Wish: A Hamilton Fanfiction

Chapter 16: Magic

"No, ensemble, you have to be moving out wider. Do it again."

"Carson, your entrance timing isn't right. Do it again."

"Mariah you need to be singing louder, we can't really hear you over the ensemble. Do it another time."

That was all we ever heard these days. Some kind of correction, do it again. I was so tired of having to repeat the same damn things over and over again; everyone was. I could tell everyone's morale was slowly starting to drop. If I certainly hadn't expected it to be exactly like this, most people probably hadn't either. 

Noelle was perfectly in her element under all the pressure. She and Charlie were constantly practicing all parts of the show. Claire was really good at dancing; I was grateful she was trying to help me figure out how to do choreography but why did it have to be so hard. 

Lin gathered us all in a big circle, looking at each of us. "Why isn't this working? Any ideas?"

Claire opened her mouth to say something before shrinking back a little. I nudged her and she  must have decided to speak up. "Maybe it's because the stage is so big? We weren't working on this scale before and we didn't get told how to make our movements bigger..." she suggested.

"And the whole dynamic in here is different," Noelle added, glancing up. "Different wings and stuff. It's harder when it's a new environment."

"I mean, for me it's just that I haven't been in a large theater like this. I'm used to different layouts, I think?" Charlie added their input as well.

I knew I had to say something.

"Honestly I think it's just that we need more guidance on what to do. I feel like some of the heads are forgetting that we aren't a professional Broadway cast, and many of us haven't ever acted in anything besides a school play. I don't know about everyone else but this is my first time even getting close to a big theater like this. Have I watched a Broadway show? No, not yet. So I didn't know it would be like this. And a lot of other people probably feel the same way."

The room was holding its breath, fully silent. I hoped I hadn't said something wrong. I couldn't keep track of the many, many times I was unable to find the right thing to say and completely ruined a conversation. How did people even want to be my friend?

That being said, I didn't have a lot of friends at home. I didn't like to be social very much, and anyway a lot of issues I had prevented people from enjoying my company. All I needed anyway was a couple close friends.

Angela Halket hadn't been my friend for long but she had become one of my favorite people. And she always knew what to do. She'd know what to do about Claire.

Mariah jabbing me in the ribs pulled me out of my head. "What?" I mouthed at her, not very happy. 

"Were you even listening?" she whispered back. "Everyone agrees with what you said and we're going to start getting more guidance. And I made the point that I feel like the cast members aren't helping as much as they should, and people thought that was smart too except that we're supposed to be learning this ourselves. I'm just not a good speaker like you are."

I just shook my head. Typical Mariah being dramatic.

"When are we getting costumes?" someone asked. All of sudden the group was buzzing. I had to yell over the chatter.

"As soon as people are done altering them, probably the beginning of next week. It'll be a little tight but if we want to have well made costumes that actually fit we're going to have to deal with only having a week to practice wearing them," I explained.

"Can I see them? I used to work with my mother sewing and I think she is coming to New York early. We might be able to help," Skylar shrugged.

Amelie stood up. "I picked up sewing while my injury was healing at the beginning too. I'm not the best but I'm good at doing simple things." 

After that a lot of people started offering help. Some had family who were good at sewing, some could sew themselves. A few even had made cosplay costumes before so they knew what was possibly being looked for. 

"I appreciate your enthusiasm but Paul and I and the rest of the assistants aren't looking for much help right now," one of the heads of costuming started. A couple actors wilted. "But, I will ask him and see if he wants a couple people to help us for a bit."

"You all need to be rehearsing everything. Opening night is in a little more than a week and we expect you to be ready by then," the stage manager added.

Taking the hint, we spread out around the theater to start working before we did group rehearsal. The OBC worked right along with us. 

"We're getting pretty good at doing this. We should put on our own performance," Daveed joked. 

"That's actually....not a bad idea," I said over my shoulder. "We should totally do a series of performances with you guys. I mean, you should do another set of performances."

"Isn't everyone kind of busy though?" Pippa asked.

"Most of us just finished filming stuff," Jazzy informed us. "Ant and I are done, at least."

Leslie stopped as he was walking by to add his ideas. It was a pretty great one. Of course they couldn't do it until our month of performances was over, but it would be nice. And kind of like a final farewell of their Hamilton days.

I snapped my fingers. "That's it!" The whole group turned to look at me. "Um, I was thinking about titles for your performance idea. We should call it...the One Last Time performances. Or...something like that." 

Apparently that wasn't a bad idea to the rest of  the room. All the cast members were talking over each other with ideas and I was glad I was able to contribute something. The rest of rehearsal passed quickly. Noelle was staying a little later so I called Angela on my walk to Noelle's house. This way I wasn't walking alone.

"Hey, Zoey! We've missed you at home," she said as soon as she picked up. I couldn't help but laugh. It was so nice to be back in the rhythm of talking to someone that I had known for a while. 

"Well...I called you for a reason," I said eventually. "There's this...girl. In the ensemble. And I think- I think I like her." Angela was silent for a moment before she started reassuring me everything would be fine, as she usually did. 

"I think you should go for it. Or have someone find out if she likes girls or something, but you should just do it if you see signs. Most of the time it'll work, more often than it won't. And you need to find someone, Zo. I think it'll really help you." 

I had no idea what to say to that. All she had done was confirm what I thought I should be doing. Claire Richardson made me feel like nobody else had before; it was like magic. And it somehow felt right. 

a/n

hi!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! (yes ik it was yesterday- let's pretend today's still valentine's day-)

i hope you guys had a fantastic valentine's day! i had a pretty great one and i made a present for my gf so i'm happy :)

another one of my random hamilton related ideas: the one last time performances! i tried to ask a question about this in a town hall but it didn't get answered :( 

i hope you're enjoying!

you're all amazing, have a great day/night, i will see you next week! x