Cruise Ticket Seller: Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to make your choice!
Cruise Ticket Seller: The clock's ticking! There is but half an hour left until tonight's performance. Hurry up and select your favorite pieces!
Cruise Ticket Seller: Admiring the scenery, eh, signore? You can leave your song request form with me, if you're ready.
Guest: It's all thanks to you! I almost missed it.
Guest: The performances these past two days have been truly sublime. Honestly, I've never experienced concerts of this caliber anywhere else.
Guest: Here's my form.
Cruise Ticket Seller: There's only a single word here. Are you sure about this, signore?
Guest: The cruise is about to end. I must seize this opportunity.
Guest: This brilliant musicista ... One can only witness her talent aboard the "Free Breeze."
Guest: Is it really as they say that there is no music Barcarola cannot play?
Guest: If so, what I wrote there should not be a demanding request—merely broad in scope.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Of course, signore. It is simply my job to confirm these things.
The ticket seller places the form atop a stack of papers with a diligent smile.
Cruise Ticket Seller: On every voyage, we encounter five or six curious passengers like yourself, signore.
Cruise Ticket Seller: But perhaps you should have written a few a little more, then you'd pose a real challenge for her, sì?
Guest: Well, I'm not trying to make things difficult here. Aren't you curious to see which piece Signorina Barcarola will choose?
Guest: I'll listen closely what kind of melody she believes will fit my hometown.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Then we must hurry, signore. Let's find you a seat up front.
Guest: Yes, I was a few minutes late yesterday and almost couldn't get in.
Guest: I really hope she'll come ashore to perform in a concert hall someday. Tickets for the "Free Breeze" are getting harder to come by.
Excited Passenger: How much longer? I've been waiting all day!
Excited Passenger: Will she begin with "Morning Mood" or "Symphonie Fantastique"? Or perhaps "Boléro"! The weather tonight is just perfect for it!
Crew Member I: Or perhaps our musical genius will delight us with a little improvisation!
Guest: Haha, it seems her audience remains as passionate as ever.
Guest: But it is as I said, I can only imagine how popular Signorina Barcarola would be if she performed on land.
Cruise Ticket Seller: You will have to keep wondering. She prefers life on this ship. Perhaps she just enjoys the opportunity to travel.
Cruise Ticket Seller: It might be that more would come to see her on land, but she is not one to be so tied down.
Crew Member II: Good evening, signori!
Crew Member II: Please take a seat right here. If you've come to applaud our beloved star, I'd be happy to sort out two "special seats" for you.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Come on, you really think a well-dressed fellow like him would want to sit on an old barrel with us?
Cruise Ticket Seller: We're only sitting here so we can stay close by—to keep an eye on things, just in case ...
The dignified gentleman joins them on the barrel, turning his eyes toward the stage with intense focus.
Guest: The honor is mine.
Cruise Ticket Seller: It seems you're in for a truly novel experience tonight.
Guest: I intend to fully enjoy it before my time on the cruise ends.
Guest: I made sure I was first in line for the song requests, hours ahead of the concert, and now here I am—the closest spot in the house.
Guest: But for Signorina Barcarola, it is worth every effort.
Crew Member II: Shh! I can see it! That's her Crackling Box.
How do you spot a musician in a crowd?
Where Barcarola is concerned, the first thing that catches anyone's eye is her remarkable instrument.
Barcarola: Welcome, welcome! Ladies and gentlemen, guests of the "Free Breeze," benvenuti! I welcome you aboard and thank you for joining us on our journey!
Barcarola: As the ship's musical conductor, I will be performing tonight's concert for you.
An unusual instrument flashes from the cabin door.
Riding atop a sea of applause and cheers, the petite girl takes the steps up to the stage with an air of musical grace.
Barcarola: As always, I've received all of your song requests.
Barcarola: Tonight's performance will follow the sequence of your requests. However, I regret that I must once again affirm my rule that I will not be playing any piece twice during the entirety of this voyage.
Barcarola: As our musical director, I must ensure that each of you is able to embrace the true diversity of music and sound.
Cruise Ticket Seller: I wonder what she will do. Does she have a tune already in mind, or maybe she'll improvise something new?
Guest: Shh! Quiet, quiet!
The man gestures for the crew to be quiet, straightening up as if a king seated on his barrel throne.
The whole stack of request forms is displayed before Barcarola, before she retracts them close to her.
Guest: Good heavens, I've never been this nervous.
She picks up the first form, reading the handwriting with a careful and considered scan.
Then she folds it.
Guest: I'm ready. This is sure to be a phenomenal experience.
She holds the paper, and then proceeds to leaf it back into the stack.
Before lifting up the next form.
Guest: What?!
Crew Member II: Perhaps you requested a piece that has already been performed?
Guest: No, no, impossible! I—
Guest: All I wrote was a word, a place ... I had hoped that Signorina Barcarola would grace me with a melody that might remind me of it again!
The "king" is so shocked. He nearly falls from his barrel throne.
But the performance does not pause for him. The music and words continue to flow.
Barcarola: Okay, tonight's opening piece shall be Boléro.
Barcarola: Although we're lacking the space to give this piece a proper dance, I encourage everyone to join in and take a few steps!
Guest: I don't believe my ears!
Guest: How could a great musician such as her be bested by so trivial a request.
Guest: I must ask her. I need to know why she skipped my request.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Easy there, signore.
The crew members instinctively reach out in perfect sync, one to the left and one to the right, grasping at the guest as he rises from his seat.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Signorina Barcarola didn't throw away your request. She merely tucked it away.
Cruise Ticket Seller: You've already seen several performances. You must realize that this doesn't mean that she won't play it.
Crew Member II: Congratulations, signore. I believe this may mean you are in for a special delight!
Anytime our Barcarola breaks from the norm, it can only be a sign of some particular stroke of genius.
Their reassuring words have a silver-tongued sheen to them, coaxing the man's frustrations away.
Guest: ... Fine.
But, before the man can retake his throne, he turns to see a child has usurped him. The dethroned king leans against the wall, sulking.
And his two courtiers follow closely in his wake.
Cruise Ticket Seller: We've been working alongside Signorina Barcarola for a while now. We're very familiar with her methods.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Please, signore, wait. A little patience, and I assure you: you will have your satisfaction.
Crew Member II: In her two years performing for the "Free Breeze," we've never received a single complaint or negative review!
Light footsteps approach, and a voice joins the conversation at just the right moment.
Cruise Ship Musician: Has she really been aboard the ship for that long now?
Cruise Ticket Seller: It doesn't seem so long ago, does it? When she first came aboard, she had only wanted to observe and help out with the maintenance while we were at port.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Whenever we returned, and we returned frequently. She was always there waiting for us, until she joined us officially.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Everyone has chipped in at some point to help her scrape together some musical gear, cassette tapes, or various little gadgets.
The rising sound of music begins to overtake their conversation in the corner of the hall.
The ticket seller acknowledges the new participant in their conversation.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Oh, you received a gift from her too, didn't you?
Cruise Ticket Seller: I imagine that cassette is still tucked under your pillow.
Cruise Ship Musician: Oh, yes.
Cruise Ship Musician: A record of a treasured memory.
Guest: Please, if I might ask—why did she decide to join the "Free Breeze"?
Guest: I mean no disrespect. Only that, with her rare talent, it seems almost a waste that she be confined to just a single ship.
Cruise Ticket Seller: Perhaps the only reason is that we were the first to invite her.
