
As for the specific details and dialogue, Luo Ji’s mind was blank.
It had been too long, and he truly couldn’t recall those details.
To perform an opera, it definitely required detailed sets and dialogue; otherwise, it would be too empty.
“It seems I’ll have to return to the real world this time.”
This opera was of utmost importance to Luo Ji.
Whether it could break the current deadlock between the Human Race and the Beastman Race basically depended on this move, so he would never allow any mistakes.
With this in mind, considering that he currently had a truce token to guarantee his safety, Luo Ji simply spent more civilization points and chose to pause the time in his Luo Ji’s civilization, then decisively went offline.
Luo Ji, back in the real world, appeared directly in his room.
He quickly opened his computer and searched for the keywords “Beauty and the Beast” and “script.”
As expected, he found a script.
The props, characters, and dialogue for each act were written clearly.
With this, Luo Ji naturally began his ‘memorization endeavor.’
However, he didn’t forget to watch the movie Beauty and the Beast.
Combining the movie and the script made it easier for him to memorize, and also gave him a better understanding.
He watched the movie repeatedly several times and thoroughly memorized the script.
Luo Ji then decisively went back online.
Time resumed flowing.
Luo Ji, sitting at his desk, quickly threw aside the quill pen, picked up the charcoal pen next to him, which was faster and more convenient for writing, and began to write furiously.
The content of the Beauty and the Beast script was actually not much.
This was because, unlike in movies, where a castle scene might be filmed from several angles, or even a 360-degree aerial view to show off castle or scene effects, in a script, it usually just boils down to a few words, like “Set piece – Castle.”
Given this, what Luo Ji needed to memorize most were the lines of dialogue.
It took him about 10 minutes to finish writing the script, which had extremely messy handwriting.
After quickly checking the content and confirming there were no errors, Luo Ji unhurriedly picked up the quill pen next to him and, with neat handwriting, intended to rewrite the script.
At the same time, the content also needed to be slightly altered.
For example, the setting where the cursed prince turns into a Beastman and then is freed from the curse to become human again.
He definitely couldn’t write it that way.
From beginning to end, the character should simply be a Beastman.
Otherwise, wasn’t it still essentially a human?
According to that setting, a large part of the concept he wanted to convey through this opera would be lost.
The messily written version was what he quickly put down because he was worried he would forget the content after some time.
The neatly written version now was to be sent to the printing factory for printing.
Since he was putting on an opera, he would need at least 10 or 20 copies of the script, right?
For the auditions before that, even more copies would likely be needed.
After all, in this era, there was no such profession as an opera actor.
He couldn’t expect them to just pick up the script and start performing.
The scripts would certainly have to be distributed first so that they could practice beforehand.
After writing, Luo Ji quickly called the factory manager of the printing factory and instructed.
“First, print 30 copies of this entire content for me…”
As he spoke, Luo Ji seemed to remember something and quickly extended his hand again.
“Oh, and this page, the one marked ‘Act 1,’ print 5,000 copies of this one for me.”
The 5,000 copies were clearly for auditions and publicity.
The audition script content did not need to be extensive; basically, only the plot of Act 1 needed to be distributed.
If the entire script were distributed, once it spread, everyone in Luo Ji’s civilization would know the plot.
If the opera was completely spoiled before it even premiered, the effect would be one or two levels lower when it officially opened.
However, even so, Luo Ji did not believe he could completely recreate Beauty and the Beast.
This was because the conditions of his era were too limited.
Take music, for example; many background music pieces definitely could not be produced.
He could have someone tap a few times for some simple sound effects.
However, it didn’t really matter.
People of this era had never been exposed to opera before.
It was like asking if it was necessary to show Hollywood blockbusters to people who had never watched movies.
There was absolutely no need.
