The Role of Her Lifetime Read online

  “Thanks, Mom. I’ll call you next week. I love you both.”

  “We love you, too, honey.”

  Marie set the phone on the table. Who should she call first: Chris or her voice teacher?

  “Shoot, if I call Chris first, we’ll be on the phone all night.”

  She reached into the drawer under the table where her phone resided, looked through the address book, and called her voice teacher.

  * * * *

  On Thursday morning, she talked to her boss at the travel agency and explained why she had to quit so suddenly. He’d wished her luck and said they’d miss her, but he hadn’t offered to hold her job for her.

  The next day and during the entire weekend, Marie wandered around her apartment and her neighborhood, not knowing what to do with herself. She’d checked her checking account balance Friday afternoon and was surprised by the total. The first month’s salary was already in her account.

  On Saturday, she treated herself to a good breakfast in a neighborhood deli.

  As she drained her coffee cup, she thought, I know I start work on Monday, but I’ve never been like this. Was this the right thing to do? I never questioned it. Why? What if I can’t do it? What if I fail? The score looks wonderful, but there is one place that’s really, really challenging. Can I actually do this?

  Oh, come on, Jacolby, cold feet? This is what you’ve studied your whole life for. This is your dream. Just buckle down and concentrate. You can do this. You know it. They know you can do it, or they wouldn’t have offered it to you. Just stop being a baby and go back home and look through the score. Go over to school and sit in a practice room and try some of the pieces, or at least get the motifs into your head. Get a start so you won’t appear green at the first read through. Be professional. You can do this if you really try.

  And so, she went home, grabbed the score, took the subway uptown, and spent the next four hours in a practice room at Julliard, working her way through it.

  Chapter 4

  On Monday morning at nine o’clock, Marie stepped into the room at the opera company’s facilities, where the first read-through would be. There must have been twenty or twenty-five people there of all sizes and shapes. She looked around the room. There were three people she knew quite well, a few she knew in passing, and several she’d never met. She waved at Andrew, a friend from Julliard, who waved back and gave her a big surprised smile but continued talking to another man. She also waved to Ashley, who landed the part of Lady Evangeline.

  “Marie!”

  When Marie turned to see who called her, Jackie hugged her.

  “I got a part! And so did you, or you wouldn’t be here today,” Jackie gushed.

  “What part did you get?”

  “I got the part!” Jackie announced. “I’ll be Ella! The real Cinder-ella.”

  “Great! Congrats!” Marie chuckled. “Do you know who got Prince Charming?”

  “I haven’t heard. Do you know?”

  Marie flashed a big smile. “I did.”

  Jackie’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  Marie nodded.

  Jackie threw her arms around Marie again. “That’s wonderful!”

  “I hope they know what they’re doing. This is my first real major role, never mind the lead! I mean, I’ve had big roles in school and community productions, but never one they paid me to do.” Marie shook her head in wonder. “It’s always easy doing a role someone else has done. You know what to do. But to create a role?”

  “Except for when I was in High School, I’ve only had those little three-line, twenty-word roles,” Jackie agreed. “Have you started going through the score?”

  “I read through most of it, but it was overwhelming.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  The Production Manager called everyone to attention, and they each found a seat around the room.

  “Cast! I think everyone’s here, so let’s get started. I’m Casey Staples. I’ll be your production manager for this show.” He turned to the man sitting to his right. “This is your director, Kent Williamson.” Kent was the man who had guided everyone through the auditions.

  Everyone applauded.

  Then Casey started again. “I’m going to announce the cast and then you can get to know each other. I know some of you have worked together before, but we have several new people. Understudies, introduce yourselves to your lead. Principles, please stand when I call your role.”

  He started with some of the more minor roles. He introduced the Mother, the Stepfather, two guards, and The King. Yes, the basso they’d seen at auditions would play the King. Everyone applauded.

  “The three friends of the young prince who get in trouble with him are Candace Meredith, Bill Fletcher, and Sandy Morrison.”

  They received applause, too.

  Yes, the other three who were in contention for the prince, thought Marie. That makes sense.

  “There are three roles who are introduced in Act One but play larger roles in Act Two. They’ve been friends all their lives to you should be able to play off each other. The main Lady, Lady Evangeline, is Ashley Sheppard. Lady Charlotte is Sandra Ravenwood, and Lady Clarisse is Sylvia Hampton

  There was another round of applause. Those were the other three who tested for Ella. The fourth, Janelle Taylor, must be understudy to Jackie.

  Jackie leaned over to Marie. “I’ve seen Ashley Sheppard on stage,” she said. “She’s good.”

  Marie nodded. “We were in a chorus together about six years ago before she got successful.” She didn’t mention that they’d dated.

  Then he announced the stepsisters, and everyone burst into laughter, amazed by the casting.

  “The two stepsisters will be Rodney Luchis and Andrew Freeburg.”

  Both men were over six foot four and tenors. They’d play their roles in drag.

  “Rodney will play Esmeralda, and Andrew will be Magdalena.”

  The entire cast was in hysterics. Rod and Andy stood and curtsied.

  Then he got to the leads.

