DISCLAIMER: I do not own Hollywood U. This amazing game belongs to Pixelberry! :)
My responses to your reviews:
138. (15/04/17) MiraMaria: Yay! :) I think the drabbles will be up and running again from May 2017 onwards :) And I'm happy you noticed that because I liked that line too! :D (And I'm glad you're looking forward to that special chapter! :D)
137. (14/04/17) Ariza Luca: Hee hee! :P I'm glad you noticed that because I think I was laughing when I wrote that part! XD
136. (09/04/17) hp and stargirl: Glad you liked the chapter! :)
135. (08/04/17) CatsRtheBOSS: I'm happy you like the drabbles! :D If things go according to plan, I will be continuing them again sometime in May 2017 :) And while Thomas thinks Mischief is his pet, you're right... we all know the real story about that! XD
Chapter Thirty-Six: Day 29 (Monday) – Opening Night (Level 15)
That morning, Thomas was perplexed to find in his e-mail inbox several notifications about the same thing. Wondering what had happened that had required so many pieces of news about it in the late hours of the night and early hours of the morning, he scrolled down to the earliest notification e-mail and clicked on the link.
When he saw the page that had finished loading, it all made sense.
So this is what that was all about.
It was Marie Claire and Bradley's page about their Good as Gold production. The first notification that had send Thomas to their page had been for an apologetic post they had made concerning the dress rehearsal, conveying their sympathy and regret for the unexpected confusion that had occurred the previous night.
While admitting to mistakes would have been considered a bad move by others, Thomas thought that to acknowledge the incident publicly was wise – it showed their conscientiousness as theater producers and gave them further, and public, incentive to do better work.
As he looked at the posts that followed, he saw that most of them were photos about behind-the-scenes activities that had taken place after the dress rehearsal. The first photo showed Addison holding up two bulging tote bags, her genuine smile for the camera a little strained because of the weight of the tote bags. Underneath the photo, a caption proclaimed Addison as the show's costume and fashion lifesaver, tagging her as well as other fashionista majors at the end of the post.
There were many photos, and of various people. Crash was shown swinging from the rafters on his way to a broken spotlight, and Ethan was photographed making a rectangle with his fingers. While the former was self-explanatory, the latter's caption, which proclaimed Ethan the "king of publicity," also mentioned that they had an upcoming radio spot that afternoon and a large advertisement in the newest issue of Variety, which was already available for sale today.
In addition, there were also photos of several other students, customizing costumes for the cast, cooperating to make various repairs in the theater, folding programs, cutting out tickers, and doing a myriad of other normally unseen tasks that were necessary for a musical's opening night. All of the captions had the people tagged, along with the writer's thanks. Thomas wondered offhandedly if it was Marie Claire or Bradley who had made all the posts.
He paused. Unlike the several group photos that came before it, the final photo had only two people. It showed Marie Claire and Bradley in a candid shot, each with bright eyes and their mouths slightly open as if captured while in song. Each of them had an arm stretched out as they looked at an invisible audience with visions of the future in their eyes.
The caption read, "Actually the first photo of the night! Our fearless leaders singing their troubles away!"
Not either of them, then. They must have a different person in charge of Good as Gold's social media accounts.
After looking at the happy photo for a few more seconds, Thomas exited his web browser. While he wouldn't admit it to anybody – well, their optimism almost made him believe that they could succeed.
Later that morning, Andrew sent him an e-mail, asking for recommendations about certain aspects of the renovations of the Orchid Theater. Because Thomas had been there just the previous night, he had a much better handle than before on what ought to be replaced and what could remain untouched.
He sent detailed comments about several things that he noticed during the dress rehearsal as well as after leaving it.
The chairs inside the theater were in bad condition – the cushions of the theater seats were unevenly stuffed, and some were actually patched or torn in certain places. When the sparks rained on the audience and Thomas walked towards the exit, he noticed that near the doors, the copper of the wiring for the speakers and other equipment were clearly seen, which was extremely dangerous. Wires were normally covered in rubber or silicone – open wires like that were prone to damage if left the way they were, and could cause electrical damage, including explosions and blackouts.
