Maren explains how she got into writing mini-romance novels, and talks about her first time (writing romance, that is). It was backstage at the opera, during a production of Verdi’s Otello, when her first romance, Venetian Vixen, was born. Maren reads the first few titillating chapters of this short story, and talks about her one-woman show.
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Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’re going to hear how and why I started writing my bodice rippers, and I’ll start reading the very first story I wrote backstage during the production of Verdi’s Otello.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Wow. So here we are. This is my very, very first podcast episode. Let me introduce myself. Hi, I’m Maren and I’m an opera singer. Most people when they hear that they think that I’m all fancy and stuff, but I’m really not. I’m just like you, I live in New Jersey. Um, and I don’t always just sing opera. I sing other things too.
My specialty is new music, which is stuff that’s been written in the last, uh, 10 or so years. You know, things that people sort of see as one thing, and maybe it’s not exactly what you think it is.
How was the Bodice Ripper Project born? It was during a production of Verdi’s Otello, and some friends and I were going around taking pictures backstage of all the fancy costumes. They were really amazing costumes.
And one of the pictures we took just looked like a romance novel cover. I mean, if you just, if you took away the fact that we were in a dressing room, uh, it could totally be the cover of a romance novel. So I took that picture and I Photoshopped a whole bunch of stuff in there and I created a pretend romance novel cover, and I didn’t stop there.
Once the cover was created, I had to write the story. So I did. And then after that, I had to read the story aloud because I mean, why, why write something if nobody’s going to hear it or read it? I do have to say there is quite a lot of downtime for the chorus during Verdi’s Otello. And I think that’s one of the reasons why this ended up happening.
But, you know, it became a tradition after that. Uh, the next opera that I did, some people asked if I was going to do the same thing. If I was gonna write a story about this opera. So I did. And so I’ve been doing this for years, but the only people who have heard it have been the cast of whatever production I’m in.
So fast forward to 2020. COVID happens. Quarantine happens. And all of my singing gigs are gone, uh, including the operas. The singers are super spreaders, and we can talk about that a little bit later, but basically the act of singing is a very high risk event for passing coronavirus to other people. So I decided to pivot like so many other artists.
I had already been working on a one-woman show called the Bodice Ripper Project that was incorporating some of these stories. That show, by the way, is going to be premiered this October during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It’s going to be a digital live event. And I will talk a little bit more about that later, but I realized that these stories were a way of, for me to connect with my fellow choristers, and also these stories have more – I mean they’re entertaining, but they also mean a whole lot to me on so many different levels. And I kind of want to share them with not just my fellow choristers who I miss very much, but also with all of you new fellow castmates and choristers and friends and people who I’ve never even met, but who could be my friends.
I feel like these stories have something in them for everybody. I decided to make a podcast and here we are.
So the way it’s going to work is I’m going to read a few chapters at a time. Each chapter is probably about a minute or so, maybe two minutes, but I’m going to start with the very first one, which is the one I wrote during Verdi’s Otello.
This one is called the Venetian Vixen. The story I wrote takes place in Cyprus during the action of Otello, the Shakespeare drama.
By the way, “Otello” is just the Italian pronunciation of “Othello.” Verdi was Italian. He wrote all of his operas in Italian and he also loved Shakespeare very much. He wrote a whole bunch of operas based on Shakespeare plays.
So this story begins after Otello has accused Desdemona in front of everybody of cheating on him with Cassio. This is all a lie that Iago has fed into Otello’s mind. But you know what, if you want to learn about that story, go and read the play. It’s fantastic.
Anyway, so there’s pandemonium and these two nobles find each other, and they find love with each other while the drama of Otello is happening in their background.
I really like to create stories about background characters, probably because I often play a background character as a chorus member. And I think that it’s always really fun. You know, when you are watching an opera and a big chorus scene comes on, you should always, always look at the chorus and see what’s happening. Because very often there is some kind of fun little interaction that you might miss if you are only paying attention to the principles.
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
(music begins)
The Venetian Vixen
Chapter 1
Orror!
Those were the words uttered by almost everyone in the great hall as noble and servant alike fled the wrath of the Moor. Pandemonium in the halls led to a crush of bodies, and Lady Benedetta Albinoni, third cousin to Catherine de Medici, found herself without her maidservant or a bodyguard, dangerously close to having her hem trampled upon by the masses during the exodus.
Someone jostled her, and she lost her footing on the marble halls, stumbling into a wall.
The wall sprouted arms and righted her. “My apologies, signorina,” said the wall.