  “We have two Prince Charmings. In Act One, the Prince is an obnoxious, spoiled brat of seventeen, but in Act Two, he becomes a serious, conniving young man of twenty-three. The First Act Prince Charming will be Marie Jacolby.”

  When Marie was introduced, there were shouts and applause.

  “Was that type casting?” someone asked.

  Marie looked around to see who’d said that. It was one of the stepsisters, probably Andrew. He smiled, and she winked back at him. Everyone laughed. Marie felt her face getting warm. She glanced over at Ashley, who gave her a big smile.

  “The Act Two Prince is William Simmons.”

  More applause. Bill stood up and looked around.

  “And, last, and by no means least, we have Ella: Jacqueline Allenson.”

  When Jackie was introduced, she stood and smiled at everyone. She got a tumultuous round of applause.

  When the clapping died down, he said, “so there’s your cast.”

  Again: applause.

  “We also have another dozen or so in the chorus, but we won’t bring them in for another week or two. There are stacks of schedules over there on the table. They’re all personalized, so make sure you get the right one. For the next three weeks, we’ll either be rehearsing here or in Walter’s studio for vocals. After that, we’ll move into the theater so you’ll be familiar with the space and scenery. The rehearsals here will start at nine A.M. and end around five or six. The ones at the theatre will start at three P.M. and run through the evening so the chorus members can be included.”

  Chorus members were paid a much lower fee, so most did not quit their day jobs until the show was running smoothly.

  “We’ve only got five weeks until the Previews. This has to be your main priority and focus.”

  There was mumbling all around the room when he mentioned they only had five weeks to get prepared.

  “Eunice will be measuring all of you for your costumes as soon as we b
reak. I’ve seen some of her designs, and I know you’re going to love them. All right, take an hour to get measured, talk to friends, meet new people, and go get refreshed or whatever. There’s coffee in the next room down the hall. We’ll start the read-through at 10:30 with your director. Kent?”

  “As Casey said, the read-through will start at ten-thirty. No music, just the words. I’ll let Walter start your musical interpretations tomorrow or sometime this week.”

  Walter Rogers was the chorus and solo director.

  “Thanks for being here today,” Kent told the cast. “Seeing you all in one place, together, helps me see how things are going to look. We have five weeks, so everyone’s got to work really hard.” The cast nodded and mumbled that they could do it. “The previews will run on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon. Then we’ll have until that next Thursday to clean up anything that didn’t fly. If we don’t need another week for corrections or rewrites, we open for sure a week from the next Friday. Then it’s seven performances a week. We’re closed on Monday and have two shows every Sunday.

  “Okay, take a break and get measured. We’ll start again in an hour.” He looked around as everyone nodded and started to stand up. “Prince Charmings, come see me for a moment,” Kent called.

  Everyone started talking to others they hadn’t seen in a while or introduced themselves to people they didn’t know.

  Marie and Bill went to talk to Kent. Two other actors came over, too.

  The first was Naomi Chappelle. “Congratulations,” she said to Marie, holding out her hand. “I knew you’d get it. You were so good at the call-back.”

  “So were you,” Marie replied, smiling at her. “I was sure you were going to get it.”

  Naomi laughed. “My money was on you,” she said with a warm grin. “I’m your understudy, though.”

  They were interrupted by another cast member.

  “Hi. Congratulations,” he said as he turned to Bill to shake hands. “I’m Joseph Foster. I’m the Second Act prince’s understudy.”

  They all acknowledged each other and turned to Kent.

  Kent shook hands with each of them. “I want you to observe each other through all this,” he told Marie and Bill. “There needs to be some movement or gesture that will show it’s the same person. We can get the similarity in the costuming and with the wigs, but there has to be something in the personality that holds over, too.”

  Marie and Bill nodded and looked at each other. They were almost the same body type. Bill was at least six inches taller.

  “Will the wigs be the same?” Bill asked.

  Kent nodded. “Yes, I believe so. But I’m more worried about the gestures. Is that something you can work with?”

  “Let’s give it some thought,” Marie said. “Sometimes just the way someone brushes a hand through his hair shows definition.”

  “It has to look natural on both of you,” Kent continued. “Perhaps you should discuss it with each other.”

  “All right.” Bill turned to Marie. “Do you want to go out for a drink after the rehearsal?”

  “It sounds good to me.”

  Bill looked at Naomi and Joey. “Do you two want to join us?”

  Joey shook his head. “No, you two figure it out. I’ll just do what you do.”

  Naomi agreed.

  “We’ll let Patricia make the final call about how you look. I’ll let you two decide on the gestures. Thanks for thinking about it. Now go get measured. Some of the costumes have to be made by Thursday. We have photo shoots Thursday afternoon. Check your schedules.”

  “Photo shoots already?” Bill asked.

  Kent nodded. “For publicity.” He got up and walked away.

  The four looked at each other.

  “I noticed the way you scratch the back of your neck when you’re thinking. I could try that,” Marie suggested.

  “Huh.” Bill grunted. “I hadn’t noticed I did that.”

  Marie laughed. “I’m sure we both have some ticks we never noticed.”

  “You do a lot with your shoulders,” Naomi told Marie. “You shrug a lot.”

