Broadway Baby Read online

  ‘I know that,’ I lied, sweeping imaginary dust off the sleeve of my top. ‘I’m just being proactive. That way I can really express the character of Jane while I’m singing her song.’

  ‘Oh, absolutely,’ said Cadence, who got up as soon as I sat next to her on the couch. ‘Excuse me, it’s almost my turn. I’m just going to do some warming up.’

  ‘I did it at home,’ I lied again.

  ‘Oh, whoops,’ she said, turning back to pick up a bottle from the couch. ‘Pineapple juice. It helps smooth out your throat.’ She took a delicate sip, and then started to walk back and forth across the room, sirening.

  As I’ve recently found out from my singing classes, sirening is where you try to make a sound in your throat that goes up and down, kind of like an actual siren. Then she sang phrases like ‘red leather, yellow leather’, and ‘one, one two one, one two three two one’, switching her register.

  For such an annoying know-it-all, she sure had a pretty voice. It was sweet and clear. My voice was powerful, but it was much deeper than Cadence’s. I bet when Cadence was a baby she didn’t even have a first word, she just had a first note.

  I knew I should get up and warm-up too, but I felt self-conscious. Instead I brought out the script I had to read Jane’s part from and studied it without much going into my head at all.

  The door to the next room opened and a boy came out, very red in the face.

  ‘Hey there,’ said Cadence, as he went down the stairs. ‘How did you go?’

  ‘They make you do a British accent,’ the boy groaned. ‘Mine was so bad!’

  ‘Oh well,’ said Cadence cheerily. ‘It’s not over till it’s over.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said the boy, putting his cap back on his head. ‘Thanks. See ya.’

  Cadence waved daintily at him while I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I took a nervous sip of my water. Straight away I needed to pee.

  The door to the auditorium opened again and the stage manager poked her head out. ‘Cadence Kohdean?’ she asked.

  ‘Right here,’ trilled Cadence. ‘Hello!’

  ‘You’re next, sweetheart.’ The stage manager beamed at her.

  ‘Perfect.’ Cadence beamed back.

  ‘Perfect,’ I grumbled to myself, and then switched to a smile as Cadence turned to me.

  ‘Well, this is it!’ she said. ‘Good luck, Ellie! Hopefully I’ll see you at rehearsals.’

  ‘Hopefully,’ I said back, wanting to tip the pineapple juice all over her dress.

  But there was only one way I would ever want to see her at rehearsals. And that’s if I was playing Jane.

  Chapter Nine

  After Cadence had skipped into the room like nervousness was allergic to her, I got up off the couch. The air smelled like her cherry blossom perfume. I took out my strawberry vanilla body spray (my signature scent) and used it to remove all traces of her.

  I walked around the foyer, humming to myself.

  I went to the toilet, where I found out I didn’t need to pee after all.

  When I came back I could hear Cadence singing. She could have made the rotten fruit in the bottom of our fridge turn ripe again. Her voice must have been made out of sugar and candied flowers.

  Perfect Cadence Kohdean. My biggest rival for Jane. And the worst thing was she was much harder to hate than, say, Jasmine. Cadence was never outwardly snotty to me; she was always nice and happy and super talented.

  I kept doing my slow hums and sipping my water, but really I was listening to Cadence sing and then read off the script in a British accent so perfect it was like she’d been born there.

  I almost freaked myself out but then I remembered Paige’s voice saying, ‘She’s good but you’re good too, Ellie. In a different way. It just comes down to who’s the best fit for the role. Don’t be so hard on yourself. This is your first musical theatre audition. Just to get in the chorus is great.’

  So I took a big breath, straightened my tights and told myself that even if I didn’t feel confident I had to act like I was, because my first rule of showbiz was to fake it till you make it.

  So I beamed as brightly at Cadence as she did at me when she came out of her audition, and when I walked into the room for my turn, I covered the beating of my heart with a big smile.

  ‘Hello again,’ said the director. ‘Welcome. Ellie, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ I said, imagining Cadence. ‘Pleased to meet you.’

