The Role of Her Lifetime

Chapter 1-3

There were nine women and one young man at the call-back. Marie recognized a few of them and knew two of the other women. Jackie Allenson was one of them.

Marie smiled at her. “Hello. I see you got a call-back, too.”

“Yes, maybe we’ll both be lucky.”

“Oh, I hope so.”

“I was so excited when I got that call. I had a very hard time falling asleep last night.” Jackie shook her head, woefully.

Marie smiled at her. “So did I. I think I tossed and turned most of the night, trying to second-guess what they were thinking.”

“Me, too,” Jackie said. Then she saw another person she recognized and turned to greet her.

When Marie looked up, a blonde immediately took her into her arms.

“Marie!” the blonde exclaimed. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Hi, Ashley,” Marie responded with a smile, accepting Ashley’s light kiss on the cheek. They were basically the same height, but Ashley wore boots with a three-inch heel. She towered over Marie. “How have you been?”

After dating for a few months several years ago, they remained friends.

“The same old same old,” Ashley responded.

“But you’ve been getting some dynamite parts,” Marie said.

“Small parts, minor roles.”

“Not all that small,” Marie corrected her.

“They weren’t leads.”

“Still, they were roles.”

“Yes, roles,” Ashley repeated with a sneer, “small parts.”

“There are no small parts, only small actors,” Marie quoted the great acting teacher Constantin Stanislavski, striking a very theatric pose.

Ashley glared at her. Then they both broke into laughter.

“You haven’t changed,” Ashley said with a smile. “Still the same jokester.”

“And you haven’t changed, either,” Marie retorted.

They were interrupted by a young girl who was handing out a double sheet of music. Marie looked at it. It was the beginning of a duet from the opera. The two lines were Ella and Young Prince.

“This looks interesting,” Ashley said as she first looked at it.

Marie turned back to Jackie, but Jackie had moved away and was talking to someone else.

The opera conductor called for attention. “Let’s run through this a few times so you’ll be familiar with it. This is an abbreviated portion, but it should give us a sense of how you sound together.

“This is at the ball. The prince has asked Ella to dance, but she recognizes him as the boy who played a nasty trick on her at the market a few days before and stole an apple from her. She’s still mad at him. She has just told him that as a prince, he’d make a lousy frog. In fact, he couldn’t even pass for a toad. Everything has immediately stopped, and there is nothing but silence.”

He nodded to the pianist, who hit a chord to establish the key and then struck one note.

The audition piece was an argument of sorts between the Prince, who swore he loved her and wanted Ella to marry him, and Ella, who demanded he stop this foolishness and go away. Given his reputation, she’d never believe a word he said. His lines were lyrical and romantic; hers brisk and harsh. In places, the dichotomy was quite comical. It ended with a duet of “Leave me alone” and “Please marry me.”

The last six lines held over for several measures in harmony.

The conductor nodded. “Not too bad. Once more.”

They sang it again.

“All right.” Another man, the one who had guided all the auditionees into the back room, stood. “I have to tell you all that we’re trying to cast the leads.”

There were murmurs of surprise.

“We’re looking today to see how you react with each other and how you blend, so please take this as seriously as you can,” he announced. “Now, if you’ll all please be patient, this may take a while. This will be sort of a round-robin. Be ready to step up. The first two we want to hear are Ashley Sheppard and Naomi Chappelle.”

Everyone else sat down. Jackie sat next to Marie.

“This is so exciting,” Jackie whispered to Marie, who nodded back at her with a huge smile.

Ashley and Naomi sang through the music. Ashley’s voice was pure and bright. Marie could see why she got so many roles. Naomi’s voice was strong and dark. They sang it twice.

“Bill Fletcher, please take Ms. Chappelle’s place.”

A young man hurried forward. You could tell he hadn’t been to many auditions and was extremely nervous.

Young, Marie thought. Probably in his early twenties at most. Maybe that’s what they were looking for. The women auditioning for Ella would have to wear a lot of make-up to make her look that young.

He and Ashley sang. Billy’s voice was strong and clear. He had a promising baritone, a young baritone. No one could judge his quality because no one had seen the entire score and script.

One of the judges wrote something on a piece of paper and nudged the judge next to him to read it. The second judge looked down and then nodded several times.

“Jacolby, please.”

Marie took a deep breath and replaced Billy. Ashley smiled at her. They started the piece. It was easy for them to sing with each other. They knew each other so very well. Their glances and gestures seemed natural. Their voices blended well, too.

When they had finished, the three judges lowered their heads together.

One judge said, “All right, Ms. Sheppard, you may sit down for now. Ms. Allenson?”

When Jackie stepped up, she squeezed Marie’s hand before they started. Then they began the piece. The performance with Jackie felt even better. Marie realized she looked at Jackie more than she’d looked at Ashley because she had to see how Jackie reacted to her.

The afternoon continued until all combinations had sung together more than once, some several times. By the end, they all knew each other and the music rather well.

“Thank you all for coming here this afternoon. You all did excellently. We have a lot to consider. You’ll hear from us in a few days.”

Everyone applauded. As they were getting ready to leave, Ashley came up to Marie.

“We’ll have to go out to dinner sometime,” she said. “You have my number. Give me a call.” Ashley gave her a kiss on the cheek. Marie returned the kiss. Ashley shouldered her bag and walked out.

Yes, it’s the same old Ashley, Marie thought. Flirt, leave suggestions, but let someone else make decisions.

Did she want to go through that again? Did she really? Of course, Ashley had been an excellent lover. This time, however…

Jackie came over to Marie. “What do you think?” she asked, interrupting Marie’s thoughts.

“It’s hard to tell. Billy did really well, if they want a true male in the role. Naomi was good, too.”

Jackie nodded. “I think it’s between Ashley and Janelle for Ella. They were both wonderful.”

“I think you were better,” Marie said with a big smile.

Jackie gave her a playful push. “Don’t say that. You’ll jinx it.”

Marie laughed. “But it’s the truth.” She took a breath. “I couldn’t tell what the judges were thinking. There were no facial expressions. I’d hate to play poker with any of those three.” She took another deep breath and paused in thought. “Yes, you were better. You’ll get the part.”

Jackie hugged Marie and then slipped her backpack onto her shoulders. “Thanks for the complement. I think you have it, too.”

Marie rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

Jackie chuckled at the reaction. “Well, we’ll know in a couple days,” she said softly.

Marie picked up her bags, and they both walked to the elevator. Once on the first floor, they left the building.

“Which way are you going?” Marie asked as they stood on the sidewalk.

“I’m going uptown, west side. I’m meeting a friend for dinner.”

“I’m headed downtown,” Marie said, “I guess I’ll see you when the rehearsals start. I know we at least got chorus parts.”

“Yes. At least that.” Jackie laughed as she turned toward uptown. “Bye!” She waved as she walked away.

“Bye,” Marie called as she started toward the subway station.

Was today a good day or a bad day? Marie had no better idea about the opera results than she’d had when she woke up this morning. In her mind, Naomi Chappelle was her main competition. One other woman seemed too short to pull off the role, and the boy seemed too young against any of the women. If Naomi got the role, maybe they’d cast her as an understudy. She didn’t even want to hope she’d be chosen.