In the lobby, some of the stone pillars had cracks. While they weren't enough to make them unstable, they were sufficient to lessen the opulent ambiance the theater was supposed to have. The various fixtures in the lobby were worn and scratched; the wooden floor contained deep grooves from furniture being dragged across as they were likely rearranged many times in attempts to rebrand the Orchid Theater.
After writing down those observations, as well as a few others, he sent the e-mail.
While driving to a restaurant for lunch, Thomas remembered that the radio spot for Good as Gold was due to begin soon and he tuned his radio to the correct station – just in time to catch a radio DJ introducing Bradley.
To Thomas' trained ear, it was clear that Bradley's promotional spiel was largely extemporaneous. He would sometimes skip over key details, such as ticket prices and directions to the theater, but the experienced DJ would lead him back to those important points without making his interference too obvious.
But after those details had been established, his obvious passion for the Orchid Theater and for Good as Gold shone through, and he needed no prompting to expound on the details of the Orchid Theater's rich history and Good as Gold's interesting backstory, occasionally singing a line or two from the musical in order to even better convey his excitement.
When the DJ asked how he had gotten involved in the first place, Thomas heard the whole story from his point of view, and he had to admit that Bradley had talent, making the whole process sound like a noble quest, but without exaggerating or making anything up. And when asked how he and Marie Claire shared producer responsibilities, and where his co-producer was right now, Bradley gave a few compliments to Marie Claire before commenting that she was on-set at the moment, having chosen to oversee the final repairs and conduct equipment tests to ensure compliance with proper safety protocol.
Thomas allowed himself a small smile as the interview finished and the DJ announced the next guest. It had taken a little time for Marie Claire to learn – that tank! - but he knew that she now took safety in her projects seriously, even to the point of wanting to stay behind in the theater rather than taking the chance to speak on a public radio show – and he was glad.
And, after he finished lunch and had headed back to the university, he read another e-mail from Andrew, saying that due to the great amount of publicity Good as Gold had received in just the past twelve hours, and the rising ticket sales that said publicity had accomplished, the university had just sent their official proposal to the city and were now waiting for their reply.
The atmosphere of any opening night was electric, and the opening night of Good as Gold was no different, the crowd almost buzzing with energy as they took their seats. Thomas, having selected a ticket in the fourth row, was close enough to see the stage but not too close as to have to tilt his head up for his line of sight to align with the level of the stage.
He couldn't see them, or hear what they were saying, but Thomas was sure that behind those dark red velvet curtains, Marie Claire and Bradley were whispering in excitement to each other, having a confusing mixture of feelings – sadness at the circumstances that made the production necessary; anxiety about their musical's opening night and hoping everything went off without a hitch; and thrill at the large crowd they had amassed in the short period of time that they had. He was sure they were thinking those things, because he acknowledged their positions as co-producers and knew without a doubt that producers always had the performance, the production, in their hearts.
After a soaring, instrumental overture, the curtains rose, as they did during the dress rehearsal, on the set of a prospecting town – this time with the storefront looking repaired and freshly painted. Bradley, being the first character to walk onstage, looked eagerly at his surroundings.
"This is it!" he sang happily, "I'm finally here! Me and my friends are gonna strike it rich, I can feel it!"
His character's prediction proved right as Bradley, Marie Claire, and a few other students looked for a promising location, selected one, and started panning for gold. After several disappointed sounds, punctuated in turn by despondent and encouraging musical numbers – they found a huge nugget of gold, which despite not being actual gold, was still quite shiny in Thomas' opinion.
This time, it was Marie Claire's turn to sound cheerful as she complimented Bradley, "You were right! There is gold here! Lots and lots of gold!"
They took the nugget to a pawn shop to sell it, earning large stacks of what Thomas hoped was fake hundred dollar bills. Because night had fallen – the change in the stage's backdrop provided that bit of information – they decided that Bradley would keep all the money in his tent, and they would split it evenly in the morning.
But when the sun rose, the money was gone, and, along with it, the loyalty of Bradley's friends. After singing scathing accusations at him, Marie Claire and the others left angrily, and only Bradley was left onstage, lamenting what had occurred.
"Why did I leave my home behind? Can anyone tell me why? Mama said it'd end this way, she told me not to try..."
He walked back and forth across the stage, touching tents, rocks, and trees sadly as he continued to sing about his doubts, moving members of the audience to tears.