  “Wow, I never noticed that either.”

  All four of them thought about it for a moment.

  “Have you read through the entire score?” Bill asked. “That trio we have with Ella at the finale seems really good.”

  “Yes, I looked at it. It’ll be fun as we swap off in Ella’s mind. A lot of it is a reprieve of the music Ella and I did in Act One. The whole thing looks like a really good score, and I think the casting is incredible,” Marie said. “I can’t wait to see what Rod and Andy do.”

  “Me, too.”

  Naomi and Joey agreed they, too, were excited about the stepsisters.

  Chapter 5

  The first number was mostly chorus. It took part in the town market. Everyone was shopping, carrying packages, or stopping to talk to friends. It was a gentle day, and everyone was happy.

  It would be the first time Marie appeared onstage. She wasn’t dressed as the prince, just as a teenaged boy. He went from girl to girl.

  From one, he stole a kiss on the lips. Another he patted on the butt. A third one, he patted on the shoulder, and then stepped away when she turned to look. He did that two or three times until she turned all the way around and caught him. She shoved him and walked away. He laughed quite happily. Then he saw another girl (Ella) carrying a basket of fruit. He stepped up and took one of her apples and held it away when she reached for it. He took a bite out of it.

  “Stop,” she sings at him.

  “Make me,” he replies and laughs hysterically.

  “Oh! Now it’s ruined. I won’t have enough.”

  “What were you going to do with it?”

  “Make a pie.”

  “You were going to cut it up anyway. No one will ever know there’s one bite missing.”

  “I’ll know.”

  “Then don’t tell anyone.”

  He tosses the apple back to her then dances away.

  A man says he saw the whole thing and pays for the apple. Ella doesn’t know it was one of the prince’s guards.

  Elle breaks into her first aria: “I have so little of anything, and now it’s falling apart. Can I glue it back together? Can I mend my mother’s broken heart?”

  She continues as she walks away. On the other side of the stage, the prince is sitting with his friends. They sit around an outdoor table of a tavern, enjoying drinks.

  “I have so much of everything. The world is built for me…” the Prince starts.

  The scene ends as he leads his friends out to do more mischief.

  Marie turned to Jackie, and they gave each other a high-five.

  “That is a fun scene,” Marie admitted. “I’m going to play it to the hilt.”

  * * * *

  They got through both acts without the music. The first read-through ended. Schedules of rehearsals with the Music Director were checked and double checked.

  “Good reading,” the director told them. “I feel this is going to be a good production.”

  The cast applauded themselves.

  “You all know where you have to be next, so go home and relax. Tomorrow we dig in.”

  The cast nodded and commented as they prepared to leave for the day.

  “Well, what do you think?” Jackie asked Marie.

  “This is going to be a fun show,” Marie answered. “I’m going to make my prince the worst spoiled brat around.”

  “You’ll have fun. I hope you’re not shy, though, because we have to kiss in this.” Jackie looked into Marie’s eyes. Marie couldn’t read the expression.

  “It shouldn’t be a problem,” Marie assured her.

  “That’s good,” Jackie responded. “We’re both good actors. I imagine you’ve kissed a lot of people on stage, and I have, too.”

  “Oh, sure,” Marie replied. “It’s a given in acting.” She couldn’t decipher what Jackie really wanted to say.

  Was Jackie h
appy they were kissing or not?

  “And that scene where the king tells the prince he’d better get married is just precious,” Marie stated to change the subject.

  “Yes,” Jackie responded. “I think that will be a highlight. There’s anger and angst and comedy, tears and laughter.”

  “I hope so,” Marie agreed.

  “I love it when he grabs you by the throat and tells you to straighten up.”

  They both laughed.

  “I also think Andy and Rod are going to steal the show.”

  Jackie laughed. “Yes. I never thought of the stepsisters in that light.”

  “I can’t remember any show that had three cross-dressers in major roles!”

  “I think the writing of this whole thing is fantastic.”

  Jackie picked up her bag and got ready to leave. “Are you off now?” she asked Marie.

  “No,” Marie said apologetically. “I have a meeting with Bill.”

  Jackie grinned at her. “All right, then. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Marie nodded as Jackie walked away. When she turned around, Ashley was walking toward her.

  “Hey, Marie,” Ashley said as she held her arms out for a hug.

  Marie hugged her back. “Hello! You’re doing well, aren’t you? Your part should be a lot of fun. You fit right in.”

  Ashley grinned. “I have to flirt with everyone in the cast.”

  “Typecasting?”

  They both laughed.

  “But look at you! Prince Charming!”

  “I don’t know how they chose me,” Marie said, shaking her head.

  “They chose you because you’re good! I told you that three or four years ago. I don’t know why you waited so long to try for a good part. You didn’t want to sing in the chorus all your life, did you?”

  Marie smiled and shook her head. “No, but this was quite a surprise.”

  “Every role is a surprise, hon,” Ashley told her. “And then you have to audition for the next one. That will be even more of a surprise.”

  “I guess we’ll see.”

  “I had a teacher who told me once that you can’t expect surprises to happen. When you do, you won’t be prepared when one doesn’t come.”