This Show is Going to Die (Story 3)

This Show is Going to Die

It had been a year since the Crown Theater Players had saved the historic landmark. And now the entire cast and crew were gathered in the auditorium once more to see about the new annual musical. Everyone was excited; wondering what great production they would be showing. Fabien walked on stage.
"OK everyone! I've been doing a lot of thinking on this year's musical and have decided to do something a little more recent. I have decided to put on Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest and greatest musical...Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom of the Opera!"
"Yes!! The musical that has one of the greatest Phantom's and one of the greatest Christine's and made a very certain singer-actor very famous!!" gushed Kim.
"We all know which singer-actor you mean Kim!" groaned Conrad; everyone in the theatre knew Kim loved Ramin Karimloo more than anything else.
"Alright! Auditions will be held later this week. With any luck, Sean will play the Phantom; he always plays the lead role!"

"I can't play the lead!" Sean moaned when he and Fabien met later. "I'm forty-five! My life is technically half-over! The music doesn't feel like it used to!"
"It's ok; we'll find you an understudy." Fabien said
"I've never needed one! I'll play the lead if I can and you can try to find me an understudy, but I don't think I have many seasons left in me. What a way to get a mid-life crisis."

That Wednesday, old, new, and hopeful cast member's showed up for auditions. Kim was cast as Meg, Conrad as Raoul, Timmy as Gustav, Christine and Raoul's son, and Katie as Christine. Eventually, the time had come to pick out the understudy for Sean. After many hopefuls had their hopes crushed, Fabien was ready to call it quits when a new guy showed up.
He was tall; at least six foot, young, and appeared to be Arabic.
"Name, please."
"Jamal Khalil."
"That's new! Where are you from?
"I was born in Lebanon." For being Arabic, he sounded very American.
"Pennsylvania?"
"No, the country. My parent's immigrated to here when I was still a baby."
"Why do you want to audition?"
"I want to sing on stage and would like to do something with my talent." Was all Jamal said.
"Alright, just sing whatever's on your mind." Said Fabien.
Jamal launched into "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, and then a song by Freddie Mercury.
"Do you know any musical-related songs?"
Jamal started with "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables", sang a few bars of "Bring Him Home" and then he blew everyone away with "Music of the Night".
"Wow! Exactly how old are you?" Fabien asked, amazed at the kid's voice.
"Twenty."
"Well, you've just become our youngest guy to understudy for a lead; you've got the role."

It was the musical songs that caught Kim.
"Kim, are you ok? You're drooling!" Katie said
"There is only one man who can sing like that! Look at him; the gobs of black hair, the olive-skin- caramel-y complexion, the Roman nose, the big brown eyes, the lanky but solid figure, looking like a cross between Enrique Iglesias and Danny Pino. He must be, like, Ramin Karimloo's long-lost brother or something."
"We'll he's not Ramin himself! Ramin has an armful of tattoos and is in his thirties. Not to mention lives in England and married with three kids. Besides, Ramin's Iranian, this guy's Lebanese. "
"He's got to be Ramin!"
"You're delusional!!"

Fabien told Sean what he thought was good news. But the leading man was actually quite upset.
"You mean to tell me that I'm being traded in for a kid who is also not only less than half my age, and a much better singer, but also a possible terrorist? Thant's it! Depressed or not, I am not losing the spot now!"  He raved.

The first day of rehearsals, everyone gathered on stage. Sean pulled Jamal aside.
"Listen, kid; I've been doing this for years. I was singing on stage while you were still in diapers...if they had diapers in whatever country you're from!"
"My family wasn't exactly poor and lived in an actual city, so yes I did have diapers." Jamal answered in a level tone.
"Just don't get your hopes up for the lead, if I had my way you'd be playing an extra...with no singing part!"
Just then, it came time for Sean to sing the Phantom's big solo, "'Til I Hear You Sing". He sang the song fine, until several high notes wavered and he could not hold the final part.
"Come on Sean! You're our leading man! You've got to get this song!" Fabien begged.
"Look! I'm not Ramin Karimloo, Colm Wilkinson, or Michael Crawford! I can't play this role! After a few weeks of practice maybe, but not now!"
"I think I can sing it, sir." Jamal said.
"Well, give it a try. You're not the understudy for nothing." Fabien said.
Jamal took a deep breath and started to sing. His voice came out of his whole six foot half inch frame, radiating off the walls. All the emotion was in it, and he held the final note perfectly. He moved Fabien almost to the point of tears and quite a few girls were swooning.
"Yes! We have our own Persian Phantom! Can somebody pick Kim up off the floor? She just fainted!"

Katie dragged Kim into the lady's restroom and threw some water on her face.
"Kim! Snap out of it!"
"Did you hear him sing? It was awesome!"
"It must have been awesome for you to pass out from sheer joy!'
"He must be Ramin! Ramin sounds just like that!"
"A lot of singers sound like that!"

In the weeks that followed Kim got more delusional and Sean got more and more bitter. He even tried to bribe Jamal out of the show.
"If you quit now, I'll give you one of my daughters!"
"We don't exactly do that anymore." Jamal answered.
Jamal took to playing the role of the Phantom very well. He practiced very hard and put up with Sean's comments and Kim always staring at him. In the finale when he was supposed the try and wrest the gun away from Kim, Kim just stood there.
"Kim, you're supposed to fight back!" Jamal said.
"Do I have to?" she whined.

"Katie, quick question; what's wrong with Kim?" Jamal asked one day after rehearsals.
"She's under the delusion that you're Ramin Karimloo in disguise."
"Oh is that it? I thought there was something up with her. Everyone says I sound like him and look like him, but that's all."
"You don't know Kim; Ramin is like God to her! She loves him like normal teenaged girls love Justin Bieber."

The big night had finally come. But it was Fabien who shattered the cheery mood.
"Sean has lost his voice...again! All because he was trying to out sing his understudy! His pride has been his downfall! We will have to cancel a full house!"
Just then the phone rang; it was Sean. He talked even though his voice hurt so badly.
"Give Jamal the role. He deserves it more than I do."
"Jamal! You're on! Get your costume and make-up on and do what you were made to do! Knock 'em dead!" Fabien called out to the young man.

Jamal got into the leading man dressing room. He never even noticed the small hole in the wall.
"So? Is it really him? Is the Sexy Phantom himself just six square inches apart from us?" Katie squealed. She and every teenage girl in the cast and crew were huddled around the peephole in the girl's dressing room. Kim, being the expert, got to look through the hole.
"Hold on! OOOOH he just to his shirt off! He doesn't have Ramin's abs, but Ramin's older so that could be it. AWW! No tattoos! But those could be removed!  Hold it! He's turning around! NOOO! It's not Ramin! Ramin has a birthmark on his stomach!" Kim said forlornly.
"What's different about the abs?" one girl asked
"Ramin has a four-pack, Jamal has a six."
"And that's a bad thing?"

The show was smashing success. The audience loved it. At the success party after the final show, Sean stood up to say some words.
"Everyone, I'm sorry I broke like I did. I would like you to know that as long as I am able I will be leading man, but until then, Jamal will be my understudy and my eventual successor."
"Here's to Sean! Our best and brightest! And here's to Jamal! The Crown Theatre's next  leading man!" someone called. Everyone was happy to have Sean back and have a new member of their group. They knew that there were more shows to put on and more laughs and memories on the way.