  Billie and Periwinkle were seated on one side of the director, while the musical director, Stella, and someone else I didn’t know, were on his other. They all stared at me, pinning me like a bug in the too-bright room. I focused on Billie and her encouraging smile. I knew she wanted me to do well and it gave me confidence.

  ‘We were very impressed with your dancing yesterday,’ said the director.

  ‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘I love dancing. It’s my favourite thing in the world.’

  ‘Lovely.’ The director joined his hands together. ‘Let’s have a listen to your singing then, shall we? What will you be performing for us today?’

  ‘“The Perfect Nanny,”’ I pronounced clearly, and went over and gave my sheet music to the old man at the piano. He gave me a friendly nod that also made my heart settle a bit.

  ‘Well,’ said the director, ‘show us your stuff.’

  Oh, I’ll show you.

  And I opened my mouth and began to sing.

  ‘So,’ I whispered to Riley, as I arched over my crossed knees, ‘I started off on the wrong note, and then I forgot one of the words so my timing was off. It was pretty awful, but I quickly recovered and absolutely belted out the rest. I even reached the high note I’ve been having trouble with.’

  ‘Yay, Ellie!’ said Paige on my other side, as we switched to our backs and prepared to do leg kicks. ‘I bet you impressed the director!’

  I tucked my left foot up so the sole was on the floor and began to kick up and down with my right.

  ‘Point, flex, lower down,’ Miss Caroline called out from the front of the class.

  ‘Well, they didn’t boo me out of the room,’ I said, ‘so I guess that’s a good start. Also, Billie gave me a sneaky high five as I left. That’s gotta mean she was happy with me, right?’

  ‘What?’ hissed Ashley, on the other side of Riley. ‘What did you say? That Billie got eaten alive?’

  Riley snorted down her laughter. ‘Get your ears cleaned out, Ash,’ she said, affectionately.

  ‘But I’m all the way over here!’ Ashley whispered. ‘I need a telephone just to speak to you.’

  ‘Can you be quiet!’ Jasmine hissed, turning around to glare at us. ‘Some of us are trying to stretch.’ She rolled her eyes at Tove.

  ‘Oh, don’t worry, Jasmine,’ said Ashley. ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you stretch your face, it won’t improve.’

  ‘Sorry, I left my laughter at home,’ Jasmine threw over her shoulder.

  ‘Shhhh,’ said Riley. ‘Will you keep it down? I’m trying to stretch.’

  ‘Everyone, hush!’ Miss Caroline called. ‘I can hear whispering back there. Any more and I’ll make you do a double set of ab work.’

  ‘Good,’ joked Ashley. ‘I ate too much Chinese last night.’

  ‘Oh, food,’ I sighed, kicking a leg over my head. ‘I could really go some jelly snakes right about now.’

  ‘I have a fresh packet in my bag,’ Paige whispered. ‘I got the sour ones. You know, with the strawberry flavour.’

  ‘If I wanted sour snakes, I could just wipe them on Jasmine’s face,’ I said.

  ‘Ellie!’ scolded Paige, who doesn’t like being nasty to anyone.

  ‘It’s not mean if it’s the truth,’ I whispered back.

  I stopped talking then, because we had to do crunches and ab exercises. A lot of people don’t understand why we spend so much time on them in class, but when it comes to dancing you have to use your whole body. So the stronger and more stable your core, the more balance and strength you’ll have.

/>   I tried to focus all the way through jazz class, but I was worried about the audition. What if I hadn’t done enough to get in? What if I didn’t even get into the chorus?

  I didn’t know how I would be able to bear the wait until I found out.

  Chapter Ten

  At the end of class, and after many snakes had been devoured, I slung my dance bag over my shoulder and trudged down the steps of Silver Shoes to go home.

  ‘Ellie!’ my little brother, Lucas, squealed. He scrambled off from where he was playing on the monkey bars and flung himself towards me, giggling. ‘A somersault, Ellie,’ he squealed. ‘I did a somersault from the monkeys!’

  ‘That’s so brave!’ I said, picking him up and giving him a cuddle. It instantly made me feel better, like it always does. ‘Did you get dizzy?’ I asked him.

  ‘Not me!’ he said, and then he caught sight of Paige and wriggled out of my arms.

