Watch What Happens - Jeremy Jordan

the read-through

Jan 22

As Warren, the accompanist, played through the overture, Jeremy snuck looks at Brielle, who was sitting right next to him. He had known that there was going to be a new love interest for Jack. What he hadn't known was that the actress was going to be Brielle Stoll. He and Ben had gone to see her in Wonderland, and he had been blown away. Her control and power and presence at just 17 were incredible. She was also absolutely breathtaking, and now looking at her sitting right next to him made Jeremy so nervous. The young 18-year-old was intently staring at her script; her striking blue eyes reading through to remind herself of what she needed to say. This reminded Jeremy that he hadn't seen this new version of the script yet, so he looked down to see if this first scene had any changes. The first stage direction caught him off guard. He was going to be starting the show essentially spooning with Kat. His heart beat a little faster and he blushed, glancing back at Brielle. He heard a laugh coming from next to him, and Jeremy turned to face Ben who had a smirk on his face. He had clearly read the first stage direction as well. Jeremy inwardly groaned, the boys were never going to let him live this down, not after he had gushed and gushed and gushed about Brielle's performance.

Jeremy turned his attention back to the script as the overture ended, and he started the first scene. This scene was all the same because Kat stayed asleep for it. The scene ended and Carrying the Banner started. A couple of the lyrics were given to Kat instead of their previous newsies, but other than that the song was the same. Jeremy kept looking at Brielle as they sang. She was clearly very talented.

Soon enough they reached Kat's first solo in the show. It was a scene with just her and Crutchie, where it's revealed that she spent her early years with a wealthy family after Crutchie hears her speak without an accent. She hadn't been faking her accent, but she had been over exaggerating it. Crutchie is tired and asks Kat to sing him a lullaby. Jeremy watched Brielle closely as she delivered the first lines with a far-off look on her face.

"A lullaby? A lullaby. I think so. Sometimes late at night, I seem to remember..."

The whole room was silent as Brielle sang out the song, the emotion on her face almost too real to be acting. She kept singing, her eyes full of tears.

"Long ago this song was sung to me. Now it's just a distant melody. Somewhere from the past, I used to know; once upon a time and long ago."

A few tears fell down her cheeks as she broke off at the end, barely getting the sound out. She continued her lines with Crutchie and Jeremy felt his heart break for her as she sang the last bit with such raw emotion. When she finished, everyone burst into applause, and more than a few people wiped their eyes, Jeremy included. Jeff stood up and motioned for everyone to quiet down.

"Before we continue with this scene, I'd like to give a little context for this song," he announced. "When I first started working with Bri we didn't really know what direction to take for this scene. We knew we wanted some sort of lullaby, but coming up with the right melody and lyrics just wasn't coming. Bri had told me she was currently working on getting her debut album ready to release, so I asked if she had any ideas. Bri said she would go home and think about it, and the next day she came to rehearsal and played the entire song for us. It was exactly what we were looking for, so thank you Bri."

"Thank you for hearing out my idea," Brielle said, laughing slightly and wiping her tears away. They continued with the scene and Jeremy blushed a little as he "flirted" with Kat.

After he said "why don't I tell you what I'm looking for tonight" he heard some laughs coming from throughout the room, and looked up to see a good amount of people smirking at him, Jeff included. Wait, Jeff? Oh, that's right. Jeff had been there when Jeremy was going on and on about Brielle the other day. And the whole time he knew that Brielle was cast as Jack's love interest. Jeremy rolled his eyes at Jeff and continued with the scene.