let's make this beautiful: table read
"Shit!"
"Wha…What time is it?"
"Shit! Shit!"
"Bec?"
"Shit!"
"Beca." Sitting up, Stacie glared at her roommate. "What is wrong with you?"
"We are so fucked," Beca breathed, pulling on a different pair of sweatpants and spraying her deodorant all at once. "Dude I can't fucking believe I said yes to shots, fuck you."
"Wait, are we late?"
"We have ten minutes before the table read starts." She snapped, throwing clothes at her best friend and rushing to brush her teeth. "Oh shit…I haven't warmed up. Shit."
"Beca, shut up. They're not gonna start without the main role." Stacie sighed.
"They took a fucking gamble casting me anyway, if I'm late I'm out." Beca mumbled through a mouthful of toothpaste.
Rolling her eyes, Stacie stood up and stretched, padding out of their room and grabbing two aspirins from the cabinet, knowing damn well that in her panic Beca would forget her own hangover. Dropping them into two water bottles, Stacie smirked as she heard Beca running towards the sofa to grab the jacket still strewn across it from the night before – without even looking, she knew there was a nest ready for a family of bluebirds atop the girl's scalp.
"Hair, Beca."
"Yep!"
Stacie giggled as she heard Beca pivot and apologise to the coffee table for bumping into it.
Somehow, by the grace of God, the two made it to the theatre in time. It was lucky they had been able to rent an apartment so close to Broadway with the money Stacie had inherited from her grandparents – had they lived further like the rest of the cast they wouldn't have gotten there for another half hour, at least. The two brunettes came bounding into the theatre through the main entrance, having missed all introductions and explorations of dressing rooms.
"Finally! You two have missed your warmups, I hope you're good at improvising." A stone-faced blonde snapped, standing atop the pit with her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, ma'am," Beca and Stacie mumbled, rushing to the stage.
"Hold on, what are your names?"
Beca whipped round to see a gorgeous redhead holding a clipboard. She had the brightest blues Beca had ever seen, and her rosy lips weren't pursed like her counterpart's, but instead held a tinge of an amused smile. Beca blushed, biting her lip as she glanced briefly at the rest of the cast, most of whom were chuckling.
"Um, Beca Mitchell."
The redhead's lips upturned into a bright smile. "It's great to finally be acquainted, Beca. Even through…rushed circumstances. I'm Chloe, the director…everyone, this is our Veronica Sawyer!"
Beca smiled a little shyly at the cast up on the stage, grabbing a script from Chloe's desk and climbing onto the stage, avoiding the stairs and making her cohorts laugh. She sat down as Stacie was also given a script, clearing her throat a little and lightly humming a short warmup.
Chloe stood and surveyed her cast, beaming. She put her clipboard down. "Okay guys let's take it from the top. You've all had a few weeks to learn your songs, but don't worry about making it sound perfect or anything, we haven't even begun to workshop how everyone will sound together, but if you can, sing along with the piano so our choral director, Aubrey, can hear what she has to work with! Ready? Let's do this,"
Beca gulped and took a swig from her water bottle. She cleared her throat once more. "September 1st, 1989-"
"Beca, performance voice!"
"Sorry," Beca said quickly, flushing red – as the main, she felt she really should be doing better than this. "September 1st, 1989. Dear Diary…I believe I'm a good person. I believe there's good in everyone! But here we are, first day of senior year, and I look around at these kids that I've known all my life and I ask myself – what happened?"
Smiling a little at the sound of Chloe's laugh, Beca took a deep breath as the chorus began with their insults. Turning to share a look with Stacie, her best friend nodded with a bright grin, and Beca grinned back. When they were 12, they had vowed to perform together on Broadway. The two had been performing together since the age of 6, doing duet after duet at dance competitions, often side by side in musicals such as Annie or Bugsy Malone at their school and local theatres. It was only when they got to freshman year of high school that Stacie realised she preferred to dance and Beca decided to focus on acting. From then it was always about getting Stacie her solos and Beca her main roles. And when they were 17 watching a bootleg of Heathers, they vowed to get into the next Broadway revival. By that stage, Beca had begun auditioning and Stacie had already been cast as a dancer in her first Broadway show. Now, six years later and fresh out of college, the two had somehow fooled their way through the casting process, and Beca even outshined the seasoned professionals. According to her agent, Chloe had loved her from the moment she saw her audition tape, and nobody else could compare. Beca had rolled her eyes at the time, having not yet been cast. But looking around now at the timeless theatre she was sat in, admiring its increasingly intricate gold embellishments and the sea of plump crimson seats holding years of legendary history, she was starting to believe. Hearing Chloe's laugh and seeing her bright expressions…it was enough for Beca to know she was where she belonged. It wasn't a big mistake or a running joke, and she wasn't immediately fired upon entry. She was wanted here. She'd only done the opening dialogue and she was already impressing. She could do this.