  ‘Paige, Paige!’ he yelled. ‘I did a somersault from the monkeys!’

  While Paige fussed over him (she doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, so I think she really loves spending time with Lucas), I dumped all my stuff in the car, which Mum had parked out the front.

  ‘Hey honey,’ she said.

  ‘Hey.’ I took a big swig from my water bottle.

  ‘Guess who I got a call from today,’ Mum said.

  ‘Um, Nan?’ I said, swallowing my water and taking another big gulp.

  ‘Hmm,’ said Mum. ‘Do you happen to know a director of the musical Mary Poppins?’

  I stopped drinking and stared at Mum, water dribbling down the sides of my mouth.

  ‘That’s one of your best looks, sweetie,’ Mum teased.

  I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. ‘And?’ I asked, almost too scared to hear the answer. My stomach cramped up and my skin got all hot.

  ‘And,’ Mum said, with a sneaky smile, ‘she might have said something about welcoming you to the main dance chorus of Mary Poppins!’

  I stared at her.

  ‘Congratulations, honey!’ she said.

  ‘The chorus?’ I repeated. ‘She didn’t say anything about Jane?’

  ‘No,’ said Mum. ‘But you got in, Ellie! On your first try. You should be proud!’

  ‘Who got Jane then?’ I asked. ‘Did she say?’

  Mum frowned at me and put one hand on her hip. ‘We had a good chat, actually,’ she said, watching me very carefully. ‘Turns out I know the director from the gym. She was telling me all about the sho–’

  ‘Mum,’ I interrupted. ‘Did she say who got Jane?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Mum.

  ‘And?’

  ‘Cadence Kohdean.’

  I felt my musical theatre career crashing down around me. All my nightmares had come true. Paige chose that moment to walk up with Lucas hanging off her hand.

  ‘Hi Mrs Irvin,’ she said. ‘How are you doing?’

  ‘I’m doing very well,’ said Mum. ‘As should Ellie, here. She got into the chorus of Mary Poppins!’

  ‘Oh, Ellie!’ Paige said, rushing to give me a hug. ‘That’s so amazing. Well done! You’ll get to do so much cool dancing in the chorus!’

  ‘Don’t, Paige.’ I pushed her away. ‘What would you know about it?’

  ‘Ellie,’ warned Mum.

  Lucas took a tiny step away from all of us.

  I sighed. ‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I just really wanted to get Jane.’

  ‘That’s okay,’ said Paige, very quietly.

  ‘It isn’t,’ said Mum, turning to me. ‘It was very rude.’

  ‘I said I was sorry!’ I yelled.

  Mum gave me a look that said I should get in the car quick-smart or there would be trouble.

  ‘Sorry again,’ I said to Paige. ‘See you tomorrow at school.’

  She gave me a small wave. I felt bad about snapping at her.

  But I felt even worse that Cadence had beaten me.

  Chapter Eleven

  It took me a few days to get over that I’d lost out to Cadence, but by the time our first rehearsal for Mary Poppins rolled around I was feeling a little more excited.

  Rehearsals for the show were held on Tuesday nights and Sunday during the day. That was as well as having jazz on Wednesdays, technique class on Thursdays, and lyrical on Saturday mornings.

  ‘I’m not made of petrol,’ Mum grumbled, as she drove me to Silver Shoes.

  ‘When I’m rich and famous, Mum,’ I told her, ‘and the biggest star on Broadway, I’ll have a personal assistant to drive me everywhere – and probably you, too.’

  ‘Right,’ said Mum. ‘Because it’s so hard right now to walk the five minutes to work.’

  But I saw that she was smothering a smile and really quite liked the idea of having a world-famous daughter.

  On Tuesdays we worked on songs while Sundays were dedicated to dance and acting. I quickly got used to seeing people carrying around pineapple juice, but when I got Mum to buy me some, it made my throat feel all warm and thick. I kept drinking it, though. I wanted to fit in.

  Speaking of fitting in, I was finding it a bit hard.

  At Silver Shoes I was used to walking in and having everyone not only being the same age as me, but knowing who I was. Sometimes they even looked up to me, like if they didn’t know a step and wanted me to show them.

