a dream that you wish | kasey winslow |

Chapter 16

The next few tech days were intense. Rehearsals just got more rigorous and extensive as they drew closer to December 18. They had two days left, and Kasey could tell that everyone was feeling the pressure. 

On top of that, Gary was killing everyone's voices. The constant singing, shouting at people to get out of the way backstage, and laughing with the cast was definitely wearing down on everyone's voices. 

So there was a little less chatter and jokes than the beginning of the week. Kasey,along with everyone else, wanted to make sure she didn't loose her voice for opening night. 

It was a strange feeling, to be two days away from their first preview. It felt like only yesterday that Kasey had stepped into the rehearsal space for the first time, when in reality, they'd had months. 

The cast felt like family. Kasey hadn't thought that any cast would even be able to compare to Hamilton's OBC, but Frozen was pretty close. There were some people she wasn't as fond of, like Victoria Allen and Jacob, but they weren't awful. Plus, there were some extremely amazing people in the cast, too, like Jess, Sebastian, the four girls, and Kaira Matthews, who understudied Elsa and Anna. 

They finished their second run of the day. Tech seemed to have everything nailed down, which was good, since they only had two more days of rehearsal. Pit sounded amazing, and everyone seemed happy with how the show was going.

Well, except Gary.

"I want you all to go back and do the finale again, this time, the harmonies need to be tighter. I don't understand why things are getting so sloppy," Gary shouted from the audience. 

There were some quiet groans from the cast, but they all knew that complaining would just make Gary even angrier. So they did 'The Great Thaw' again. Kasey had to admit that it did sound better the second time around, but it was most likely because everyone just wanted to go home. Gary already had gone over the eight o'clock end time, and it was approaching nine.

"Finally," Gary said exasperatedly. "Gather for notes."

The cast all sat on the stage, joined quickly by the pit and the techies. Everyone wanted to go home. 

"Any notes?" Gary demanded, looking at the designers and the tech teams. 

They all shook their heads. "Nothing we can't go over tomorrow morning. Everyone needs some sleep. Go home, get some rest," Ryan said. 

"Fine, rehearsal's over. There's no time to mess around tomorrow. We have two more days, and then we're starting previews, so be prepared for tomorrow. Bring water, whatever. I don't want anyone to have to leave the theatre. We need the full twelve hours, and if I end up having to keep you for extra time, I will," Gary snapped.

Everyone stood up, chatting about how rehearsal had gone. Kasey hugged the younger girls goodbye, waved to Jess and Sebastian, and hurried to change into her normal clothes.

When she stepped outside, she was immediately blasted with a cold gust of wind and actual snow, not soap snow. She hadn't realized it was supposed to snow, but then again, she'd been stuck inside all day. 

Kasey tucked her chin deeper into Carleigh's jacket, pulled on her lyric scarf and her beanie, and hurried home, eager to get out of the cold.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Kasey heaved a sigh as she finally stepped inside the loft. It was warm and cozy inside, a far cry from outside. The theatre had also been extremely cold, for some reason. 

"Hey, you're back! I thought that you might have gotten stuck in the snow or something. I was about to come and get you," Carleigh exclaimed.

"No, Gary just made us do two full run-throughs and some cleaning of the music," Kasey groaned, flopping down next to Carleigh on the couch.

"That sounds awful," Carleigh said sympathetically. "Is it going well, at least?"

"Yeah, it is. The tech's doing a great job, and the cast is on top of it, even though we're all tired. I think the designers said there were no notes just to let us go home," Kasey told her friend. 

"That's good. I've barely gotten to see you this week. Even Hamilton's tech week didn't rehearse for twelve hours a day."

"Trust me, we don't need twelve hours a day. We could go with eight or seven, even," Kasey said, rolling her eyes. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you- do you need this jacket back?"

"No," Carleigh laughed. "It's fine, you can keep it. It was getting a little small for me, and when I saw that you stole it, I didn't care that much for that reason."

"Well, it's still big on me."

"It's cause you're so tiny," Carleigh told her.

"Okay, okay, I know I'm short," Kasey said. "But, I mean, for an average person, I'm pretty sure you're considered short, too."

"Yeah, but I'm always around you, so people never think I look short," reminded Carleigh.

"Whatever, Carleigh," Kasey laughed.