A/N: The last time I posted this chapter, the author notes were a confession that I didn't like tomatoes. Funny because now, I love tomatoes! And no, Hetalia actually was not a factor in this (a deliberate tech crew infestation of the local pizza place after strike at 2am was far more influential.)
Axis Powers Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya.
West Side Story belongs to Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein.
On Friday afternoon, just shortly after 3 o' clock, Hetalia High was silent and still. Roderich thanked whatever high power there was for this as he pushed open the heavy door leading to the music room. Arthur had managed to secure it for their first rehearsal. Walking over to the baby grand in the corner, he shrugged off his book bag and lifted the lid, running his fingers across the solid wooden keys. The puny electric keyboard they had been using for auditions and callbacks felt flimsy in comparison.
A bell tinkled and he turned around. A plump, elderly man was walking towards him from the adjacent office, smiling.
"Hello there, Roderich!"
"Hi, Mr. Weiss," he replied. "Thanks for letting us use your room."
"Not at all, son. I'm looking forward to the show this April. West Side Story is a classic."
"For sure. But..." Roderich pulled a folder heavy with sheet music from his bag. "Let's just say there's a reason for scheduling a music rehearsal first."
The music teacher chuckled as he examined the score. "Yes, Lenny Bernstein did go all out on this one. Let me know when you're auditioning the band, alright? I can recommend a few people."
"That would be great. Thanks."
"No problem. Have a good rehearsal! I'll be in my office if you need any help."
Mr. Weiss returned to the small room and Roderich sat down at the piano. Selecting one of the songs, he scrutinised it carefully before picking the notes out. He hadn't gotten past the first few bars before his sight was suddenly obstructed by two hands.
"Guess who!"
"Hey, Elizabeta," he replied, smiling.
She returned his greeting with a playful kiss and rested her cheek against his head. For all her ferocity, her irritation at him had quickly abated, especially since it really hadn't been his fault. And when it came down to it, she loved to hear him play. Even when they were young, Elizabeta had been his biggest and most loyal fan.
They waited for the rest of the cast to arrive. Roderich continued to play even as the bell rang and people began to trickle inside, coming in groups of two or three. The risers gradually filled up until everybody who was supposed to attend were seated, chatting to one another or listening to the music. Just as Alfred Jones waltzed in, barely making it past the scheduled time of 3:20, Roderich finished the song and nodded to Elizabeta to join them.
"Hi, everyone. Welcome to the first music rehearsal for West Side Story. I think you all know me..." He waved his hand awkwardly. "Roderich. The music director. That means I help you with learning the songs, and I'll be conducting the band during the show too."
Gillian and Francis bent their heads together in a corner, then lifted them to snicker at him. Roderich rolled his eyes. He had no time for their shenanigans today.
"This is a pretty intense score so let's dive in headfirst. Today, we're going to learn the 'Tonight Quintet.' It's arguably the most difficult piece in the entire show, but when done correctly it sounds amazing. How many of you can read music?"
Only a little over half of the students assembled raised their hands. Roderich sighed. It was as expected.
"Okay, well, it's fairly simple. When the notes on the staff go up, you sing higher. When they go down, you sing lower. Sit next to somebody who can read music. Listening to me and the CD will help too."
He picked up the stack of sheet music and started to pass them around. Gillian called out from her place in the back row. "'Scuse me, Roddybutts! I has a question!"
Years of practice had taught him to ignore her bait. "Please raise your hand if you wish to say something."
"Yes, Mr. Edelstein." She proceeded to wave her left arm wildly in the air, nearly smacking Adam across the face."Do I get a solo in this?"
"You do, in fact."
"AWESOME!"
Elizabeta was flipping through the pages of her packet. "Wait, all the other girls don't seem to be in this song."
"Arthur and I decided to have the girls sing along with their respective gangs during the counterpoint at the end," Roderich explained. "You'll see. Well, if we actually get to that part."
Clara looked disgruntled. "If? Then is there any point for being here?"
"Well, with some luck we'll have practiced four songs by the end of this session. That's why we have the music room until 6. I really don't want to stay until then, but we will if we have to." An idea dawned upon him. "Maybe we can do sectionals."
He turned to Lovina, who was sitting as inconspicuously as she could at the end of a row. "Yeah. You and Antonio can rehearse a song while I go through one of the bigger gang numbers later. How's that?"
She stared at him in astonishment. "What?"
"Great!" chirped a voice from the back. Antonio leaned against the wall nonchalantly, ever cheerful and ever helpful. Lovina narrowed her eyes at him.
All of the other students were beginning to lose focus now that they had their music, breaking out into conversation as they discovered which songs they would be performing. Roderich knocked on the piano to get their attention.
"Warm ups," he commanded.
After some scales, drills, and breathing exercises, Roderich warned them not to sit down just yet.
"I want people to stand in their different groups. Don't worry about vocal range because each part is in unison anyway. Jets on my right, Sharks on my left. Gill, Antonio, Lovina, you guys can be...in the middle. Just wait for a while. Oh, the other girls wait too."
