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The Boards, Wednesday Evening [Rehearsal]

Troy was... perhaps a little bouncy today, yes, upon arriving at the Boards -- which he really needed to get around to moving into, now that the renovations were finished. But that could wait.

Because it was time for REHEARSALS!

There were pitchers of ice water set up on a table at the side of the stage, and a notebook and pencil for each member of the cast; Troy was up on stage this time, rather than in the audience, ready to work with his cast.

His cast. How awesome was that?

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After the warm-up, Troy pointed to the table. "Okay, everyone grab a notebook and a pencil," he said. "What we're going to do today is get started on figuring out what we're actually going to be doing in the show itself. I know that some of you already have some idea -- but we're going to sit down and start working on developing some things. Do you want to do one song? Two? Write your own monologue or find one of someone else's?

"Do you have any suggestions for things that should be in the show, too, that maybe you don't want to, or don't feel up to, doing yourself? Feel free to suggest things for your cast-mates -- this is going to be a collaboration."

"What I'd like to see," Jono stated, looking up from his coffee and managing something like a smile, "would be some sort of collaborative piece between the lot of you. Rinoa on piano and Hank on..." A pause. "On something else, while our singers do a choral number and Elphaba and Karla use their respective powers to put on some sort of display. Maybe Juliet does a spoken intro for it..."

Jono had an artistic vision, here, apparently.

[Messy-ping away! Seriously, throw stuff out there -- stuff you'd like your pups to do, stuff you'd like other characters to do, comment on what other people are saying, start collaborating on things -- maybe Petra and Rinoa want to do a piece together? Or maybe Mercy and Tara want to do a duet! Have fun, though, that's the main thing!]

"I could do a duet with someone!" Miley offered.

Oh, god. That poor someone. They never had a chance.

"Ooh, or we could do some kind of dance number," she suggested. "Jono says if no one else does, he's gonna have to step in."

Just enjoy that visual, everyone.

"Please, somebody, dance with Miley," Jono chimed in, helpfully. "You do not want to see me dance. Who'll watch the sound booth during the show?"

He could come up with a million reasons why this was a bad idea.

Most were not legit.

Troy stared at them. "Uh, of course Jono can't dance with you during the show. We don't have anyone else for the sound booth. I sure as hell can't run it."

"I can sing on my own or in a group," Tara said. "I've never really ... performed before. What does everybody else want to do?"

Pleasant, cheerful, Not in Need of a Babysitter.

But oh no, she wasn't going to participate quite that willingly in her humiliation.

"I'm willing to do whatever you think would be best. This really isn't my strong suit, so..."

There.

Jono raised an eyebrow that suggested that he had not slept well all week, he'd gotten bad news last night, and told her that nobody was forcing her to be here if she didn't want to be.

And then he shrugged.

"You got up. You sang a song. So we pick a song for you to get up and sing. It's... not exactly difficult, Mercy."

No, she didn't need a babysitter. So he wasn't going to hold her hand through this.

She matched the eyebrow with one that said she hadn't slept well either, the only person in the world that she thought still cared about her had disappeared, and she'd spent her first birthday alone ever.

"That sounds wonderful. You said you had ideas for songs that would match my voice better. I'm happy to sing any of those. If you want me to sing with someone else in a chorus or as back-up, I'm happy to do that too."

Oh, Mercy. Jono was not playing one-up with you. He was hardly in the mood. His entire race had been decimated, cut down from millions to hundreds overnight. His best friends were almost all unspoken for, and he'd gotten news last night over the phone that one of the teachers he'd trusted was dead. Or, rather 'de-' and he was left to assume the rest, because the person who had been telling him such had stopped existing mid-sentence.

Jono would win. And he would do so with very little sympathy.

"Have you any preference? The showcase is about your own traditions. It's your opportunity to get up on that stage and shine. And, while I have faith in your ability to wow an audience, I'm not going to make anybody do anything they aren't comfortable doing. Would you like a solo? Would you like to hide behind everybody else?"

