Lights, Camera, Action!

Chapter 4

The morning of auditions,  I pulled into the parking space next to Ivy.

"Are you ready for this?" I teased as we stepped out of our cars.

"Absolutely!" She answered. "I'm singing 'Fifteen' by Taylor Swift. Is that too old? Too preteen? Too cliche?" 

I shook my head and smiled. "A throwback! You'll do great!"

We walked down the aisle in the auditorium and sat in the third row. Several actors and actresses were already filling up the seats and warming up their voices.  Ashley was finishing up her makeup in the corner. I looked at the clock: 5 minutes until it was 2:00. I moved my head in the other direction and saw Beth and Olivia both reading over their scripts for the final time near the stage. I started to look around the room, telling myself I wasn't looking for anyone specifically, but then stopped myself. I couldn't be interested. And besides, after that incident at the store, I would not want this person recognizing me. 

"Alright, take your seats please!" I heard Doug call out. He was standing over us on the stage. "We have a lot of auditions today, so I'd like to get through them as efficiently as possible." He waved me up, and I walked up the steps to join him at the piano. "Okay, when Abigail or I call your name, I'd like you to come up, give your sheet music to Hannah, and tell us what you will be performing. We'll give you the okay to start. Sing your audition piece, give your monologue, and afterwards match pitches and run scales with Hannah on the piano. Any questions?"

No one raised their hand. 

"Great. Jenna Abraham!"

I sat down at the piano as a nervous Jenna walked up the stairs. She handed me some sheet music for "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera, then sat on the stool in front of the microphone. 

 Jenna started the song nervously, picking up more confidence after the first few lines. By the end of the song, I thought she did very well. I'd only known her for a year, but I could tell that she had limitless talent. We all applauded, and Jenna began her long -- and tedious -- monologue. After that I gave her some pitches and scales on the piano for her to match.

Click!

My eyes shot up towards the sound. Right in the first row, Carter was kneeling down and taking pictures of Jenna as she finished her pitches. I felt my heart rate pick up a little, but tried to ignore it. 

"Olivia Bennett!" 

Olivia hiked up the stairs with confidence. After giving me the sheet music to "Fifteen," she smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

I smiled back and nodded, silently wishing her good luck. She began the song, and smiled as I heard Olivia sing -- Amazingly. She excelled in dancing, but her singing was also impressive.

The auditions went on and on, and even though they were taking forever, I couldn't complain. I loved hearing my friends sing some of their best songs and showing off their talent.

I internally rolled my eyes as Ashley McFarland strutted her way across the stage to the microphone, slapping down the sheet music on top of the piano. I leaned forward to take it and caught a glimpse of her sheet music: "Let it Go."

I curled my hands over the keys and accompanied her singing. It was a good performance, yes. I just wouldn't mind seeing another one of our cast members give the lead a go.

After Ashley was finished, everyone politely applauded. I looked down towards my friends, who were just barely clapping. I gave them a smile. Most people at the theatre worshipped Ashley, but my friends and I saw right through her act. She just liked the attention, and that was all. Underneath her designer clothing and expensive makeup was just a spoiled rich girl who was never told no. And she got everything she wanted. 

After auditions, Abigail approached me as I got off the bench of the piano. "So Hannah, who did you think was the best for our leads?" She asked me. "Doug and I already think we know who we want as Ariel and Sebastian, but we wanted your input too." 

I already knew who she was talking about for Ariel. Ashley. 

"Well honestly, I think Beth was the best female performer tonight." I told her. "And Louis was the best male performer." 

Abigail raised her eyebrows. "Really? Interesting choices" She said, smiling. "Anyways," she started, handing me a large portfolio, "here's this production's sheet music if you'd like to start practicing." 

I briefly looked at the portfolio and set it on the piano. "Perfect, I'll get started now."

"Today?" She asked, surprised.

"Of course!" I said. "I'll stay and practice when everyone's cleared out." I told her. 

"Awesome!" 

I smiled, then sat back down at the piano. I pulled the papers out of the folder and set them out on the stand, organizing the papers in the order they would be played. I started a few bits to find out how to position my hands, ready to play now that most people had left. 

"Smile," 

I looked up from the piano to see Carter standing next to me holding up the camera. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to get out of it now, I smiled softly as he took a picture. Click!

"I thought you were only going to be taking pictures of the auditions," I said, confused. 

He smiled. "Not just the auditions. You're an important part of the production too," he said, taking another shot at a different angle. Click! I felt my face heat up a little, but ignored it and just smiled.

"Thanks, I'll be here all summer," I said jokingly.

"Well, Hannah," Carter said, leaning over the piano, "I'm really looking forward to working with you all summer."

~~~

After everyone was gone -- and I even looked in the parking lot to see if all the cars were out of here -- I sat down at the piano once more and spread out the sheets. "Part of Your World" looked easy enough. A nice, slower tempo to start out with.

The intro seemed a bit challenging, but after a few runs, I thought I had it down. "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?" I mumbled along to my music. That wasn't so bad. I continued the verse and raised my voice with more confidence as the song progressed. It was... fun. I could see why my friends came back every year.

After the last note, I heard clapping behind me, and I don't think I've ever spun around faster in my life. Abigail was sitting down in the front row, staring up at me with a huge grin on her face.

"W-what are you doing here?" I asked. 

"Oh, Doug and I have to stay late tonight to go through our notes on the auditions, but he left to go pick up some takeout for us to eat."

"Oh."

"You have a wonderful voice, my dear," Abigail said softly, her fine age lines showing as she smiled. "Why haven't I heard it before?"

"I-I" I stuttered. "I don't know" I finished, picking up my sheet music and shoving it into the folder. "See you on Monday."

I rushed down the stairs, grabbed my purse, and left to go outside before she could stop me or say anything else. 

I got in my car and put the keys in the car, shaking. Without a second look back, I went home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2/17/17

Thanks for reading!