But in the course of his song, the lyrics that Bradley sang changed from hopeless to hopeful, and instead of walking with hunched shoulders, he now strode confidently and with purpose, singing powerfully, "No! I can't hold back from leaping just because I'm scared to fall! Besides, a life that's free from risks is hardly a life at all!"
Because it was meant to be a lighthearted musical, events after Bradley's hopeful song made a turn for the better. After some unorthodox investigation, he found out who had taken the money and retrieved it, though he encountered humorous obstacles along the way.
The musical ended with the money found, the friends reunited, and Bradley belting out powerfully, "And yes friendship... oh, yes, friendship... is as good as goooold...!"
At the final note, there was a moment of hushed silence before the audience rose up as one to give the cast and crew a raucous standing ovation. Thomas himself had been clapping furiously along with everybody else for a few moments before he realized that, instinctively, he had risen from his seat along with everybody else.
He paused for a moment, wondering if his enthusiastic response somehow undermined his dignity – and then started clapping very loudly again once he swiftly decided that he didn't care.
These were his students, who, with very little funding had managed to stage a fully sold out musical production in only five days, all for their love for stage performance and for the Orchid Theater.
Marie Claire and Bradley had fought with all their might for what was important to them, and, dignified professor or not, Thomas would honor them with his standing ovation and his loud applause.
They deserved it.
After he left the theater proper to join the rest of the audience in the lobby, his phone buzzed – and, as it turned out, with very good news about the Orchid Theater.
He didn't have to look for Marie Claire and Bradley – it was easy to see them because they were surrounded by a crowd of admirers. They looked positively lit up with joy as they gave each person they spoke to their full attention, receiving compliments with a pleasing combination of genuine surprise and dignified grace.
As he continued to watch them, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Brian Ratzik walking up to them, crossing his arms triumphantly as he came to a stop in front of Thomas's students.
Being the first to notice Brian, Marie Claire rolled her eyes at him. "Ugh. Are you here to gloat again?"
"Of course. That little show you put on was... cute, in its own way," said Brian in a condescending tone, "but one measly little opening night won't make a difference to me or to the bulldozers I have waiting in the next lot. They're going to start tearing this place down the second I get confirmation from the city."
That's what he thinks.
"Actually, Brian..." With just a few steps, Thomas was able to reach the three of them, and he came to a stop beside Marie Claire.
He continued, "All the buzz about this show caught the attention of Hollywood U's administration. Once they saw the ticket sales, well... To make a long story short, the Orchid Theater is now the property of Hollywood University."
Take that!
"What?" That came from Bradley, who looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Beside him, Marie Claire looked similarly dumbfounded.
Brian's face darkened as he snarled, "What?! How could that happen, Hunt? I submitted my bid weeks ago! Not only that, but I was the only one who was even interested at all! I was the only bidder!"
"Correction... you were the only bidder," Thomas said smugly, "until this afternoon. The combination of outbidding you and our proposing to preserve the Orchid Theater as a historical landmark prompted the city to take our side. I only received confirmation from them ten minutes ago."
"You mean..." Bradley tried to continue, but he couldn't.
Thomas turned to his students, smiling slightly. "Renovations are already being planned. The Orchid Theater will stand here for a long time."
For a few seconds, nobody spoke... until the silence was broken by Marie Claire, who stuck her tongue out at a seething Brian. "Haha! What do you think of our 'cute' show now, huh?"
"Nobody from back home is ever going to believe this!" gushed Bradley.
Brian, on the other hand squinted suspiciously at Thomas. "You're enjoying this, aren't you, Hunt?"
He responded with an innocent blink.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."
As he watched Brian storm away, the hint of a smile on Thomas' face didn't fade as he turned to face his students once again.
"I suppose congratulations are in order."
Bursting with pent-up emotion, Billy exclaimed, "I knew it, Professor! I knew that if we just tried our best and believed in ourselves, we would save the theater! Right? Right?"
This... is much more naivete than I'm used to...
As Thomas raised his eyebrow at his supremely excitable student, he noticed, Marie Claire surreptitiously raise her hand to cover her grin, as if knowing exactly how Thomas would react to such an optimistic statement.
