Hollywood: The Greatest Showman

Chapter 10: Folk Poet

"This afternoon I just experienced an unsuccessful audition..." Renly's words sparked a wave of murmurs among the audience in the bar, with some even shouting, "Renly, you're the best!"

Tom quickly glanced at Steven, then saw his friend's expression darken again, clearly displeased with Renly's blatant provocation. But Tom found it rather intriguing; a great actor always needed some edge and sharpness, and he found the situation increasingly interesting.

"But this audition gave me some inspiration, and I'm willing to share it with everyone here," Renly said. His gaze just grazed table fourteen before sweeping over the dimly lit faces in the crowd. He joked, "I know I'm very popular, and everyone is still reminiscing about my previous brilliant performances..." This remark elicited laughter from everyone. "But today, allow me to perform this special piece of music, freshly baked."

Applause filled the room as all the audience members clapped, some even cheering loudly for Renly. Stanley, standing next to the bar, turned to Neil, his eyes questioning, "Do you know about this unexpected performance?"

Neil shrugged, palms open, indicating he had no idea. Stanley waved his hand, dismissing Neil as if swatting a fly, then turned his attention back to the stage. Bathed in the spotlight, Renly wore a cheerful smile as he strummed the guitar strings, the notes dancing gracefully amidst the golden-yellow cascade of light, like elves spreading their wings.

Steven couldn't help but pause. He thought Renly would mention the audition, perhaps use the audience's support to pressure them, or showcase his talent again on such a platform. But to his surprise, melodies danced at Renly's fingertips, growing increasingly lively and cheerful, spreading happiness and joy, making every listener tap along with the beat.

This was the second time Steven misunderstood Renly.

The melody, like flowing springwater, lingered throughout the bar. Renly lowered his gaze, focusing on the guitar strings, a faint smile playing on his lips as if the world contained only him. Then, his rich voice weaved through the musical notes, warm and intoxicating.

[??The Lumineers - Cleopatra??]

??I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress

When you knelt by my mattress and asked for my hand??

The first line of lyrics left Steven stunned in place. Cleopatra, also known as "Egypt's Enchantress." During the audition this afternoon, Renly performed a scene of Cleopatra with Mark Antony, her lifelong lover. So, this was Renly's "insight"—he was singing a song about Cleopatra.

??But I was sad, you asked it as I laid in a black dress

With my father in a casket, I had no plans??

Amidst the cheerful melody, the lyrics narrated a melancholic tale, delicate and sorrowful, weaving through subtle sadness and regret. This was Cleopatra's story, but not the Cleopatra commonly known, the one Shakespeare described as "the barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, burned on the water."

??Oh...??

A soft sigh escaped, and Renly's smile seemed tinged with melancholy.

??And I left the footprints, the mud stained on the carpet

And it hardened like my heart did when you left town

But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant

Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around??

Cleopatra agreed to Caesar's courtship, even though Caesar still had a wife. In the eyes of the world, she is a woman who will do anything for power and profit, but no one sees the true emotions in her heart, and the love like a moth to a fire has made her fall into a place of no return, and she will be infamous forever.

She was a woman with no status, no freedom, entirely dependent on men in that society. But when people judged her, they always forgot this. It's always easier to attribute the downfall of a nation, the mistakes of history, to a woman.

??But I was late for this, late for that

Late for the love of my life??

The strings in Renly's hand suddenly stopped, humming clearly, and the simple sentence ??And when I die alone, when I die alone?? expressed countless sadness and loneliness, ??Die I'll be on time, I??

She missed everything, missed the love of her life, but the only thing she didn't miss was her own death.

The cheerful melody sounded again, but the lingering sadness spread on the tip of the tongue, bitter and difficult to swallow, the surging emotions occupied the brain firmly, and suddenly the heart ached so much that they couldn't breathe.

??And while the church discouraged any lust that burned within me

Yes, my flesh it was my currency, but I held true??

The words like poetry were heartbreakingly beautiful between Renly's lips and teeth. The real sorrow is not the absence of freedom, but the refusal to embrace it, and the imprisoning of one's soul in flesh and blood, like the walking dead.