"We were so tiny, happy and shiny, playing tag and getting chased…" As she sung the words she knew like the back of her hand, Beca took the time to survey the space. Her eyes settled on Aubrey, who was squinting at her with scrunched lips, analysing. The brunette couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing, but the way she was being glared at didn't exactly put her at ease. She instead focused her sight on Chloe. Although they had literally only just met, the grin the redhead was giving her made her smile back, and a flood of warmth rush through her insides. e eHer
Taking the time to look at her castmates as she began interacting with them through the number, Beca's grin widened. Despite not knowing their names or characters, she could almost tell who was playing who. The Heathers were sitting together, dressed in red, green and yellow sweatshirts (a complete coincidence, she found out later), her JD had his long dark hair partly covering his face and a black leather jacket on, and the actors playing Ram and Kurt both wore letterman jackets. Beca looked down at her own outfit – the hoodie she'd pulled on in her rush was only a few shades from being Veronica blue; the realisation caused her to chuckle slightly through her meeting with Ram.
She was pulled from her thoughts listening to the Heathers. Her jaw dropped and she nearly missed her cue – their voices blended together perfectly, so perfectly they could probably perform a concert tomorrow and outshine others who had forgone months of rehearsals. This musical was going to be special.
The table read continued, and everyone's timings were impeccable – Beca hoped she would find this cast as funny as she did now in a couple of months on opening night, because she truly did have to bite her cheeks to keep it together at moments. As she read, it was impossible not to get more enamoured in being Veronica than herself, and she found herself vocally reacting to other characters with scoffs and huffs without even needing to act. By the time Dead Girl Walking began, and it was just her and JD standing centre stage to sing, it all came naturally. Beca didn't notice, but Veronica's drunken bitterness and purposeful shrewdness shone through. With smirks, narrowed lids, and raised brows, Beca unknowingly amazed everyone watching, even JD, who was grinning at her as she sang. The general rule at musical table reads was to avoid applauding – nobody was truly giving it their all and applause often unnecessarily wasted time. After Beca's final belting riff, however, it was unavoidable. Stacie's first whoop startled her, and she jumped slightly, looking at her friend and then noticing everyone else begin to clap and hearing their exclamations. Aubrey, too, was smiling as she clapped and Chloe was on her feet.
Beca knew this would be her first surreal experience of many.
Not quite knowing how to respond, the short brunette smiled a little and shook her head – she truly didn't think she deserved any sort of special praise after just doing her job.
"You're incredible," JD said to her genuinely. "Seriously!"
Pulling her sleeves over her palms, Beca chuckled. "Thank you, so are you,"
"You're next level, dude. Complete sweep at the Tony's, next level,"
"Shut the fuck up," Beca scoffed with a roll of her eyes as they sat back down.
"Wow, Beca!" Chloe said, "to think that this is just a table read…I think it's safe to say that we're all really excited to see you at your full potential. Okay, we still have a show to get through, let's keep going! You're all so amazing already!"
A short coffee break was given at the interval, and after speaking a little with the actresses playing Heather Chandler and Heather McNamara about the absurdity of actually having roles in a Broadway musical, Beca felt a tap on her shoulder
"Breakfast?"
Beca turned to see Stacie looking at her questionably, and she nodded, grabbing her jacket and following Stacie as she jumped down from the stage.
As they reached stage door, Stacie smirked. "I told you so."
"Told me what?"
"I told you when we sent in our audition tapes that you are literally going to blow everyone away if you get Veronica. And here we are."
"Oh my god, shut up," Beca shoved her slightly.
"What? Bec, they clapped."
"Yeah, I was just enjoying it cause it's my favourite song,"
"You were performing it, and even Aubrey applauded. She's been glaring this whole rehearsal."
"Stacie." Beca glared. "I swear to god, if you-"
"Keep telling the truth? You've been cast as the main in a beloved musical. It wasn't an accident." Stacie said proudly.
Beca allowed herself to smile a little then as they entered Dunkin'. "Whatever."
"Beca, who the hell taught you to sing like that?"
Looking up, Beca noticed Chloe standing at the food display, already holding a paper bag and an iced coffee.
"Um, my mom, I guess," Beca bit her lip. "She's a singing teacher,"
"Was she on Broadway, too?" Chloe asked, half-jokingly.