  But with Mary Poppins I felt like no one cared about me at all, and I had nothing in common with them. Plus, they all liked to quote songs from musicals and had weird musical theatre in-jokes that I didn’t understand. So I felt a bit left out.

  It was very, very different from Silver Shoes.

  But when Mum dropped me off, once again I told myself to just go for it. And so I walked into the studio with my performance face firmly in place.

  The first song we had to learn was called ‘Step in Time’.

  ‘Okay!’ said Stella, the musical director, clapping her hands to get our attention (that’s because everyone was talking, except for me, sitting in the corner like Nelly No-Friends).

  ‘This is our big showstopper for Act Two! We’ll have some tap with our main dance troupe, some jazz from everyone else, and we’ll have the leads on as well. So we need big voices and even bigger energy. Cadence, would you like to hand these out, and can I have all the children on this side of the room and the adults on the other.’

  Cadence skipped around giving everyone the sheet music.

  ‘Here you go, Ellie.’ She smiled as I took the stapled sheets from her dainty little hands.

  As soon as I looked at the notes in front of me my head exploded. I’d only just begun my singing lessons, so I was used to simple sheet music with minimal notes.

  But this sheet had four different lines of music just for one lyric, with everyone’s different parts, and so many squiggles that I could barely tell what was a minim and what was a semibreve.

  Cadence must have seen my face because she stopped in front of me and laid her hand on my arm. ‘Don’t worry, Ellie,’ she said. ‘It will all make sense soon enough.’

  I quickly plastered on my best Silver Shoes showgirl face. ‘Oh, it makes sense right now,’ I said, channelling Paige and her sweet tones. ‘I’m just worried about some of these high notes. They’ll be hard for other people to hit. Not me, because I’m a mezzo-soprano.’

  I was hoping with all my might that I’d used the term ‘mezzo-soprano’ right. I wasn’t really one of those – in fact, I didn’t really know what I was. I just remembered the term from a sheet on vocal ranges that Billie had given me when I first started my singing lessons.

  But I must have used it right because Cadence’s whole face shone. ‘Me too!’ she said. ‘Singing sisters!’ She opened her mouth and out came the most ridiculous high-pitched sound that was so angelic it made my voice sound like a gargoyle’s.

  Lucky I was saved from having to show off my own range, because Stella got the pianist to start. I shook out my pages and pretended that I was still at Silver Shoes and knew exactly what I was doing.
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br />   Good thing I was a terrific actress. I hadn’t gotten into Mary Poppins for nothing!

  I would fake it and keep my eyes and ears open, and learn. We’d see who would be breaking the windows with their mezzo-soprano then.

  Chapter Twelve

  I sat in the corner of the rehearsal space feeling very un-Ellie like.

  All around me people were sitting in groups, chatting and sharing the lunches they’d packed for rehearsal break.

  And here I was, eating my lunch all alone, after a morning of being told off because I kept missing the downbeats in my tapping, and getting so flustered over trying to get it right that I felt my head was about to fall off.

  I was meant to be making an impression! This was my big break, my first musical theatre experience! In my dreams I’d always wowed people with my talent, this girl who’d come out of nowhere and won everyone’s hearts.

  But some of the cast didn’t even know me. Today, one of the adults had asked me to move up and said, ‘Sorry, what’s your name again, sweetie?’

  What? Everyone knows my name is Eleanor Irvin. Even the juniors at Silver Shoes, even their parents! I have a whole shelf full of trophies and medals from talent shows, competitions, exams and eisteddfods. And this adult was asking me to move up?

  I shuffled over on the bench to where a group of kids were sitting on the floor, eating cake one of them had brought in.

  I wrinkled my nose. Coconut. Me and the Silver Shoes girls always had caramel and Jamaican apple – Riley’s mum made the best cake you’ve ever tasted.

  ‘Remember when we were at music camp,’ one of them was saying. The others nodded so I nodded too, although I’d never been to a music camp in all my life. ‘And we did that tribute to Little Shop of Horrors but Macey’s flower mask was so big and she couldn’t see where she was going?’