??So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me

From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you??

Renly suddenly sped up the strumming with his right hand, and the melody became more and more cheerful, as if swirling skirts under a flamenco dancer's steps, flamboyant and vibrant, petals of vibrant red dancing in the air like confetti, stunning hearts to stillness, yet within the jubilation lingered an indescribable sadness, as if visible dust carried silence to every shoulder, the weight of it making smiles carry a tinge of sorrow.

??But I was late for this, late for that

Late for the love of my life

And when I die alone, when I die alone

When I die I'll be on time??

The crystal clear notes are like the gorgeous dew drops of the morning sun, and the poetic lyrics collide with the surging emotions, hitting the chest with a faint pain. There was nothing fancy, Renly just relied on his voice to sing, but it was so magnificent that the light lost its color.

Suddenly, Tom's tears broke down, and everything came so suddenly that he himself was caught off guard. Mark Antony and Cleopatra pop up in his mind. In Shakespeare's other tragedy, "Antony and Cleopatra", he always believed that Antony's obsession with Cleopatra's beauty delayed state affairs, so much so that it led to the decline of Rome. However, this is fate, the two people who once loved each other, because of the wrong time and the wrong place, led to the mistake of fate and delayed for life.

Delay for life. What a tragic and poignant sentence. The unexplained sighs and sadness firmly occupy the heart.

??The only gifts from my Lord

Were a birth and a divorce

But I've read this script and the costume fits

So I play my parts??

The guitar strings are outlined again, and the gentle melody takes the mind to another level.

It turns out that all this is nothing more than God's arrangement, all this is nothing more than a play, all this is nothing more than a mockery of fate. Absurd, ridiculous, sad, mocking. How sad, how helpless, how desolate, she is like a puppet, putting on a costume, playing her role according to the script. But what about herself?

??I was Cleopatra, I was taller than the rafters

But that's all in the past, love, gone with the wind

And now a nurse in white shoes leads me back to my guestroom??

The melody gradually grew higher, and after Renly's singing was torn to the heights, there was a touch of loneliness, like a few remnants of the sunset on the edge of the sky,

??It's a bed and a bathroom, and a place for the end??

The trick of fate has finally come to an end. This time, she won't miss it again.

Love, what a simple but complex word; Freedom, what a luxury and yet what an ordinary word. The woman named Cleopatra, who once wantonly chased her heart's desires, left behind a lifetime of infamy, and what is even more tragic is that she still missed it after all, she once thought that Caesar was the love of her life, but he failed her; She had thought Anthony was where she belonged, but he hurt her again. On this road of fate, she stumbled, staggered, and bruised all over her body, but she was teased by fate after all, and she was alone.

??I won't be late for this, late for that

Late for the love of my life

And when I die alone, when I die alone??

The melody slowly dissipated in the air, and Renly's long tail note had a trace of magnetism, dragging out a long tail in the air, like a firefly falling in the night, and clearly saw that the light drew a trajectory, and then became more and more dim until it disappeared completely. The night was once again in boundless darkness.

??Die I'll be on time, I??

Tom wiped the warmth in his eyes in embarrassment, but the surging emotions could not be calmed down at all, and his mind recalled the audition of Renly in the afternoon, and the tragedy that burst out in that moment fermented and precipitated in the melody just now. He couldn't find a precise word for the complex emotions in his chest, but the resonance was undoubtedly stirring.

Soon, Tom discovered that he wasn't the only one. At this moment, many of the audience sitting in the bar actually looked at the stage with teary eyes, they didn't care about their embarrassment at all, they just watched Renly quietly, and even the spilled lights became extraordinarily gentle.

These are the real listeners, the listeners who really listen to the music with their souls, they understand the story in the Renly song, and then they are immersed in the music and can't extricate themselves. There was no applause, no screaming, no heckling, not even a sound, everyone was quietly savoring, savoring the faint melancholy, savoring the sadness hidden under the cheerful melody, savoring the bard-like wisdom. Really great music has that power.

Note: Cleopatra – The Lumineers