Summary: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Rachel Berry, Nick Duvall, Jeff Sterling, and Elliott Gilbert make up Pamela Lansbury, a rock/pop band that hit it big after their first single was featured on popular tv-show Sing. A little over two years later the band is still dealing with the pressures of fame, their differing dreams, their fans, "shippers", and finding love.
Author's note: Been trying to find time to post this chapter since yesterday but at long last. Enjoy.
Chapter Four
The next few weeks were filled up with meetings, rehearsals, demo recordings, a few more interviews mostly on the phone, and a lot of work on the tour that included really finalizing the set-list and figuring out how the dynamics on stage would need to change now that Rachel was gone. Kurt was exhausted and he could tell that the rest of the guys were as well. They were finally getting a week to rest up and get ready to head out on tour so naturally on the first night without having obligations the next morning they all went out to Callbacks.
Kurt hadn't been back there since his fight with Rachel, but when Jeff and Elliott suggested going there, he didn't put up much of a fight.
"Are you alright?" Blaine asked.
"Just dandy," Kurt said and nudged his side, "the last month has been exhausting."
"But we start touring in a week. A new kind of exhaustion," Nick added, throwing his arms around both of them and squishing himself between them.
Kurt was excited to start the tour. He had missed being on a stage and while it had never been in his plans to do it while in a band, he couldn't deny the thrill that it brought him each and every time.
They arrived at Callbacks, walking in one after the other. For a few moments they went unnoticed, but eventually someone did and they whispered excitedly but no one came up to them while they found a table. It was the one thing that Kurt liked about Callbacks. It was a relaxed atmosphere full of mostly theater students that were happy to have them there but didn't make it difficult for them to have privacy or a good time.
Nick and Jeff went to get all of them drinks and they settled at a table.
"I missed this place," Elliott said, "we had our first band meeting here which I still think is crazy."
Kurt grinned at him. "Want to sing something?"
Up at the small stage was a young slip of a girl that reminded Kurt a little bit of Rachel except that she didn't have Rachel's voice and she wasn't taking the whole thing too seriously like Rachel would have.
"I'll go sign us up," Elliott said, "just me and you?"
Kurt nodded. "Yeah. You pick something."
Elliott got off his stool and ran towards the sign up sheet, stopping to talk to a few fans on the way and taking the time to take a few pictures as well.
"Elliott planning on singing?" Blaine asked.
"With me," Kurt said, "no idea what."
Nick and Jeff returned with their drinks and passed them out to them. "Did you guys hear," Nick said, "Jeff was just telling me about Wes finally hiring a tour manager today."
"No," Blaine said, "I'm impressed he cut it so close."
"What cut so close?" Elliott asked as he retook his seat and grabbed the beer they had brought over for him.
"Oh, Wes hired a tour manager finally," Jeff said.
Elliott finished taking a gulp and nodded. "Yeah. David told me they had to do a few background checks and stuff and the guy they wanted needed some convincing. Don't know why. So they probably just finally got him to sign a contract. It's too bad they couldn't get Beiste to come back. She was awesome."
"Agreed," Blaine said.
Kurt couldn't help but agree. He hadn't liked her at first because she was a bit odd and on the gruff side but aside from sometimes saying really strange things that didn't make much sense, she had been really good about getting them on stage when they needed to be and keeping track of them and the rest of the crew so that everything went well.
"Well he must be good if they wanted him that badly," he said, "we'll see soon enough."
"Oh," Blaine said, "I wanted to tell you earlier and forgot. The duet is approved for the next album. I think they really liked that it wasn't our usual sound."
Blaine and Elliott with help from the rest of the band and the occasional song writer from the label had finished almost all of the songs for their next album but that didn't meant that the label was always happy with the songs they produced and Blaine had been particularly fearful for the duet he had written for him and Kurt.
Jeff and Nick gave a loud cheer, clinking their glasses. Kurt just grinned at him and Elliott high fived him.
"Does that mean we can officially put it on the set list?"
"Maybe. We'll have to ask Wes what he thinks," Blaine said.
"And we'll need to get some practice in on it. I mean, we have the show pretty much ready," Kurt said.
When it was time for Elliott and Kurt to sing, Kurt downed the rest of his drink and followed him to the stage.
"What are we singing?"
"I Believe In A Thing Called Love," Elliott said.
