The Auditions Continue

"Faaareweeeellll," Nick's melodious voice finished. The pianist stopped playing and the faculty in the seats exploded into momentary applause and then stopped, realizing there were other students around.

In a few moments Hope was up on the stage. Nervous. Nick hadn't left, he and Nathanial both sat in the front row watching her. Ignore them, girl, you got this, she told herself, You have had this number down pat for a month.
She inhaled, her diaphram expanding as she took in the air. The pianist was waiting for her. "Whenever you're ready, Ms. Daniels," one of the directors said.

Hope inhaled again, her hand on her stomach. And then she was off.
"Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya."
She paused. The ensemble put in some "ya"s in this part of the song.
"Ya ya!"
Pause for imaginary "ya ya".
"Brrrrrrrrrr! Ooh!
Lock the door and stop complaining
Gather 'round and listen well..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"From now on we're entertaining how to hotten up this hell!"

Nathanial was watching Hope and was very impressed. He was still skimming his own copy of the song she'd given him. Nick had sat down next to him to watch, and as she had began to sing the department's vocal superstar had momentarily stopped breathing. He could understand it, her voice was phenomenal, unlike anything he'd ever heard in person. How had a talent like that ended up at this school? She belonged on Broadway already -- and she wasn't even using the mic!

"Hold your mood and hold your bladder
Skip the food and stop the chatter
Can't you hear the pitter-patter
We're not here to eat
We came for the heat!"

Nick was grasping at the arm of his chair.
Nathanial smirked. He was having almost the same reaction Hope had had. Speaking of heat, there was going to be plenty of that later when those two left the theater.

"Let's raise the roof! Let's make a scene!
Let's hope the gods of love will shine above
And show the way!
Let's call the shots! Let's roll the dice!
Take my advice, it always pays to raise the roof!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope sang with all her might. This was her first impression, really, to most of these professors. She was coming in with a bang. The song was quick, exciting. Kind of sexy.
Scratch that, really sexy. Which was good, with Nick in the audience. The song seemed to speed by, but she was finally coming on the end.
"Before the big hand hits the one
We've got to do what must be done
So put away that smoking guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnn
And raise the roooooof!
Go raise the rooooof!
Let's raise the roooof!
Raise the roof."

The pianist stopped. The directors exploded into applause again, only this time they couldn't stop themselves.
"Hope, where have you been all my life?" one of them exclaimed.

She blushed and tucked a strand of her flaming red hair behind her ear and smiled sheepishly. "Uhm, I think Nathanial needs to..."

"Yes, of course, Nathanial...what do you have for us?"

"I'll be singing 'The Buddy System' from City of Angels," Nathanial explained as he quickly ascended to the stage.

"Wonderful," one of the professors said. It was evident none of them were particularly looking forward to this.

"Let's go," Nick suggested to Hope in a whisper.

She shot him a look. "Wait for Nathanial to finish, he's nervous and he needs some support."

"He's Nathanial, he's fine."

The look was back. "Cool it, hot stuff, and park it." Obediently, Nick returned to his comfortable sitting position.

(Disclaimer: Hope was singing the song "Raise the Roof" from the off-Broadway musical The Wild Party.)

New Scene: Audition

(The new characters in this, except for one, are minor enough that I will not be making bios for them. The one character who that is not true of isn't getting a bio because....well, because I'm lazy. :-P)

Alexis rubbed Nathanial's shoulders. "You'll be fine," she assured him, "Totally fine." She, Terry, and Nathanial were outside the theater wing, prepping the Theater Queer, as they affectionately had dubbed Nathanial, for his audition.

Terry nodded his agreement. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"It's a musical, I can't sing," Nathanial snapped, "You do the math, babycakes."

"You're a guy in a girl-heavy theater department," Alexis reminded him, "What song are you doing anyways?"

"I don't even know, I figured I'd pull something out of my ass when I get there," Nathanial answered.

"No wonder you're so nervous," a woman's voice interrupted. Hope was walking steadily towards them, a small pile of books under her arm. She was headed for the auditions, but she seemed totally nerve-free. "What's your range?"

"Uhm...male?" Nathanial tried. Music was not his thing, not at all.

"High or low?"

"Uhm....male?"

"Okay, here." She put down her pile of books and opened up one of them, then turned it towards Nathanial. "It's not difficult. Read it, when they play the music you give them, just do what the piano is doing with your voice."

