Watch What Happens - Jeremy Jordan

the first rehearsal

Jan 22

Brielle Stoll groaned as her alarm went off. It was only 6 in the morning, why had she set it so early? Oh, right. Today was her first official rehearsal for Newsies. It was sure to be a lot of fun. She had started auditioning for the role almost a year ago now and for the past 6 months, she had been working with the creative team at Newsies to perfect her character. Brielle started rehearsing at the same time as the rest of the Newsies cast, but she had been rehearsing separately because they were still working on Kat. Kat was the new female lead of the show. She was Pulitzer's niece but was a newsie alongside Jack and the rest of the crew.

Brielle sleepily rubbed her eyes and went to turn off her alarm. She then went to her closet to pick out an outfit for the day. She wanted to make a good first impression. Brielle chose to wear a black corset top and a pair of gray jean shorts with a belt. She also slipped on a pair of tall black booties. She was only 5'2" so she pretty much only wore heels.

After getting dressed, Brielle went into her bathroom to finish getting ready for her rehearsal. She combed out her hair and curled it into loose waves to give her more volume. When she was done with that she pulled her hair into a half-up ponytail and did some very light and simple makeup. Brielle brushed her teeth, grabbed her Louis Vuitton Montsouris backpack as well as her personal phone, and headed out the door. She slipped on her sunglasses and sent a quick text to her current foster parents of where she was going and when she would be back, but she had to hurry to get to rehearsal in Manhattan by 8, and she was sure to get stopped multiple times on her way.

Brielle put her AirPods in and made her way to the subway. She listened to the demos of her songs in Newsies since today was a full read-through. On the ride she got her work phone out and checked her email, answering anything urgent, and then moved on to her Instagram. She took a quick selfie and put it on her story, writing "exciting news being announced today!!"

When the ride was over, Brielle put her work phone away and shuffled her motivational playlist. According to Google Maps, Brielle would get to the studio 30 minutes early, so she figured she had enough time to stop at Starbucks first. She ordered a grande iced caramel macchiato with oat milk. Brielle kept walking, and finally, she was at the studio for her first-ever cast rehearsal for a Broadway show. She entered the building and made her way to the studio that they were going to rehearse in for now. Brielle took a deep breath and pushed open the door, feeling full of excitement.

"Name, please?" The woman at the sign-in table asked.

"Brielle Stoll. I play Kat," Brielle answered, trying to feel as confident as she sounded. She was about to rehearse with a bunch of Broadway stars, and it was only now hitting her.

"Oh, Brielle!" The woman exclaimed, looking up to make eye contact. "It's so nice to finally have you with the rest of the cast. You obviously don't need a new script, so just look for your name and sit in your chair. My name is Gina Davis."

"It's nice to meet you, Gina. And you can call me Bri."

Brielle looked around the room at all the chairs set up. Most of them were full. One of the few empty ones was in the very front row with the name Brielle Stoll on it. Brielle knew that there were very few girls in Newsies, but seeing the room full of mostly men in their late teens or twenties made it real. She took one more calming breath and sat down in the chair with her name on it.

"Oh my god is that the Montsouris backpack?" A young woman called out from the back of the chairs.

"Oh, um ya. I splurged on it when I turned 17," Brielle said, blushing. The young woman grinned and walked up to the front of the room to talk more to Brielle.

"I'm Laurie Veldheer, I play Hannah. You're Brielle Stoll, right? I'm kind of a fan. I love your album. You look so much younger in person," Laurie said when she reached Brielle.

"Hey. Ya, I'm Brielle, but you can call me Bri," Brielle laughed a little bit. "I'm not that young, but thank you I'm so glad you like it."

"Sorry I'm trying not to freak out. You're Brielle Stoll!"

"Wait, Brielle Stoll as in the Mad Hatter as in the girl Jeremy won't shu-" The new voice was cut off by someone kicking him. Brielle turned around.

"Yes, that Brielle Stoll," she said, laughing. "Who asked that?"

"I did. I'm Andrew Keenan-Bolger, I play Crutchie," a shorter blonde boy who was also in the front row said.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Andrew. And yes, I'm the Mad Hatter. Tonight's my last show."

"I know. A bunch of us are coming to see you."

"Really? That's awesome."

"I'm Ben Fankhauser," a guy sitting two chairs away from Brielle said, "I play Davey. Jeremy and I saw you just a few weeks ago. You were great. This is Jeremy, he pla-" Ben was cut off by Jeremy elbowing him.

"I can speak for myself, Ben," he said, glaring at his friend. "I'm Jeremy Jordan. You really were incredible. I'm excited to work with you."

"Thank you," Brielle said softly. "You can all call me Bri, by the way. And I think I might be more excited than you, Jeremy. I mean, you're a Broadway star."

The conversation was stopped by Jeff Calhoun walking into the room, and everyone quickly went back to their seats.

"Welcome everyone to a brand new Newsies!" He said, grinning widely. "I'm sure you are all just as excited as I am to finally have the full cast together. Let's give a warm welcome to Brielle Stoll, who will be playing Kat in the show." Jeff paused as the cast all clapped for Brielle. "I have been working with Bri for a few months now, and I am happy to say that her character is finally complete, and I couldn't ask for a better actress to portray her. Bri, would you like to introduce Kat to the rest of the cast?"

"Of course," Brielle said, standing up. "So Kat is Pulitzer's niece, but they don't get along at all. Her mother is Pulitzer's sister, but she died in childbirth. Kat's father was a reporter for Pulitzer, but the two never got along because Kat's father wasn't afraid to speak his mind. After her father wrote a particularly bad article against Pulitzer, Pulitzer found a way to get her father arrested. Kat's father was treated poorly while in jail, and so he ended up dying. Pulitzer left Kat to fend for herself, and so by the time she was 9 she was alone on the streets of New York. She then met Jack Kelly, and the two formed a fast friendship. Also, her given name is Katherine, but Jack started calling her Kat and the name stuck. She dresses as a boy to sell newspapers, but the other newsies know that she's a girl, and throughout the show, her identity is revealed to more people. By the end of the show, she simply sells newspapers as a girl. She also has dreams of being a reporter like her father and making a difference in the world. Any questions?" No one raised their hand, so Jeff started talking again.

"That was great, thank you Bri," he said. "Now would you like to tell everyone a little bit about yourself? Then we can jump straight into this read-through."

"Sure," Brielle replied, still standing up. "My name is Brielle Stoll as you all know, but you can call me Bri. Tonight is my last show as the Mad Hatter in the off-broadway production of Wonderland. Um, I'm currently in the foster-care system, but am working on becoming independent because I just turned 18 a couple of days ago. Oh, and I just released my first album on my birthday."

"Wonderful," Jeff said as Brielle sat down, "we're all very happy to have you here, Bri. Let's start with the read-through. Now I know some of this will be a cold read because we haven't rehearsed the version with Kat yet, but just do your best. And we will be singing. Warren, would you start us off, please?"