He placed Lovina between Gillian and Antonio. It was a most unsatisfactory position for her. Thankfully, Roderich demanded silence from all other parties as he taught the boys the melody, otherwise Antonio would have gabbed one ear off, and Gillian would have caused great pain to the other one too.
"Okay. I hope everyone else was listening, because that's basically it. All I want is to run through this song so you can get the feel of it. As I said, it's hard, which is why we're working on it first. Practice at home. Gillian, let's hear you sight read."
"Finally!"
It took Roderich over half an hour to teach the bare bones of the song, patiently going over ever note and lyric, straightening out confusions over rhythm and pitch. The counterpoint at the end was more hectic than epic at the moment, but that would come in time. After all, they had just learned it.
"Good work, everybody. Let's try the whole thing just once. If you mess up, don't worry about it. You've only known it for forty-five minutes anyway. And I'll play along with you." He nodded towards the Jets. "Ready? Listen for the intro."
The Jets are gonna have their day, tonight.
The Sharks are gonna have their way, tonight.
The Puerto Ricans grumble, fair fight.
But if they start a rumble, we'll rumble them right...
The boys' part went on for over a minute, stumbling and bumbling, but still managing to limp through with Roderich's help. Gillian's turn was right after theirs.
Anita's gonna get her kicks, tonight.
We'll have our private little mix, tonight.
He'll walk in hot and tired, so what?
Don't matter if he's tired, as long as he's hot...
Tonight!
She spared no expense in getting into character – flirty, fluttering eyelashes, planting her foot onto the riser above her and tracing her thigh in a provocative manner. Roderich couldn't help but to snort derisively. If anyone could be provocative in cargo pants, it would not be Gillian Beilschmidt.
He was happy to hear Antonio come in with his well-tuned tenor. The senior was standing casually in the centre of the room, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his folded sheet music.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night.
Tonight there will be no morning star!
Tonight, tonight, I'll see my love tonight,
And for us, stars will stop where they are.
Today, the minutes seemed like hours, the hours go so slowly, and still the sky is light...
Oh moon, grow bright, and make this endless day endless night!
Antonio was easily one of the best singers in the room. There had been no slip ups or wrong notes, only smooth melody filling the entire room. He probably had been listening to the soundtrack at home. And the way he made it sound so effortless and sincere had drawn giggles from girls across the room, not to mention a reluctant sneaking glance from the one standing next to him.
Alfred couldn't sound any more different, even if he also seemed perfectly in character.
We're counting on you to be there, tonight.
When Diesel wins it fair and square, tonight.
That Puerto Rican punk'll go down, and when he's hollered uncle, we'll tear up the town!
On the last note, Roderich looked up and nodded at Lovina. She joined in, her gently rising soprano now in the background.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night.
Tonight there will be no morning star!
Tonight, tonight, I'll see my love tonight,
And for us, stars will stop where they are...
By this point, all the other parts were purposefully clashing upon one another – Sharks and Jets droning on like a stubborn chant, while Gillian belted as loud as she could and Antonio obliviously sang along. Roderich spared a peek into the risers to see Lovina's face twisted into a grimace. He could only see her mouth moving, her voice completely drowned out by the cacophony.
Today, the minutes seemed like hours, the hours go so slowly, and still the sky is light...
Oh moon, grow bright, and make this endless day endless night!
We're gonna rock it, tonight!
There was a brief moment of respite when they all took in a deep breath for the big finish.
TOOOONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!
The silence that filled the room right afterwards surprised them all.
"Not bad for our first try," Roderich said a bit unconvincingly.
"Not bad? That was a train wreck!"
"Fine, be a pessimist if you want. It's only the first rehearsal. Just go home and practice." He stood up and began to sort the stack of sheet music on the end of the piano. "Let's move on and do some sectionals. We already spent an hour on this. Jet girls and Shark boys, you can leave now."
A number of people left - some rather speedily - to receive the weekend with open arms. Roderich handed Antonio two new songs.
"I'm going to stay here and work with the others on the gang songs. The song's pretty easy, no harmonies until the end bit. You two have considerable musical prowess, so let's see what you can accomplish in...well, it's a little past 4:30 now, so say...forty minutes? Use the practice room down the hall, then come back at 5:15 or so and we'll have you guys perform it."
He turned back to the rest of the group without waiting for an answer. Lovina eyed Antonio suspiciously as he powered up his blinding smile up another notch.
"Hey, don't look so worried! I know this song. We'll do great. You're a really good singer."
"Don't butter me up, I'm not a potato," she snapped, snatching up one of the packets.
He laughed as if she had told the greatest joke he had ever heard and held the door open. Lovina marched through it, feeling a bit embarrassed, but also, for some reason, pleased.
A/N: Okay, so I did change the action a little bit. I made their first rendition of "Tonight Quintet" appallingly bad instead of surprisingly good. It only makes sense as it's their first rehearsal! And I find it way more hilarious.
The recording I use when writing this story is the 1957 Original Broadway Cast Recording with Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence as the leads, if anybody would like to know. Thanks for all the reviews, I always love to read your comments!
