Wish: A Hamilton Fanfiction

Chapter 5: Wishes Do Come True

Having all eyes on you is pretty daunting. But in that moment my anxiety didn't show up at all. I looked out at the circle on the stage, took a deep breath, and started to speak. "Hi, my name is Zoeyla Rodriguez but you can call me Zoey. Two years ago I sent a fanmail letter to Lin. Among the typical excitement was an idea for a Broadway shadow program. To my surprise, he responded three months later." Lin nodded; I forged ahead. "In this response he told me my idea was great. I had never had someone show that kind of enthusiasm for an idea that I had, especially an idea that would change my career forever." I could feel myself starting to get out of control excited. Quickly I attempted to stop my hands from flapping around.

I'd always had tics of some kind and this was one I really hated. Phillipa gave me a slight smile. "That was the beginning of our correspondence. I sent him many emails, we even shared a phone call, and slowly our journey began. After two years of work, I am excited to announce that we are standing in the first official session of the BroadwayWish program!" 

Applause surrounded me. Nothing had ever felt more right in my entire life than this moment. Everyone looked so excited to be in the legacy of what I had created. The entire room radiated excitement and happiness, so much that I had never felt better. I was really wanted in this world. This many people were happy....because of me. I didn't get this feeling often, or ever; it felt crazy.

Finally the theater quieted down and I was able to speak again. "This program will help young actors start their careers or just get some advice, a safe place, and something to perform. Through an application process, actors aged twelve to seventeen from across the country can have the opportunity to shadow a member of a Broadway cast as they learn a production; or in some cases, relearn it. BroadwayWish will expand to many casts, but we are starting small with the cast Lin knows best: the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton: An American Musical. I'm really excited that you guys are the ones to do this with me.

Without further ado, let's introduce ourselves! Name, preferred pronouns, age (if you're a shadow), and what role you play. If you want you can throw in a fact about you as well. Like I said, I'm Zoey Rodriguez, my pronouns are she/her/hers, I'm fourteen, and I have two roles here. First, I'm the junior director/supervisor to Lin; after all, this whole thing was my idea." That got a few laughs. "I'm also going to be shadowing Phillipa as she re-learns the part of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton. I can't wait to get to know all of you better!" 

With a smile I finished my speech and turned to Lin. "My name is Lin-Manuel Miranda, my pronouns are he/him/his, and I play many roles here including Alexander Hamilton. You probably all know everything about me anyway." That was true, seeing as almost all of us were big fans of Hamilton. A fact about me is that I kind of suck as a human being, I thought to myself, careful not to say it out loud. Quiet. You're in the presence of someone who could change your whole life, the least you can do is have decency.

Introductions were made all around the circle. There were too many people for me to remember, but definitely those who stood out. I just knew this would be an amazing community. 

Leslie's shadow stunned us all: fifteen year old Charlie Abbott sang their fact, "I like to talk less, smile more" and shocked us all with their incredible voice. 

Mariah, the girl I had met in the bathroom, was shadowing Jasmine. Mariah Stevens was the same age as me, fourteen, and thought it was ironic to be playing Maria Reynolds with a name like hers. 

Finally, we got to the end of the circle to a girl who was easily six feet tall. Noelle Windsor, age sixteen, clearly thought fast and talked even faster. Ironic, then, that she shadowed Renee: that was the directors' first impression of her as well. 

Noelle, Zoeyla and Mariah. The new generation of Schuyler sisters. Everyone applauded again. I couldn't believe this was happening. We were separated into a few groups so we could better take care of a few business things. People were doing random first day things, singing for the directors and seeing if anything needed to be transposed. The groups rotated once everyone was done; it was also a really nice way to have us get to know each other. 

Lin decided our group was done for the moment and Leslie brought us on a tour of the theater. It just got better and better. We found the costume area and started flipping through costumes; they were absolutely stunning. They seemed to look perfect next to every member of our group. "Can we try these on?" asked Oak's shadow Brian. At first he was apprehensive to approve that idea but decided we seemed responsible enough to try something on. 

"One costume." he said. "And if you aren't careful with it there's going to be consequences." 

It was funny how much height difference there was between shadows and original cast members. Hardly anyone had a well-fitting costume: Brian's fit decently and Mariah's was near-perfect, but otherwise it was apparent it wasn't going to work out. Daveed's shadow Kyle was the youngest at twelve and clearly seven inches shorter while Noelle had five inches on Renee. We were definitely all excited to see the costumes that would be made or altered especially for us. 

Glancing around the room I could see friendships already being formed. The ensemble shadows were sticking together in a pack talking excitedly amongst themselves. Kyle and Brian were talking about some video game they both enjoyed, Charlie was chatting with Noelle about graffiti tags, and other shadows had already jumped in to conversations. Mariah came over to stand next to me. 

"What do you think of all your costumes?" she joked.

"You're so lucky Peggy's costume fit you right! Now you get to see how it'll really look and it looks so good." I gushed. 

"But you have like seven costumes-"

"One of those is the Alexander Hamilton costume that we all have so only six, at least you have two that are really pretty. And I've never had a costume change in the middle of something so you're the lucky one." 

We were ushered from group to group. Everyone was really an incredible singer and was also incredibly upbeat and positive. I felt better and better from being around this group of people.

a/n

editing is complete!

yeah, i don't know what to do about this story anymore, i was crazy

there you go. now you understand what's happening in this story and what's really up!

its kinda desired reality fiction by now, around three months ago i wrote a fanmail letter to lin explaining my idea of a broadway shadow program. (and i regret doing it but who cares)

yep, i really did do that. so that's where this story stems from! (editing blue wants to inform everyone that he didn't say anything about the program, and i'm glad he didn't, i wish i would have asked someone else and not him)

i hope you're having a wonderful day and staying safe <3 i love you all

xxx,

blue <3