William McKinley School Musical 2011: West Side Story
Cast:
Tony: Blaine Anderson
Maria: Rachel Berry
Riff: Mike Chang
Anita: Katie Chew
Bernardo: Noah Puckerman
Rosalia: Mercedes Jones
Baby John (Somewhere Soloist): Kurt Hummel
Jet Girls: Quinn Fabray, Brittany S. Pierce, Rebecca Dean, Jenn Palowski, Erin Velasquez
Shark Girls: Santana Lopez, Tina Cohen Chang, Emma Tanner, Laura Hart
Rachel continues to read down the list. The Jet and Shark Boys have been cast entirely from the football team, and a few Cheerios have opted to join the girls in the chorus. Rachel hates the idea of more cheerios invading musical theatre, but has to admit that this show involves a lot of dancing, and a bunch of stumbling football players just won't cut it. For all their attitude and lack of creative energy, the cheerios will be perfect chorus dancers. They have to be, because Katie is never going to be able to do Anita justice during America. That thought helps Rachel.
Not that she should need her self esteem helped at all. Rachel has the lead role. The role that any self respecting actress would kill for. Rachel is going to be Maria, the Juliet of the show, whose tragic loss of love makes the show so horrifyingly beautiful and poignant. She gets to say those words…
You ALL killed him! And my brother! And Riff! Not with bullets and knives! With HATE!
Well, I can kill now too, because now I have hate! How many can I kill Chino?
How many - and still have one bullet left for me?
But it doesn't feel like winning, because she heard what Katie said when she saw the list. Because Katie was glad. Because "I would have hated playing Maria. The character is so flat…" Because Rachel didn't really win. She already knew she was Maria, and nothing changed, except that now Maria is… Flat. Maria is uninteresting. Part of Rachel wanted to scream that Katie was wrong. But part of her believes it's true, and is ashamed.
Either way. NYADA will be impressed. And that is what Rachel tells herself as she strides away from the little white bulletin posted outside the auditorium.
-X-
"I don't know what I did wrong. I thought the solo was perfect… but… I just won't ever get the chance, will I? I'm too much of a girl. No one will ever cast me as a tony. I'm such a friggin horrible actor that I'll never be able to play a character that's not a flaming homosexual!" Kurt really wants to cry, and scream, but mostly he just wants to have gotten the part. It's the first time today that Kurt has said anything about his role in the musical. He congratulated Blaine quickly in the twenty seconds they saw each other before period two, but that was it. He can't truly hate Blaine… because Blaine is perfect for the role. Kurt sighs and looks down at his lump of clay as it spins on the wheel, around and around and around.
"Have you ever noticed that you're not the only one who got screwed over? I heard Mercedes' audition yesterday, and it was better than Rachel's. Really. And she's just a background character. Because Maria isn't black. Maria is a stick thin, unbelievably, magically beautiful little Puerto Rican girl who falls traumatically and magically in love with the strong, manly, yet sensitive Tony.
This show is about how differences, and racism, and lines drawn to create hate. If they gave it a rainbow mixed up, accepting all people no matter what, cast, it wouldn't get the point across as clearly. They can't cast it blindly. It's just not an option for them, or it would be a risky one. And you got the perfect role for you.
You're going to be a knockout, and sing one of the most beautiful solos in the show, while gorgeous girls and guys dance around you under the most breathtaking lighting design ever. There will be roles for you later, and people will take risks for you to put a twist on great romantic roles, and you have a fabulous voice… but drama is picky, if you have a single flaw, they don't take you."
Kurt smiles only very slightly, and only for her sake. "This coming from the girl who got the second female lead."
Katie shakes her head. "This coming from the girl who spent years in middle school shows being pushed to the part of the cast that stood in the back and sung, because no matter how good her singing was, better, even, than some of the leads, she didn't look the part, or her dancing wasn't good enough, or they really, really needed her high soprano helping out that chorus group."
Kurt does laugh this time. "I guess it's a good thing that there weren't dance auditions for the show…" and Katie nods, smiling, and wiping the sweat off her forehead, leaving behind a streak of grey clay.