Kurt laughed and walked up to the stage, going to stand by one of the microphones. Elliott joined him, grabbing the second microphone off the stand. The screen was placed between them, and the music started. Before he started singing, he saw a few people pull out their phones, pointing them at them. He just grinned wider and winked before he started to sing.
When they got off the stage it was to cheers, but they were left alone as they headed to the bar for more drinks and then back to their table.
Kurt had missed nights when he could hang out with his best friends and just have a good time without thinking about the numerous responsibilities or commitments they had.
Blaine got up to sing some time after them and Nick and Elliott took to the stage as well later in the night.
They left sometime after two, a little drunk but mostly just buzzed and happy. The car that was waiting for them outside took them back to Kurt's apartment only because it was closest and because Kurt had enough room for all of them to crash.
"I call the guest bedroom," Elliott said as soon as they got there.
"Pull out it is," Jeff said and it was unspoken that Nick would share with him and Blaine with Kurt.
"Just none of you wake me earlier than necessary," Kurt told them as he headed into the bathroom.
When he got back, Blaine had changed into a pair of Kurt's pajamas even though somewhere in the house he probably had his own pair. Kurt didn't mind and watched him go to the bathroom while he changed out of his clothes as well and then climbed into his bed.
Sleeping with other people near him, at least when it came to anyone in the band, had become as natural as anything else. There were no boundaries between any of them and sure enough right after Blaine re-joined him he actually heard his shower turn on. It was the result of touring and spending way too much time together in hotels and tour buses and green rooms.
Blaine turned off his light before climbing into the bed with him. It was king sized which meant plenty of room. One more band member could have joined them and it wouldn't have felt cramped.
"Any plans for tomorrow?" Blaine asked.
Kurt shook his head. "Relaxing I think. Although, I was thinking to go back to Ohio for a couple of days to visit my dad, so maybe I'll do that."
"It's so weird," Blaine said in a whisper, "you can just decide on a whim to visit family for a day or two just cause and be back like you didn't even leave."
"Just one of the perks I love," Kurt said.
"I'm so happy the duet is going to be on the album," Blaine said.
"Are you ever going to title it?"
His eyes had adjusted to the dark and he liked how the slivers of light that made it in from outside hit Blaine.
"Maybe just The Duet," Blaine said with a grin.
"No, that's too…I don't know…"
"Yeah…"
It looks like Pamela Lansbury had a fun night last night at Callbacks. All five members (formerly six) of PL showed up at Callbacks last night for some laughs, drinks, and some songs. A few of the videos can be viewed below and while we're sorry to report that there was neither a Klaine duet nor a Niff duet we did get a Kelliott one that we only wish to have seen live.
The two sang "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" and they sounded fantastic as you can see for yourself in the videos that a few fans who were present posted to Twitter and Tumblr. It makes you wonder why Elliott who writes a lot of the PL songs is not as heavily featured on the songs as Kurt or Blaine or Rachel.
Of course now that Rachel is no longer a part of the band, we can only hope that Elliott, Nick, and Jeff can shine on more vocals.
Fans who were there last night said that all five members of PL were friendly and having a fun time and while they weren't there for the attention of fans they did not send anyone that approached them away.
Pamela Lansbury is preparing to go on tour in a week kicking off at Roseland Ballroom. This particular show is sold out and will be the most intimate of the tour's shows being a much smaller venue but one with a lot of meaning to the band who first performed at Roseland right after signing with their label.
So did you manage to get tickets for Roseland or another date? How excited are you for PL to tour again? Please comment below and like this page for a chance to win a pair of tickets.
HummelAnderson: OMG, I missed them by one night! So unfair.
Klaine5eva: It's always so nice to see that they're still such good friends. Also can Elliott sing more? #need like I need air
PLBerry: Living out in Narnia makes hearing about Roseland so difficult. Ugh.
NiffKlainer: Regretting buying tickets for the NJ show instead of the NYC one now.
Starchildismine: Elliott's voice could cure cancer.
Klaine5eva: petition for Elliott to sing all the things…I'm crossing my fingers he gets some of the Rachel parts from their songs.
"Brilliant," Jesse said, clapping his hands and moving towards the middle of the stage, "seriously, Rach, you're doing great."
Rachel smiled. "I am," she said, "I love this. It's where I'm meant to be."
She let Jesse hug her and then watched him while he spoke to the other actors before she headed to get a drink of water. When she returned Jesse was still talking to a few of them, but he smiled in her direction.
