"Alright, Kids, now I hope you and your groups have a productive practice, so now it's time to meet your mentors." Michael Mayer explained as he walked back up on stage.
"Ok, so Group one with Tiffany, Harris, Eden, Nick, and Joe are meeting with Ms. Angela Christian." he started calling out all the people in each group until he got to ours. "Last but certainly not least, Group 7 with Deklan James, Leonard Chang, Elaina DeMann, Sonny Munroe, and Marco Sontorelli will be with Ms. Sutton Foster."
"Yay!" I exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm being mentored by the former Millie!"
"Now," Michael continued, "Mark's group will meet in the lobby, Angela's group will be backstage in the Green Room, Gavin's in the balcony, and Sutton's up here on the stage."
"Cool." I heard Deklan whisper.
"Now, you are free to go!" exclaimed Michael.
I seemed we collided with the other groups as we all went opposite directions. When we finally made it up to the stage, we chatted until Sutton came up.
She had long brown hair that went down almost to her stomach and pretty chocolate brown eyes. She wearing and eggplant purple, v-neck sweater, jeans and gray flats.
"Hey! How are you guys doing?" she introduced.
"Amazing, and it's an honor to meet you, Ms. Foster! I'm a big fan of yours!" Ellie exclaimed as she eagerly jumped up to shake her hand.
"Well, it's great to meet you too, and please call me Sutton." Then she turned to the rest of the group. "As you may know, my name is Sutton Foster, and I played Millie back in 2003. Now, before we get down to business, why don't you introduce yourselves?"
Leonard started, "I'm Leonard Chang, I'm 27 years old, and I'm trying out for Ching Ho."
"I'm Marco Santorelli, I'm 28, and am trying out for Trevor Grayden."
"My name's Allison Munroe, I'm 24, and I'm trying out for Ms. Dorothy."
"My name's Elaina DeMann, I just turned 21, and I'm auditioning for the part of Millie."
"Deklan James, 25, Jimmy." Deklan finished briefly.
"Well, let's get started! Ok, Allison and Elaina, start singing How the Other Half Lives."
I didn't know who I was at first, so I let her know, "Can you call me Sonny-"
"And me Ellie?" Ellie finished for me.
"Oh, okay! Sorry, Ellie and Sonny!" Sutton apologized, emphasizing our names to let us know that she remembered. "Okay, start from the top when Miss Dorothy comes in."
Then I nervously took a deep breath as Sutton made her way to the piano to accompany us:
This is living
This is what I call living
I've hungered for this day since heaven knows when
Year after year with a secret yen
All of my prayers
All my desires
Every waking moment with my heart afire
Then I sang the chorus until Ellie joined in:
Give me the meat without the gravy
Give me the oyster sans the pearl
Pinching pennies
Clipping coupons
See brand new world unfurl
Let me brown bag all my lunches
Try my hand at canned cuisine
A Berlitz class I long to pass
How the other half
Then we sang in unison:
How the other half lives!
It was fun to sing with her, and I knew that if we both made the show, we'd be great friends.
After we finished that and Sutton gave us some suggestions, Deklan sang What Do I Need with Love, Marco and Ellie sang The Speed Test, and we all together sang the Finale. After, we said our goodbyes, Sutton promising to watch our auditions. Then our group proceeded straight backstage, where we would line up for our auditions. At that point, my group parted, and I got in line with the other Miss Dorothys.
I saw Leonard in the Ching Ho line beside me, so I waved and he smiled back at me.
It was a half hour before everyone before me was done, and I was the next one up. I took a deep, quivering breath; I was unbearably nervous. I stepped on the stage, script in hand, and stopped center-stage. Ellie came and stood beside me to say her lines. I took one more deep breath, and got into character:
"Hello. Do you know if there's any availability in this boarding house?" I asked.
"Well, there are no more spots available, unless you want a roommate-"
"HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES!" I belted out.
"Oh, great. Well, I guess you'll be with me." Ellie sighed.
I felt I did my best at the audition, and everybody there had tons of talent. By that time, it was 12:30, so I walked outside to walk around and decide what I wanted to do. I suddenly felt a hand on my arm once I was outside of the building.
"Hey, Sonny." I heard a soft Female voice say from behind me, so I turned around.
"Hi, Ellie! What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you'd like to eat lunch with me. I know of this really good pizza place around the corner."
"Oh, sure! I'd love to."
I followed Ellie past Broadway, to the left, and walked another block till we got to John's Pizzeria on 7th and 8th Avenues.
As we strolled in, the heavenly scent of New York pizza filled my nostrils. We were seated right away, the server handing us menus as we slid in the red booth.
After a moment of indecisive discussion, we decided to split a small deep dish, half ham, pineapple, onion, and pepperoni for me, and the other half spinach, basil, and sundried tomatoes for her. Once we received our Dr. Peppers, I started to strike up a conversation with her, so we could get to know each other.
"So, Ellie, how long have you been in New York?"
"As soon as I could leave Texas; when I was 18. What about you?"
"Uh, I know this sounds bad, but about 2 days." I said nervously, hoping she wouldn't think I wasn't serious about this audition.
"Not at all!" Ellie exclaimed after she took a sip of soda. "I understand; you were tied up with So Random."
"You know about that?" I said, surprised.
"Almost everyone does. Before I moved here, me and my family would always pile up in the living room every Sunday night to watch it." She recalled with a sentimental smile. "It was fun; my parents would let me and my brother stay up an hour late, even though it was a school night!"
"Sounds like fun. You make me miss Wisconsin."
"I know the feeling. So, have you done any musical theater before this?"
"Mostly Christmas pageants at my church. You?"
"Well, I think I've auditioned for.." she paused for a moment to count on her fingers, "15 shows, but I've only been in 3; no main parts, though."
Wow. I really am a rookie.
"YUM!" We both said in unison as the server brought out the pizza. We both attacked it like vultures!
"It's good thing to know I'm not the only messy eater here!" Ellie exclaimed thankfully.
"I know! I'm SO relieved." I said, attempting to huff a sigh with my mouth full.
"And Oh. My. Pizza. This is Ah-mazing!" she exclaimed.
"I know, this is the best pizza I've ever had!"
A/N
Like it! Love it? Hate it? Review! If you do, I will reply back! Hahaha bribery...gotta love it.
By the way, posted a pic of John's Pizzeria and Sutton Foster on my profile!