"I'm sure I'm going to be forced into some kind of hideous training schedule. The dances she does are incredible. Maybe I'll even lose weight if I'm dancing enough. I never get out and exercise." Katie muses and pokes at her belly. She leaves a grey fingerprint on the pale blue and white stripes button down that she's currently using as a smock, though it's covering an equally messy homemade silkscreened shirt, and a pair of old navy blue jeans that's rolled up to mid calf.
"Don't even say that. You are not fat!" Kurt exclaims, and the moment he says it, he knows this conversation is going to end up in one of those uncomfortable places where everyone's telling each other they're not fat, everyone's thinking they are, and no one really is.
"Well, I think I look beautiful, thank you very much, but the doctor says I weigh too much, and it would be nice for them to actually have my size jeans out at stores when I go shopping. You always have to ask for them to go in back to get the size thirteens, it's annoying."
"I disagree with your doctor. 150 is a perfectly good weight for someone your height. If you got any skinnier it'd be unhealthy." Kurt looks at the clock and says "It's five minutes till the bell," so the two of them get up and go to the sink to wash their hands.
Katie finishes first, because she doesn't care about getting all the gunk out from under her fingernails, and as she walks away, she says, not quietly, but not drawing attention to the comment, "Try adding another thirty pounds onto that figure. I weigh 180." She doesn't sound ashamed or disappointed, but just says it simply, as if it's the truth. Because it is.
When Kurt returns from the sink, the conversation is over, even though Kurt is surreptitiously examining Katie's butt and thighs and trying to figure out how that many pounds fits into it. He shrugs. She's beautiful either way. The two of them chat about the new Alexander McQueen collection. He has attempted to convert Katie to be interested in high fashion, even if she still insists on wearing her fabulously put together outfits that have come out of bargain bins and thrift shops. She points out one dress that reminds her of a project runway design from several seasons ago, and the two launch into a discussion of their favorite designers. When the bell rings they leave together, incessant chatter being the most comfortable setting between them.
After a few seconds of walking in the hall Katie slows and stops by a locker that Kurt knows isn't hers. Kurt is about to ask why, until he hears the unmistakable sound coming from across the hallway.
"I said, Give. Me. Your. Lunch. Money. Faggot."
One of McKinley's hockey players has a slender, bespectacled boy pressed up against a locker, with unmistakable terror in his eyes. Before Kurt even has a chance to think of what to do, Katie marches up to the pair.
"I'd let him go if I were you."
The hulking jock turns to look down at Katie, who doesn't even so much as flinch.
"You going to make me?"
"You'd have to stick around to find out." There's a pause. "Don't fucking call him a faggot. That's just a dickhead thing to say. So stop being a bigot and a bully and let him go."
The jock does let the kid go, and he scrambles off, abandoning a calculus textbook in his hurry to escape.
"You don't run this place, dyke, and you better get that through your skull before you start trying to play god. No one's going to take it. You need muscle to back up your words here." He stalks away, and Katie leans down to pick up the history textbook the kid left.
"How did you do that?"
Katie turns around at Kurt's question. "What do you mean?"
"Stand up to him like that?" Kurt clarifies.
"He was being an absolute fucktard. Stuff like that shouldn't happen in school, or anywhere. I've never seen anyone be that much of a dick," She replies. "at least not out in the open."
Kurt looks confused now, "You haven't. Didn't people get bullied at your school?"
Katie looks a bit confused, and a bit thoughtful. "I guess they did. But it was never that blatant, the slamming into lockers and stealing your lunch money. Physical violence wasn't so big. If bullying did happen… it was the kind where all the popular girls turn on one friend and alienate her… not this kind…"
"Gay guys didn't get picked on?" Kurt asked, curiously.
"I come from a place where almost everyone is a super liberal democrat… so the answer would be no, at least much less so than here. I'd like to say that I've never had anyone give me a problem for my sexuality… but I don't think I fit in the right demographic to be picked on, because I'm a bisexual girl… that's a lot more socially acceptable."
Kurt does a double take. "You like girls?"
"Is your gaydar malfunctioning?"
Kurt laughs. "If I had any gaydar whatsoever, my junior year would have been a hell of a lot less complicated than it was. Maybe the whole Karofsky issue…" Kurt trails off, and Katie looks confused. "That's a story for another day… Come on, we both need to get to class."