Being on a stage on Broadway was miles different from being at a rock/pop show stage and Rachel was finding that the differences suited her. After all, this had always been her dream. The band had been nothing but an indulgence for Kurt. A favor when he needed someone to go along with his ideas. Rachel was still a bit surprised that it had taken off. She had never expected it to.
The band had been fun for a while, and Rachel had definitely enjoyed all the attention it brought her, but there had been bad parts of it too. Mostly the fact that she didn't really enjoy those months they spent touring – always staying in the bus or in hotel rooms – and never really resting properly. Then, there was also the label and how they wanted to make them into some sort of brand that just didn't work for Rachel.
Leaving had been some time coming, especially after Jesse told her about the role in Jane Austen Sings. It had been the last nail in the coffin to hear about a role she could have.
The first issue had started with Kurt and how he refused to even talk about his feelings for Blaine. Ignoring them because the band was too important. She tried not to think about that fight too often.
"Rachel, a couple of reporters are going to stop by in an hour or so just for a quick featurette on the musical. Just a heads up," one of the assistants told her quickly.
"Oh," Rachel said.
"Sorry for the short notice. We didn't know until just a few minutes ago they decided on tonight."
Jesse was getting everyone back on their spots for the number and he approached her last. "Ready?"
She nodded. "Um, we're having a featurette?"
"Yes," Jesse said, "something small for ABC news, promotional stuff about previews next month because tickets are going to be on sale soon."
Rachel didn't try to show that it bothered her how he hadn't bothered to mention it to her even though they were sharing the same bed and spending all their time together at work.
She settled back into the role without too much trouble and Jesse had them start.
An hour later she was sweating a little from dancing around the stage when she noticed the cameras with the ABC news logo and the reporter that was standing with Jesse asking him a few questions.
They finished the scene and came to a stop at which point Jesse and the reporter approached.
"People really are excited about this play, aren't they?" Jake who was playing her love interest, Tom, muttered.
Rachel nodded.
"It's Jane Austen," Julia another one of the actors who was actually playing Elizabeth Bennet said, "of course they're interested. Who doesn't love Austen."
"Hi," the reporter said, "I'm Ann and we're just going to ask each of you a few questions. Nothing invasive just about the show mostly. We can start with you if you don't mind," she said pointing at Rachel.
Rachel nodded. "Sure."
They stepped aside and Ann moved to stand next to her while the camera pointed at them. Rachel had been filmed for interviews so often when she was back in Pamela Lansbury that it almost came as second nature. It was still weird to not have the comforting presence of Kurt or Blaine or any of the other boys there with her. She tried to not let it bother her.
"I've been lucky enough to get an invite into the Al Hirshfield theater where Jane Austen Sings will open it's doors in just a month for previews. Now we don't know much about this musical aside from that it's a musical, it's about Jane Austen, and that it stars pop-star Rachel Berry as Jane Austen herself. And here she is. So, Rachel, how do you feel about stepping into Jane Austen's shoes. The last time she was portrayed it was on screen and that was by Anne Hathaway?"
Rachel smiled at the camera. "Oh, it's just been a lot of fun. I'm learning a lot that I didn't know about her. You know, for all the amazing love stories she's written Jane never married or had children of her own. She never found her true love. That is truly a tragedy."
"That's right," Ann said, "but this will have a love story of course."
"Yes," Rachel said, "but it's also about her characters – I mean, I'm literally going to be interacting with characters like Lizzie Bennett and Emma Woodhouse so it's not really a biography or anything. Some artistic liberty has been taken."
Ann nodded. "Alright, that sounds good. I'm very excited for when we'll finally get a chance to see it. So, you left your band Pamela Lansbury to pursue this role and Broadway in general. Any regrets there? How different is Broadway to that?"
Rachel tried to keep her smile from fading. With the boys it had been so easy to answer difficult questions because they all tried to answer some part of it. Elliott had always been good at steering conversation in a different direction and Jeff had always just been silly enough to make the interviewer move on. She had no luck.
"Um, it's different," she said, "but Broadway was always my dream. Kurt and I when we came out to New York, our goal was Broadway. I don't know how he feels about that anymore, but that's not something that ever changed for me. The fame from the band was only a good stepping stone to this and to this role and I'm very happy to be here. Of course it's different, but it's what I've always wanted."