Slowly, Benedetta lifted her gaze and realized the “wall” she had hit was the massive chest of the most handsome specimen of manly manliness she had ever seen. Her heartbeat quickened as she looked at his chiseled features and mused fleetingly what it would be like to be kissed by those strong lips.
Chapter 2
Guillermo di Montenegro looked down at the blushing woman in his arms. He knew he was holding her much longer than was proper for a woman of her rank, but he couldn’t seem to release her. The mysterious lady’s sultry eyes were mesmerizing, and Guillermo lost himself in their depths.
“Unhand me, signor.” Those beautiful, dark eyes were now flashing with contempt, but her heaving breasts belied her true feelings.
He smiled lazily and tightened his hold on her. “Oh no, signorina. It is not nearly safe enough for you to be walking about by yourself.”
She pushed at his muscle-hardened chest, but he held her fast. Drawing herself up as tall as she could, she shot him her haughtiest gaze. “Signor, do you know who I am?”
“No,” he murmured, “but I would certainly like to find out.” His chestnut locks fell across his brow as he lowered his head to steal a kiss.
Benedetta gasped in protest, and he took the opportunity to plunder her mouth with his tongue. Her protests turned to sighs of ecstasy as she returned his kiss hungrily.
The crowd around them surged forward, and she was pushed out of his arms. Shocked back to reality, Benedetta was suddenly acutely aware of her surroundings, and with only one glance back to the stranger who had awakened such frightening feelings in her, she fled into the crowd.
Chapter 3
Benedetta awoke the next morning with a start. Dawn’s rosy fingers had not yet crept through the crack between her bedroom drapes, but she could hear a lone cock crowing in the courtyard.
She was not the only one awake so early; agitated murmurs and quiet weeping drifted to her ears from the hallway, but she could only make out the words “Moor,” “strangled,” and “jealousy.”
Curious to know more, Benedetta got out of bed and hurried to the door to put her ear up against it. She could make out the light tones of her chambermaid, but a deeper voice joined the conversation soon after she began to listen.
“…Iago had said Cassio was the object of her affections,” said the chambermaid.
“That deceitful snake?” scoffed the male voice. “I went to university with him. He is never to be trusted. If only I had arrived a few days earlier! I could have warned Otello of his nature.”
“They say that Iago has not yet been found. The soldiers are searching the town, and…” the maid’s voice got louder as she got closer to the door. Benedetta backed away, but not quickly enough, for the door opened to reveal her standing in the middle of the room, wearing nothing but her gauzy summer chemise and a slightly shocked expression.
The occupants of the hallway were likewise surprised, standing frozen for several seconds. The chambermaid reacted first, exclaiming, “Oh, your ladyship! I did not think you would be awake,” and hastening into the room.
The man standing in the hallway, however, just stood there, staring unabashedly at her with a grin on his face. Benedetta realized that he was the mysterious man from the day before. “I didn’t realize people could blush there,” she heard the man chuckle as her maid closed the door.
(orchestra tuning)
And I will leave you there. Join me next episode, where you will learn a little bit more about Guillermo and his relationship with his manservant Ferrando.
He removed his trousers and stepped into the tub, his appreciation for Benedetta fully evident on his own naked form.
I’ll also give you even more of a peek into the goings on backstage at the opera.
Before I go, I do want to take some time to talk a little bit about my one-woman show coming up. It was originally supposed to be a live show, a cabaret style in the Fringe Festival, uh, obviously that can’t happen now. So I have decided to go digital, but I am trying to keep as much of the interaction, the interactive style of performance as I can. So there will be a choose-your-own-adventure type of format. I highly recommend showing up live.
That’s going to be on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, and you can already purchase tickets on fringearts.com. Just search for Bodice Ripper Project.
There will be original music by Melissa Dunphy, who’s a Philadelphia composer. She is also the host of the Boghouse Podcast. If you are interested in more Bodice Ripper content, go ahead and visit bodiceripperproject.com and sign up for my newsletter.
I will be sharing some behind the scenes, pictures and recordings of the rehearsals, and I’m only going to share them with my subscribers. So go ahead and sign up.
And of course I will also have opportunities there to win free tickets to my live show. Okay, that is it for this episode.
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The background music during the story was Edward Elgar’s Serenade for String orchestra Opus 20, because I couldn’t find any royalty or free recordings of Verdi’s Otello, and the theme music was also written by yours truly. Be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts – apparently that really does make a difference. And I’ll see you next time.