Friday May 18th, 8:55 PM - New York City - Majestic Theatre
I survived the Hannibal scene and singing Think of Me, and while my brain must not have been fully understanding what had been happening, the calm within the scene following me singing Think of Me gave my brain enough time to realize what was happening. The anxiety started to creep upon me right as the title song of the show began.
While the song tends to be pre-recorded due to the physicality of the Phantom and Christine's roles in this scene, I do not have a recording done for me, so I am forced to sing live while I run below the stage to get to the next entrance.
The majority of this song is not in a daunting part of my voice, but the end has a crazy amount of extremely high notes, and that scares me. Normally, those notes are also pre-recorded to preserve the voices of those who regularly play the role of Christine, although they are also sung live more than you'd think. Since there is not a pre-recorded track of me singing those notes, I will be doing them 100% live tonight.
As Xander and I make our re-appearance on stage in the iconic boat traveling to the Phantom's lair, the idea of me singing such high notes in just a matter of a minute or less starts to get to me.
I am SCARED!!
He get's me out of the boat while passionately shouting his line, "SING, MY ANGEL OF MUSIC!"
I sing, "He's there, the Phantom of the Opera," in response, immediately taking a massive breath after to start the high notes right after that line.
Luckily, the first set of notes are there, and they are present. I move on to the next set of notes, and they are also present as well. Although I am trying not to show it, I am totally shocked by how well this is going, but I'm not past this quite yet.
As I reach the end of the song, I have to sing a bunch of high C's and sustain the notes for several beats each time - the highest note fast approaching.
Xander shouts, "SING FOR ME!!" as I manage to somehow hit the best high E I have ever sung in my life. I did it!
While I try my best to remain in character and not jump around with excitement at the huge thing I just accomplished, I glance off into the wings and the sight of my friends smiling and silently clapping for me.
Seeing that fills me with such joy, and as Xander begins to sing his solo number, I finally get a moment to just breathe and be in the moment.
YOU ARE READING
My Impromptu Broadway Debut
FanfictionEmily Baker moved to New York City five years ago when she was 18 to pursue her lifelong dream of being on Broadway. She spent her first two years auditioning like crazy to find a stable gig, and landed in the ensemble of Broadway's longest running...