Beca chuckled and rolled her eyes. "I'm not even on Broadway, yet, dude,"
"You're halfway there," Chloe winked. "Seriously, Beca. I don't even know how you haven't been in a cast yet. You were made for this role."
"You've only heard half the show, Chloe – for all you know I'm about to absolutely butcher Seventeen," Beca narrowed her eyes with a smirk. She didn't usually get along with people so easily, but the light-heartedness of Chloe's persona rubbed off on her in conversation.
Chloe shrugged nonchalantly. "Then we'll just get you cast as Mrs Lovett instead,"
Beca furrowed her brows in confusion, before the joke dawned on her and she let out a bark of laughter. Chloe giggled too, and Beca was about to respond when Aubrey came up to them holding her own paper bag and cup.
"Ready, Chlo?" Aubrey asked her friend brightly. Beca took a slow breath, ignoring the fact that Aubrey had completely blanked her.
"Totes," Chloe nodded. "See you back at the theatre, Beca!"
"Bye," Beca smiled.
"Christ." Stacie piped up, stalking across the shop and handing Beca a coffee. "Think you can keep it in your pants for the duration of the table read?"
"What?"
"You already have a crush on our director." Stacie laughed.
"No…I really don't, Stace? We were literally just talking." Beca frowned, looking into the paper bag Stacie was holding. "Cinnamon swirls and caramel nut rings, nice,"
"Need I remind you of our last director…" Stacie sang as they left the shop. Beca could faintly see Chloe and Aubrey walking ahead and made sure to lower her voice.
"Oh my god, that was so different. She was a milf."
"And you still tried to get into her pants,"
Beca huffed. "You have absolutely no right to talk to me right now. I don't think there's been a single show you've been in since freshman year where you haven't ended up making out with someone on opening night."
"It's my good luck charm," Stacie shrugged. "You and Chloe are gonna do a one-on-one rehearsal and it's gonna end with her in our apartment. Mark my words."
"Dude, we just met her! Unlike you I don't just fuck the first woman I see." Beca laughed around a mouthful of pastry.
The second half of the table read was just as successful – their cast was strong, hilarious, and certainly knew their characters well, and during the times where she wasn't reading or singing, Beca sat back, inwardly excited at the prospect of this being only the beginning, knowing that working together with this cast for months wasn't going to get boring. As she sat, she couldn't help but watch Chloe's reactions, like those of someone watching their first show. There wasn't an emotion that went by unexhibited and having such an animated and connected director certainly didn't hinder Beca's enjoyment. In fact, an unscripted moment shared between Duke and Mrs Fleming was enough to make Chloe snort, choking slightly on her sip of her iced coffee, and in turn making the rest of the cast laugh. Chloe shouted for the actresses to write that down as she giggled more to herself, and Beca didn't notice her own smile growing as she witnessed the redhead's happiness.
Eventually, they reached the final note and after a few moments of general chatter, Chloe stood up.
"You guys are so good! You literally make me hope I get the chance to be someone's understudy one night just so I can be a part of this cast. I don't have any notes (obviously) but here's my very basic plan…next week we'll be focusing mainly on learning the songs, I may have a few rehearsals with soloists to block out performances, so watch out for those in the schedule. It'll be pretty intensive so for anyone who hasn't rehearsed 10 hours a day before…take care of yourselves, avoid anything that could hinder your vocal performances, and please make sure you keep yourselves hydrated and avoid straining. The following week we'll be trying to learn a dance number a day, and the week after that will be about putting dance together with your songs, then we'll be focusing on blocking the rest of the show and perfecting it over the next few months. We open in September. Great job today, I'll email the schedule out tomorrow. This show is gonna be awesome!"
Applauding, cast members began to talk amongst themselves or stand up. A few left rather abruptly, and Beca was just finishing writing something down into her script when she noticed a shadow blocking the light.
"One second, Stace."
"Hey…Beca, was it?"
"Oh, shit, sorry," Beca said quickly, looking up to see the brunette letterman-wearing guy in front of her. "I thought you were Stacie," she gestured to the left to where Stacie was speaking with a group of cast members.
He looked over and laughed. "No worries, pretty cool you already know someone here,"
"Yeah, we were lucky to both get cast,"
"Uh, I'm Cam, just thought I'd let you know that we're having a cast dinner tonight to get to know each other a little. I think Chloe's coming too, I don't know about Aubrey but uh, yeah, if you can make it the plan is 7 o'clock at Stardust,"
"Oh, cool, yeah I'll be there, thanks. You're a really good Ram by the way,"
"Thanks," Cam chuckled. "Probably something to do with the rhyming names. See you later,"