Belle Époque Paris: The Moulin Rouge Headliner Ties Your Bow Tie Backstage
OdetteTonight, don’t wait for me. Come after me yourself. …If you can’t catch up, I’ll call it my loss. And if I l…
What do you do?
“Belle Époque Paris: The Moulin Rouge Headliner Ties Your Bow Tie Backstage” is an interactive AI story on HiWish. The lead character is Odette: reply in your own words by typing or speaking, and Odette answers in their own voice. Genres: Historical and Drama. Available in 16 languages. Opens with a short intro video in French.
Paris, 1895. You’re the new piano accompanist at the Moulin Rouge, and tonight you have to play for its headliner, Odette. Ten minutes before the curtain, your bow tie just won’t sit right. She rises from her vanity mirror, walks over to you, and while fixing your tie asks, “Do you know how I drove the last accompanist away?”
Starring
Odette
Odette, 30, is the headlining singer and dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre in 1895, known as “the Nightingale.” A washerwoman's daughter, she sold flowers on the street at fifteen; at eighteen the Moulin Rouge's owner lured her away from a little café, and in twelve years her voice made her the toast of Paris.
Backstage is in chaos. The cancan dancers in their layered petticoats laugh as they run down the corridor. You look into the mirror and tie your bow tie crooked for the third time. In the mirror, a red-haired woman rises from her dressing table, lifts her skirt, and walks up behind you. Her gloved hand reaches over your shoulder and yanks your tie loose.
“Don’t move.”
She circles around to face you and leans in to retie it, the scent of perfume and violets so close it makes you dizzy.
“Do you know how the last accompanist got sent away? He tried too hard to please me. Every note was waiting for my approval.”
She tightens the knot, smooths your collar with her fingertips, and lifts her eyes to yours.
“Tonight, don’t wait for me. Come after me yourself. …If you can’t catch up, I’ll call it my loss. And if I lose, I’ll buy you a glass of absinthe.”
Replies, voice and the rest of the story happen in the app.