"Absolutely not, Bradley," he said levelly. At his confusion, he continued, "The University bought this theater because it was a sound investment. Don't make the mistake of thinking that things like belief or optimism did the trick. Money is what saved this theater."
He paused.
"But you were only successful in making that money because you persevered. The world threw everything at you, as it always does, as it always must... and you didn't give up. That made all the difference."
Seeing that they were only capable of elated silence at the moment, Thomas gave Marie Claire and Bradley a curt nod before walking away from them. There was, after all, only so much saccharine encouragement that he could dispense in a single day.
Not that he had been actively encouraging them, of course.
After a few minutes of reading the city's email in full – it had actually been sent to the administration's official e-mail address, but as one of the main professors involved, the city had included Thomas' e-mail address in the list of recipients as well – he walked through the exit and saw that it was raining heavily outside.
And his students, Marie Claire and Bradley, the two responsible co-producers of this successful production of Good as Gold, were right in the middle of the heavy downpour, singing and laughing as they celebrated their success by dancing in the rain.
He smiled.
It was moments like this that made being a professor worth it...
...not that he was going to tell anybody that!
After arriving home, Thomas went to his journal to write down his thoughts about what his two students had accomplished.
"Marie Claire and Bradley, the co-producers of Good as Gold, successfully pulled off a complex stage production after having only five days to prepare. This was not Marie Claire's first stint as a producer, and I believe that the success of Good as Gold can be at least partially attributed to the skills she has developed in the course of learning what it means to take responsibility for a professional production. Their laudable efforts were rewarded by standing ovations by most of the members of the audience, myself included."
(End of Chapter Thirty-Six.) (15/04/17.)
00. Message from the author:
Hello, hello, hello to all of you! :D Today, April 15, 2017, Saturday, is the one-year anniversary of "Not Your Typical Meet-Cute!":D I can't believe it's been a whole year! Thank you so, very much for being with me and my fanfic on this journey! ^_^ Let's look forward to future chapters together! :D
(Despite what I said last week, I don't think I'm ready to talk about HWU yet. I hope you understand.) When you think about it, a lot happened during the Broadway help quest, what with the school stepping in to buy the Orchid Theater and all. In writing about it, I tried to answer questions like, "How does Thomas know Brian Ratzik?" and "Why would the city sent Thomas confirmation about the Orchid Theater?" A lot happened behind the scenes that Marie Claire doesn't know about! XD And he was actually quite proud of both of them in this chapter - imagine restoring a theater; and gathering enough actors and crew and musicians; creating and mending costumes and sets and props; spreading word about the musical; and getting a full house on your opening night... all in five days! O.o
01. Canon compliance:
The HWU quests that took place in this chapter were Celebrity Wedding (L15) and Curtains (Day 05 of 05).
02. A tiny request:
Thank you for reading my fanfic! :D If you've read this far, I hope you'll consider taking an extra minute to leave a review for Chapter Thirty-Six ("Opening Night")? :D Reviews really mean a lot to me as a fanfiction writer because I get to hear your thoughts on something I worked really hard on ^_^ Even if it's the year 2075 or something, I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter! :D
03. Two interesting HWU things:
One, the HWU online television series! :D Did you know that a fellow HWU fan, Zoe (her username on Tumblr is "dizzyclueless"), is diligently working on HWU: The Series? It's a fan-made online television series based on Thomas Hunt and other characters from Hollywood U! ^_^ (At the moment, I'm just a very enthusiastic supporter... but I would LOVE to be involved in HWU: The Series someday! :D) You can find out more about this AMAZING television project on Tumblr (their official Tumblr blog is "hwutheseries"). I just LOVE how Pixelberry and Hollywood U have inspired SO many of us fans! ^_^
And two, my second HWU fanfic! :D If you're interested in reading Marie Claire's perspective of this chapter (Chapter Thirty-Six), then I encourage you to read "NYTMC 2: Marie Claire's Interlude" ^_^ Here's the summary: "(Part two of the NYTMC series.) (Midquel.) How did Marie Claire Hart fall in love with her most dashing, yet most cantankerous, professor? A retelling of my MC/Hunt fanfic "NYTMC 1: Not Your Typical Meet-Cute" from Marie Claire's perspective, in 100-word drabbles."