young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 2

Weeks later, they had wrapped up their run at the Public and moved everything out of the theatre and into the Richard Rodgers. All the ensemble girls shared a large dressing room. In the center was a long table covered with mirrors and swivel chairs for each ensemble member. Each had their own space. Kasey was the third closest to the door, beside Carleigh and Ariana.

The day of opening night was drawing closer. Kasey could feel the excitement building each day as the rehearsals turned into dress rehearsals and tech week began. It was surreal to stand on the stage of the Richard Rodgers and see the wide expanse of seats just waiting to be filled with audience members. For now, it was where the techies sat and make corrections to the intricate details of the show.

The entire cast was sitting on the stage with a projector to watch the recording of the show that Lin had filled. He, Alex Lacamoire, and the choreographer, Andy, were going to give notes for every scene.

"Megan, you didn't hit your mark at this point," Andy pointed out during 'Alexander Hamilton'. Megan rolled her eyes. "Kasey and Carleigh, great synchronization."

Kasey and Carleigh slapped each other a high five.

"Lights need to be a little bit quicker here."

"Please don't drop the guns!" Lin exclaimed when Andrew dropped his during 'Yorktown'. "Everyone is supposed to be motionless!"

It continued this way for a while. Most of the notes went to ensemble, but some were to Leslie, Christopher, Daveed, Oak, Lin, and Anthony. The Schuyler Sisters got a collective note on making themselves more bouncy and excited, and the ensemble had a group note of being a lot more dramatic.

Then, rehearsal was over and everyone headed home.

Kasey and Carleigh were sharing a loft. They'd just moved in together after they both realized they needed someone to share rent with. Kasey was thrilled. She loved living with Carleigh.

They took the metro home and climbed the four flights of stairs to their loft. Kasey plopped her bag by the door.

"Kasey..." Carleigh scolded. Kasey groaned and hung the bag up on the hooks by the door. There was a chalkboard above the hooks that had 'CARLEIGH' on one side and 'KASEY' on the other.

"You're such a mom, Carleigh," Kasey laughed. Carleigh grinned and hung her own bag on her hook.

"Someone needs to take care of you," she said.

"I'm not that much younger than you!"

"Four years younger than me. I was a senior when you were a freshman in college. I feel the need to be a big sister," Carleigh protested. "Should we order food or should we make it?"

"Let's make it," Kasey suggested. "We had pizza two nights ago."

Carleigh got out her recipe book and they elected to make mac & cheese.

Their loft was pretty big, and they had left a clear space in one corner of the room. They decided to put on 'Yorktown' and practice their choreography together.

"Can you believe that the opening is so soon?" Carleigh asked.

"No. I still can't believe that I'm going to be on Broadway," Kasey said, laughing. Carleigh playfully swatted her with one of the couch pillows.

"You need to start registering things, Kase," she reprimanded. "It's Broadway!"

"I know! I've been waiting my whole life for this!"

"We should get everyone opening night presents," Carleigh suggested.

"What do you want to get them?" Kasey asked.

"We could make something, or we could buy something. It doesn't matter to me," Carleigh said.

"You know that I'm really bad at arts and crafts so maybe it's best if we just buy things," Kasey said. She got her laptop from the shelf and sat down on the couch.

"We could get them all Hamilton themed things," Carleigh suggested, also looking at her laptop. "I don't know what everyone likes."

"Here's a website I found that you can customize the scent of candles. We could get everyone their own candle," Kasey suggested. "I like candles."

"That sounds interesting, but we can do it," Carleigh said. "You take the girls and I'll make the guys' candles."

They spent about three hours working on the candles. It was hard to come up with scents that they thought their cast members would enjoy, but they both knew their costars well enough. Kasey ultimately decided to get Carleigh a vanilla candle with mint green swirled into it, and she got Pippa a cinnamon roll candle with blue.

Kasey got a text from the Hamilton group chat.

Lin: Attention cast! Tomorrow will be our final rehearsal before opening night! Please come prepared to rehearse for the duration of the day. We will be staying at the theatre overnight to watch the show as well as have some cast bonding activities.

Kasey closed her laptop. "I'm going to get ready for bed," she announced. "You can stay up."

"No, I'll go to bed too. We have a lot of rehearsal tomorrow," Carleigh said. "Goodnight, Kasey."

"Goodnight, Carleigh," Kasey said.