"I can read music," Nathanial retorted. He paused then added, "Well, kinda."

Hope was unimpressed. "Do what the piano is doing with your voice." She picked up the rest of her books and walked by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you here to audition?" the stage manager asked when Hope rounded the corner and found the table she had been looking for.

"Yes, I'm Hope Daniels I signed up for--"

"I don't really care," the stage manager replied, "We're so far off schedule that you could have signed up for three weeks from next Thursday and I'd let you go. Threw the whole damn thing out. "

"Who are you?" Hope asked.

"Laura Angelli," she answered, "Fill out these papers. Correctly, please. Then I'll let you in to audition." She slid a couple papers towards Hope, and then began ignoring the redhead completely.

Hope put her books down on the table, sat, and started looking at the paperwork. It was a fairly typical college audition sheet, just two copies of it.

"She's kind of a hardass, Hope," a boy sitting at the table finishing his own paperwork said, a comment which Laura either agreed with or was ignoring, "Totally anal retentive and probably OCD but that's why she's good at what she does. Stage managing that is. I'm Nick, by the way." The two awkwardly shook hands with their left hands so as not to stop writing.

Nick finished his papers and handed them to Laura. She whipped a camera out from under the table. "You get three shots. One of them is goofy. Go." Nick smiled, and Hope couldn't help but look. His teeth were perfectly straight and white and his already handsome face looked even better. The camera flashed. A few seconds later it flashed again. Then Nick was up, stradding the table. It flashed again.
"Go in," Laura ordered, pointing at the door to the theater, while handing his forms to another girl who ran into the theater with them and was back empty-handed in a flash.

Nick inhaled. "Wish me luck," he announced to no one in particular.

"Break a leg," Hope mumbled as she tried to determine what her scheduling conflicts would be.

It was then that Nathanial turned the corner. "Laura, who is in there now?" he asked before he even got to the table.

"Nick just went in," Laura said, "Fill out the papers."

"Conversation skills, Laura, have I taught you nothing?"

"Very little, Nathanial. I have work to do." Laura slid his papers across the table -- momentarily disrupting Hope -- and went back to ignoring everyone. She was now fiddling with the camera.

As she put the camera away and pulled out a three-ring binder, Hope finished her paperwork. "Here you go, Laura," the actress said, handing them to the stage manager.

"Three shots. One goofy. Go." Hope smiled. The camera flashed. She kept smiling. The camera flashed again. She paused. "What should I do for my goofy picture?" she asked. Before she knew what was going on, Nathanial's tongue was plastered on the side of her face. Her jaw dropped. The camera flashed.

"No problem," Nathanial smiled, and returned to his papers.

"Go in." Laura pointed at the door. She handed the papers to the other girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were two students other than Nick already in the room, and neither of them was Laura's assistant who seemed to have managed to get out before Hope saw her again. One of them was on stage belting out a rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables that, honestly, Hope wished she'd missed. She put her music on top of the piano as she walked by it to get to the seats.
"But the tigers come at night..."
Nick saw the redhead and recognized her. He smiled and even across the darkened theater seating, Hope could see the flash of pearly white. She made her way over to him. The other girl, who appeared to have finished but was waiting for her friend, was sitting on one side of him. The department's faculty sat several rows behind them.
"With their voices soft as thunder..."
Hope cringed slightly at the off-key notes.

"Thank you Caitlen," the department head interrupted suddenly, as though he had been asleep and was suddenly realizing how painful the noises he was hearing really were.

"No problem whatsoever! I mean thank you, Professor Strisky!" Caitlen answered perkily. She bounded off of the stage and the other girl got up to leave with her, waving shyly at Nick, who only nodded at her.

"Nick, why don't you show us what you've got?" one of the professors asked. The actor smiled at them, then at Hope, and then headed for the stage, vaulting up onto it.

"Are you singing us something of yours?" another professor asked. She sounded almost excited.

"Not today, no," Nick replied. There was a microphone on the stage, where the lights were at full, but he was making a point of not going near it. "I'll be singing 'The Old Red Hills of Home' from Parade. Carey's got my music already. And, Carey? I'm ready to go."

Piano music started. "Farewell my Lilah, I'll write ev'ry ev'ning."

And Hope was mesmerized. She did not even notice Nathanial plant himself in the seat next to her. The music erupting from the boy on stage's throat was so...perfect.
"Pray on this day, as I journey beyond them...
These old red hills of home..."

(To be continued...)