"Alright," Ann said, "well, Rachel, I wish you all the best luck on this show and thank you for talking to us."
Rachel nodded, shook Ann's hand and smiled at the camera one last time.
Ann moved on to talk to Jake, so Rachel wandered over to Jesse and Julia and they watched as Jake made Ann laugh. Rachel couldn't help but think about the band. There was so much that still left up in the air with them. Kurt had been so angry and Blaine had taken his side at once even though he was the logical one and should have understood. Jeff and Nick were clearly mad if she were to go by what they'd said about her right after it all went down. Elliott was always a bit on the quieter side when it came down to it, but she couldn't be sure that he was any happier with her even months later.
The few texts Rachel had managed to sent to Blaine had been unanswered after all.
She let out a sigh.
ABC news visited the Al Hirshfield Theater to bring us a small preview into what Jane Austen Sings will be like when it opens for previews next month. This play has been highly anticipated for over a year even since rumors of a table read with Laura Osnes reading for the titular role of Jane Austen, were thrown about. Of course, while we all hoped Ms. Osnes would grace us with her amazing voice in this musical, it is Rachel Berry of the band Pamela Lansbury that took the role.
Everyone was shocked when the news broke that the singer was leaving Pamela Lansbury which has only been gaining momentum since Berry's departure with a long list of sold out shows on the tour that the remaining band members announced mere weeks after Berry's departure.
None of the other band members have wanted to comment on the split except for questions asked during press for their tour. Blaine Anderson said:
"We're doing alright"
Elliott Gilbert added:
"It's hard of course to lose a member of our band but we're moving forward."
They clearly haven't wanted to talk about the topic. However, while interviewing Rachel about Jane Austen Sings, Rachel Berry had to say:
"Broadway was always my dream. Kurt and I when we came out to New York, our goal was Broadway. I don't know how he feels about that anymore, but that's not something that ever changed for me. The fame from the band was only a good stepping stone to this and to this role and I'm very happy to be here. Of course it's different, but it's what I've always wanted."
Some fans were upset with what Ms. Berry had to say about Pamela Lansbury being nothing more than a stepping stone to her real dreams but others are happy to see her accomplish what she so clearly wants. So will Broadway be everything that Rachel ever wanted it to be? We hope so and we wish her the best. She certainly seems happy. In the meanwhile this hasn't stopped Pamela Lansbury whose first show is tomorrow night.
KurtandRach: They both wanted to be on Broadway #my babies
AndersonHummel: That's so disrespectful to the band that gave her the fame to be able to take on a leading role on Broadway like this.
Klaine5eva: So anything for fame then, eh, Rachel?
KurtandRach: you guys are just reading into this too much. She's not saying that Pamela Lansbury meant nothing to her. Her dream was always Broadway.
HummelAnderson: Suddenly glad Rachel isn't in PL anymore #good riddance
NiffKlainer: It's like the boys are probably still missing her and she's just so happy to not be a part of the thing that made her famous. Just remember where the quotes from Elliott and Blaine came from. The boys didn't look happy when they were asked about it.
Klainefan: guys, let's just focus on the positive. Their first show is tomorrow. New pictures!
Author's Note:Alright, so I feel like a few things need to be said:
Sebastian: So I want to make it clear just so no one worries about it...Sebastian will be a minor character in this fic...maybe not so minor, I haven't exactly decided yet, but he certainly will not be getting together with either Kurt or Blaine outside of that one-night stand he had with Kurt. I tend to stay away from love triangles and this fic will hopefully not feature that. So no worries there...however he is still Sebastian so he will obviously be causing mischief.
Jane Austen Sings: I am a huge and when I say huge, I mean it, Austen fan. My favorite book of all time is Emma. Now obviously the play comes from glee canon but we don't know what the play is actually about...there have been a few plays of the books and such but I don't think any musicals? So the plot for that which is sort of mentioned in this chapter is all stuff I came up for on my own.
On another note: I've been mainly focusing on the band and the fans and the tour so far in this fic but not to worry the Klaine and Niff is coming...there's just a lot of elements that need to be put into place as far as back story goes and a few other things.
Hope you liked it and the next chapter should be up soon hopefully.
I'm on tumblr at inawickedlittletown if you'd like to follow me there. I usually post writing progress updates there.
Hope you all enjoyed this and thank you for reading.