Tom Levitt had just landed in New York from London. Opening Heaven on Earth on the West End had been a mammoth task, more difficult than it should have been but he was glad to be back. He'd been waiting for his writing partner and best friend Julia so that she could pick him up. He turned his phone and was greeted with a phone call from a friend of his, Karen Cartwright. "Tom, I love you, I love this job. I'd love it even more if I was actually earning any money. Please tell me you have some kind of magic musical that I can be in,"
"Nothing yet Karen, but if Julia and I come up with anything then I'll call you okay?" he said, if he was being honest with himself he'd know he was just placating in an attempt to try and calm Karen, if he was being honest with himself he'd be reminded that Julia was taking time away from Broadway so that she and her husband Frank could adopt the Chinese baby they'd wanted for over ten years, if he was being honest with himself, he'd be able to say that a musical doesn't just appear out of thin air.
"Please Tom, my parents are coming into town next week and I need to tell them good news otherwise they'll put me on a plane back to Iowa faster than I can sing Do Rey Me," she pleaded, her voice reeking of desperation.
"You wouldn't actually get on the plane singing songs from The Sound of Music would you?" Tom joked but he could tell in the way she said the word 'no' that she was in no mood for a laugh "Okay what happened? You're never this annoyed unless something bad happens,"
"You remember I told you that I had that audition for that revival of The Wizard of Oz?" How could he forget? She'd been on and on about it for weeks because she'd actually gotten an audition for the first time in what had seemed like an age "Anyway so I was in the middle of singing Somewhere over the Rainbow and what does the director do? She takes a phone call in the middle of my audition. Not only that but she said I was too innocent and too light. I mean I get the whole thing with being too light, my résumé isn't filled with ensemble roles or anything but it is slightly annoying being told that you're too innocent for the role of Dorothy. I mean how sexy can a thirteen year old be for god's sake?" she said in a half-yell and Tom sympathised, he really did. It was stupid to that an actress was too innocent to play Dorothy Gale, that was like being told you're too aristocratic to play Samantha in High Society or too sexy to play Mimi in Rent. It just didn't make sense.
"Look I'll call some people, see if I can get you something but I can't guarantee anything. Shouldn't your agent be able to hustle something for you?"
"He's crap. It's what I get for picking the cheapest one out of the Yellow Pages, but he's the only one I could afford," she explained with a sigh.
"Can't you borrow some money off Dev?" Tom asked.
"I found him in bed with his boss' secretary last week," she said and he could hear the heartbreak resonating in her voice.
"Do you have a place to stay?" he asked, completely concerned.
"I've been using what money I have to pay for a hotel room until I have a place to stay," She stated and his heart broke for her.
"Pack up your stuff and get your ass to my place. It'll be like a Broadway version of Will and Grace except it'll be more like if Jack moved in with Grace," Karen laughed at Tom's joke.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah of course, what are friends for?"
"Okay, thank you," she said and with that Karen was moving in with Tom.