The Audition

A Cabaret and Chicago Crossover

Disclaimer: I do not own rights to Roxie Hart or Sally Bowles. Kander and Ebb do

Setting: Boston Early 1960s.

Notes: I don't know exactly how old Roxie and Sally are in the musicals but for the sake of this story we will assume that Sally is younger than Roxie. Assume that Roxie took some time off from performing after her stint with Velma Kelly to travel. She is single and plans to stay that way. I have gotten rid of the Starbucks reference because it did not fit the time period. I chose Boston for the setting for personal familiarity because I live in New England and was born and bred in the Boston area. I don't know much about Chicago and have never been to Germany so Chicago and Berlin did not really work for me to use as settings for this story.

It was a bright morning in mid fall and the sun was just rising over Boston Common. Roxie Hart groaned and stretched as she looked at her alarm clock that blared the time in her face 6:45. She wanted to sleep in but she had to catch a train downtown to a 10:45 audition. She only had an hour to shower and get ready and go over what she thought she'd say at her audition one last time. Since moving out of Cooke County and quitting vaudeville she would have to get used to new theatrical experiences and she figured she'd start with television.

She grabbed a small latte and a bagel from a local coffee shop and jumped on the train. It was crowded with commuters and sleepy eyed college students who had 8:30 am classes. She was surprised she even found a seat. She didn't expect someone else who was auditioning would be on the train but as luck would have it and a girl with thick black hair got on the train at the next stop.

"Is this seat taken?" whispered someone with a light German accent.

Roxie looked up from the magazine she was reading. "No, go ahead and take it before someone else does."

"Are you on your way to the audition?" the stranger asked.

"As a matter of fact I am. I'm pretty new to metro Boston. I'm originally from Chicago but spent the past several years traveling the country and the world."

"I'm originally from Germany. We moved to Cincinnati after the war ended but Cliff got a better job as an English Teacher here in Boston so that's why we moved here."

"What made you move all the way from Berlin?"

"The night club I sang at was doing poorly and I was pretty much out of a job. What did you do before moving here?"

"Well, I was in jail."

Sally raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You were? What for?"

"I was accused of killing someone but I was innocent. They let me go. I took a break form performing to travel but now I want to get my head back in the game."

"Are you nervous about the audition?"

"Sort of, are you?"

"Oh yes, this first time auditioning for anything I'm only used to singing in the night club."

Roxie was glad she wasn't the only person who was nervous about the audition.

When they arrived at the TV studio the line was almost pouring out the door. "There must be about 200 people here." Sally said, she looked nervous as she summed the amount of American competition she had.

Roxie was equally as intimidated by the long line of people. "Yeah I guess lots of people must have seen the audition notice in The Herald. They said it was open call."

As soon as check in ended the auditioners were split up into two different rooms. There was a total of 250 people so Sally was not too far off with her estimation.. Sally and Roxie were into two different audition groups. Everything seemed to go slowly at first and then Roxie finally went. She was #17 in her group. She tried to be as suave as possible because this was certainly different from vaudeville. They had her to a blind reading with a script and a partner scene. It wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be.

When she was done, Roxie went back into the hallway to look for Sally she was still waiting in line outside her room. "Really slow process, isn't it? Roxie asked her.

"Yeah, I'm #45 and they're only on 7. How did you do?"

"Pretty good I think. I just hope they call me back. I'll hang out and wait for you if you want."

"That would be great."

Roxie looked at her watch it was 11:45. She figured Sally would be out of the audition room by 2:30."

The casting studio was on the third floor. Roxie went down to the first floor and went into the bookstore that was in the lobby. She needed to get information about this place she would be calling home from now on. She want to the travel section immediately and got immersed in travel guide after travel guide about Boston and even decided to buy a few of them. Maybe she and Sally would do some sightseeing if there was enough time left in the day after the audition or maybe later that week. She looked at her watch. It was 2:35. Sally had to be done with her audition by now. She dashed up to the third floor. Sally was standing outside the audition room looking distraught.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't think I did very well. The director didn't seem to understand half of what I was saying because of my accent and I was pretty nervous too."

"Don't worry. I'm sure you did fine. They're going to do callbacks tomorrow. Let's go get something to eat."

"Okay."

Roxie smiled. She was happy she had met a new friend. She just hoped that they would both get a part in the commercial.