It was 60 minutes until the show began, until the curtain lifted and everyone got to see the beauty that was created from a wild tragedy. Costumes were on, shoes were being tied and broken in, touch ups over and over from person to person, helping each other to do eyeliner and pin hair back. Dancers doing group stretches and reviewing steps and formations. Choir singers long done warming up, drinking tea and using cough drops to keep their throats in condition. Actors practicing for the thousandth time, every scene being marked through for perfection.
They all felt that as bad as a show they've been saying it was, it was no excuse to not try their best.
45 till, and stage crew was in over their heads with set up. Everything that was set had been moved due to last minute changes and searching for missing items (why people thought they'd be behind set pieces or whatever else is beyond the crew,) and if they weren't annoyed before, they were now. Things were being cooled down as they moved things back and lamented to each other out of view of the director and other staff. Day in the life of tech crew, they thought.
Half an hour left, and there were stragglers still running around, stressing others out. This group was good enough to help those struggling when it came up, looking for missing costume pieces and redoing fallen hairstyles. Everything was smoothing out well, although the annoyance was high and could stay that way for a bit. It was not enough to kill the show, of course.
Just 15 minutes remaining, and the stress had piled on for some. There were people now on the stage just hanging around. Shows can be like this, once you get things ready, they're ready, and when you're in a rush to do so because of stress, you're suddenly left with free time to waste.
Someone backstage called 5, and the first few on stage rushed to places while others retreated to dressing rooms and backstage wings. The talking slowed to a whisper or complete silence and the lights dimmed with the sound. Soon the curtains could be heard pulling open
It was showtime.
The show opened with narration in the form of a song. Beautiful strings echoed in the hall with a just as beautiful voice accompanying them, setting the tone, the mood, the story, setting a fantasy world you could get lost in. Those in the audience were doing just that, as well as those in the wings, and they had the time while not performing to realize what this piece was.
Those who knew the composer of course, because those in seventeen realized this was Jihoon's piece. Some because they'd heard snippets (Vernon, Seungcheol, Chan, Jun, Minghao) some because they were Jihoon did music and this could be his (Wonwoo, Mingyu, Seungkwan) and others because the voice singing the narration was Jihoon and they could tell because they knew him so well (Jeonghan, Joshua, Soonyoung.)
Seokmin had the insider scoop and had witnessed Jihoon backstage with the microphone many a time, and had known about this part for a bit (he was on stage for this, no avoiding it,) therefore knowing it was his piece. That didn't make him any less impressed with the work, everyone being in awe about Jihoon's production skill, and more of his vocal skill, and most about him technically being in the show.
Awe worthy, this boy.
The show went on, lines done to perfection (as weird as they were,) dances done to music of different style and a story being told and immersing audience members (again, as weird as it was,) and soon they hit intermission. This is when Seungkwan's thoughts finally got the best of him. He had been thinking about what he heard Vernon say the whole show so far. He wanted to go talk to him, even though he had no clue how he'd bring it up without seeming like a creep or stalker or something else.
It would also be hard because at this school performance, cast was told to stay out of the audience until the very end, so he couldn't go see Vernon. Possibly better in this case? He wasn't sure, but his curiosity was killing him and he still had his phone, so here he was. Texting his questions like an idiot. Mostly some vague statements on relationships and 'Are you into anybody?' and other random drama to fill the in between while he let the suspiciousness of it all die down. He felt like it was working but he couldn't know for sure. He was mostly trying to play his 'I just want info' persona here. The easiest and least suspicious course of action until intermission ended.
Soon, they were back, those in the audience came back to their seats from talking with others there about opinions, and the cast went through the whole 'set up, lose stuff, practice until you burn up' pre-show process again but sped up. A stressful practice once again but that was performance life. It was time for the big finale, which wasn't actually the official end, but what they thought of to be the big moment because Chan was finally going on for his solo, the one he became replacement for only a few hours back.
Soonyoung was watching backstage as Chan took the spotlight, and he was already feeling good about this. Chan would be fine, great in fact. He held full trust in the boy's abilities and frankly, his cheerleader spirit was fired up and ready to go. He'd be screaming if he was allowed to be making noise.
Chan was doing amazingly, isolating his body in all the right ways to the tune, like it was hypnotizing. He was focused so well, but still had perfect presence and emotion for the character. He looked somewhat straight-faced as he remembered and executed every step, but anyone could see he was still having fun. He got the solo he wanted in a way and would do his best and refused to let the opportunity slip away without his best effort and work.
After his solo ended, clapping was heard instantly. The audience in awe once again, and even those backstage were clapping. It was better than anyone imagined, including Chan himself. He could feel it, he was good.
He was proud.
The show went on, conclusions and twists flowing along as the music brought everything together. The weirdness of the show was becoming a bit quirky and they were finding fun in the real performance. They wouldn't be too sad when it came to a close but they found fun in the moment and it wasn't so bad anymore. They'd still make fun of it for years to come and cry if they were ever made to do this (same show or same structure for a new show) again, but this was suddenly the slightest bit worth it. As the curtain closes, applause was heard again and the curtain call brought smiles to the cast, because they found fun in it after all.
Still SUCH a weird show. Glad it was over.
//17.54//
A short chapter and my excuse is woah lots of words, woah its really late and i gotta upload, and also I tried a stylistic approach to this and though I couldn't tell you what it is exactly it felt cool so there sorry this note and possibly this chapter is very incoherent its been a long day lol
Wow im tired, and have nothing else to say
-zi, who frankly doesn't miss the performance life that much because all the stress related running around i mention here is very real and happened to her all the time
YOU ARE READING
➴ 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮 ღ 𝑺𝑽𝑻 𝑬𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆
Fanfiction[Writing Style: Groupchat AU ft. Written Chapters] ⤷ Ongoing ❞ skyhoon: its official, i hate you all shua_dubiduba: understandable staryoung: no? it's not?? ❞ They have some weird ways of loving each other, the relationships are romantic but a str...