Mercy didn't want to one up anyone. She was just scared to death with everyone she knew gone or unreachable. And when scared to death in a werewolf pack, you kept your chin up and acted as tough as you could. At least if you were just a lowly coyote, you did.

"I don't know much beyond the standard carols and church stuff," she said. "I'm okay with getting up and doing a solo, though I still think you're a little nuts thinking someone would want to hear me do that. And there's got to be some mid-range between big solo and hiding, don't you think?"

Jono eyed her for a moment, and then he shrugged. This, he could work with. It was certainly better than an 'I don't know, you figure it out for me.' More productive, at least.

"Maybe I am a little nuts. I am working in the theatre, after all," Jono pointed out, shrugging as if that was the most natural thing in the world. "And yes, there's always something in the middle. What about a duet? Would that work for you?"

He had to admit, he was still a bit iffy about the prospect of pairing her off with anybody. She'd said up-front at auditions that she didn't want to be here, and if she was going to try to coast through this with zero effort, he didn't want to potentially punish a singing partner by sticking them with someone who had given a fairly good indication that she had no interest in putting any sort of effort into her performance.

Mercy would feel wretched - or even more wretched - if she knew he was worried that she'd let a partner down. Letting someone down went against everything she believed in.

"Look, seriously. I'll do whatever you think is best and I'll work my butt off to give you what you want. If you don't think my voice'll screw up somebody else's thing I can do a duet. If you'd rather have me on my own so I don't do that, I can. I had to do this sort of thing back ho- " She cut herself off and swallowed hard. "back where I grew up, so I'm not scared to do it. Just after a while you get tired of being told how bad - Anyway..."

Jono's eyebrow was still raised and not quite going anywhere yet.

"Mercy, you made it into the production because Troy and I both agree that you have some modicum of potential. If we didn't think you could be worked with, you would not be here. I will tell nobody how bad they are. What I will do is tell you where you have room for improvement, and I will expect you to listen to me when I do so, and then put forth your best effort to improve. Do you suppose you can do that for me, luv?"

Jono's experience with self-esteem issues mostly boiled down to 'so, fix it.' He wasn't going to hand out any bum-patting today.

Edited 2011-11-23 23:41 (UTC)

Good thing, because sympathy today would just end with a Mercy in tears and neither of them wanted that.

Instead, she just nodded. "I can."

No. They really didn't. Jono wouldn't have the patience for it.

"Good. Carol of the Bells." He pulled out the sheet music from his clipboard and held it out to her. "Learn it. If it's too high, we'll pull you down an octave. Can you twig that?"

Twig?

She looked at him a little uncertainly. "Not just from the sheet music, but if somebody plays it for me and I can tape it or something."

Grok. Grasp. Comprehend. Catch on to. It was perfectly legitimate English, really.

"We'll pull it up on Youtube, if that'll help," Jono replied, shrugging. "It's a choral piece. It starts with one person leading, and then others chiming in alongside the main voice in a round. Simple, repetitive, and when it works, gorgeous."

She nodded. "Then sure."

"I can also sing and play the piano," Karla offered. She wasn't really feeling into it, what with everything else that was going on, but she wasn't going to let that stop her from at least trying to be helpful and participate. "It's been years since I actively practiced the piano a lot, but if Rinoa needs to be spelled, I can try my hand at it."

She shot Jono a wry look. "I had vocal tutors growing up, but I can't do anything...growly, for example."

"I don't think growly's what we're looking for here," Troy assured her. "And thank's for bringing that up! Anyone else have any other talents that might be useful in the show? No one's saying you can only do what you auditioned for."

"Tell that to Jono," she said with a hint of a smile. "He was trying to teach me growly guitar songs when he was a student."

"Oh, growly guitar songs, of course," Troy replied, smiling back. "That explains everything." Troy shook his head, miming 'no' at Karla. "Maybe we'll have to see if there's room for a growly guitar song in the show!"

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The Boards, Wednesday Evening [Rehearsal]

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