The Backyard Theatre Troupe

CLAIRE

I am SO excited!

Tonight is opening night! As I make my way downstairs for breakfast, I twirl and sing "Part Of That World". My dad, dressed in his bathrobe and holding his second cup of coffee, squints at me and smiles.

"Good morning, Squirt!"

I bow theatrically to him and jump down the stairs two at a time.

"Don't break yourself before your big night!" I can hear my dad call after me.

"Oh my gosh, I am SO pumped!" I tell my mom as I fill my cereal bowl.

"As if we couldn't tell, Claire," she laughs as she feeds my baby brother. Since the show starts at 6, my mom let me stay home from school today. I'm sure the rest of the Troupers also aren't going to school too.

I gobble up my Cheerios and run outside. I go to Rai's house, obviously, and knock on her first-floor window. Soon, she appears, dressed in silk pajamas with an annoyed frown on her face.

"Claire, the best part of staying home from school is sleeping in!" Rai says. "It's only eight o'clock!"

"Sorry!" I say. I know she isn't really mad at me. "Can I come in?"

Soon, I'm sitting on Rai's bed as she debates over what to wear.

"Come on, Rai! Nobody's even going to see until tonight, and then you'll need to dress up like a seagull instead!"

Rai doesn't listen. "Is this shirt too small for me?" she asks. It looks fine to me. I shrug.

"Sure! But how can you possibly think about clothes at a time like this!"

I flop over backwards. Yesterday was our dress rehearsal. It actually went super well, much better than I expected it to. But, as every drama nerd knows, a bad dress rehearsal means a good performance. Well, at least that's how the story goes. I really hope it doesn't work in reverse too...

Once Rai has finally picked an outfit, we head over to Ollie and Sianna's house. Matt leaves his house next door right when we walk up the driveway and we knock on the door together. Ollie opens the door.

"Hi!" he says. "Come in! I'm so pumped!"

"Me too!" I say grabbing his hands and swinging around. "Tell Rai that she should be more excited!"

Ollie squirms out of my grip and wipes his hands on his pants. "Rai, be more excited!"

Rai laughs and rolls her eyes. "It's not that I'm less excited, it's just that I can control myself better."

We all head to the family room, where Sianna is waiting with a bowl of chips. Soon, we're watching Aladdin (another one of my favourite movies) on the Martin's gigantic TV. When "Friend Like Me" comes on, I can't help myself. I start to dance and sing along with Genie. He's my dream role, even though I doubt they'd let a girl play him.

Finally, finally, FINALLY, it's 5:00 and we get to go to the school to get ready. We run through the doors, and split up. Two classrooms have been set up as changerooms: one for the girls and another for the boys. Rai, Sianna, and I walk into the room and immediately are caught in a vortex of chatter, moving bodies, and powdered makeup. Amara waves at Rai, holding up a speaker blasting Broadway showtunes. Sianna goes off to join the rest of the mersisters. I go over to the chair marked Ariel and set up all of my stage makeup stuff on the desk. I've done theatre for years, but I can never figure out all of the creams and powders.

"Do you need some help?" a tall girl asks me. She must be one of the hair and makeup people. Either that or she's some random kid who snuck into the school, but judging by the amount of makeup on her face, she definitely could help me either way. I nod, and she starts to dab foundation into me.

"Ariel, huh? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah! It's my first lead role. I'm really excited!"

As I chatter on, she puts on all of my makeup.

"I'm gonna leave out the eyeliner and brow pencil, and maybe the bronzer. You're really pretty already."

"Thanks!" I say. The second she finishes, I dash to the curtained area to change into my costume. When I come out, Sarah the wig girl grabs my arm.

"There you are!" she says, plopping the wig on my head. She makes a few adjustments, then leads me to a mirror.

"Wow," I say. I look exactly like Ariel. Well, not exactly, because she's a cartoon character, but pretty darn close.

"This is your fifteen-minute call!" Simon, the stage manager tells us. "Please meet in the drama studio for vocal warm-up.

I jump up and down in the air, I'm so excited. After vocal warm-up, I find Ollie, Rai, Sianna, and Sam.

"Matt's still getting his claws on," Sianna explains. She looks very pale, and I'm wondering if she's going to throw up.

"Are you nervous?" I ask. "Because don't be. You're my mersister. I have your back!"

Sianna nods, unconvinced. Her fingers begin to spastically flick through the air as if she's playing the piano.

"I-I need to go find Matt," she says suddenly, and sprints off down the hall.

"Well, break a leg, everybody!" Rai says, leaving to use the bathroom. Sam follows. It's just Ollie and I now. Ollie scuffs his foot on the floor.

"Break a leg, Claire," he says.

"You too, Ollie." We stand there like that until Simon comes around yelling "places!" Then my heart gets all fluttery like it always does and I can't even think about how awkward that was. I'm not even in the first scene, but I stand offstage with the others. I flash everybody thumbs-ups, and they all return them enthusiastically, except for Maya, the grouchy stagehand. I don't know why she signed up for this, because she clearly hates it. Or maybe her face is just naturally in a frown like that.

"Hey, Maya," I say, "I just to want to say that your sets are so amazing! You're a great painter!"

Maya only glares at me even angrier. "Shush! The show's starting!"

And it is! I watch the cast perform Fathoms  Below. It looks fantastic! Soon, it's time for Daughters of Triton, my first song. All the mersisters line up with me at the back. Sianna shudders and closes her eyes.

"Relax, Sianna! You'll be great!" This is Sianna's solo. I watch as Matt introduces the eight daughters of King Triton. Each of the sisters dances onstage and sings their name.

Aquata! Andrena! Arista! Atina! Adella!Allana!

They all move gracefully and introduce me, the youngest and sweetest singer of them all. "And our sister, Ah-ree-ELL!"

When I don't come out, they sing it again.

"And our sister, Ah-ree-ELL!"

Matt/Sebastian pretends to pull his hair out as he realizes that Ariel is late for the performance. When I arrive, I explain that I was up at the surface, a big no-no in the mermaid kingdom. After being told off by Darius/Triton, the scene shifts to my grotto, and Sam and I enter.

"Maybe he's right. Maybe there is something wrong with me," I say sadly to Flounder. "I just don't see how a world that makes such wonderful things, could be... bad?"

I start to sing the song that I've loved for oh-so-long. Finally, after years of anticipation and months of preparation, I am singing it live onstage.

I am loving every minute of it.