Chapter 13

“A-hem,” Tyra said to get our attention.

“Sorry, Tyra – I just love her so much, we haven’t been married very long. We knew each other for a long time before we finally realized the passion.”

Tyra asked, “Do you have a brother, Randall?”

“Yeah, but he goes to school in the East,” my little angel remarked, actually talking about our brother.

“Darn it ... well, here are some dresses to try on – dressing rooms are over there?”

“Thanks,” said Carol, a lot perkier than before.

We walked over to the changing area – it was not quite as extravagant as the Victoria’s Secret dressing area, but not bad.

“I wore some of my new underwear today, Rann.”

“Thanks, C – I love you.”

“Good. Here is the first one – tada.”

She came out in the slinkiest red dress that went to her knees. It looked so good on her slim figure. I told her, “That’s a keeper, C.”

She said, “I can’t believe how well this fits – it actually looks like I have boobs.”

With a lilt in her voice, “Next, I’m going to try on the LBD, as you called it.”

“My PYT in a LBD. Hmm-mm good.”

After a few minutes, she came out, “Here it is – Big Boy.”

Wow wee wow wow wow! Did she ever look so sexy ... in so little! The dress hem was only a couple inches below her panty line, but tight and sexy. There was a knock on the door and Tyra came in and said, “Damn girl – You look better than any Hollywood actress in that LBD. You sir, are one lucky bast ... fellow.”

“I know – Tyra, do you have this exact dress in a hunter green?”

“I’ll look – Oooh, with that beautiful red hair, green would look fabulous on her.”

“I have one more to try on, while we’re waiting for Tyra, Rann.”

“OK – Carol.”

She went back to the dressing room, and a few minutes later, came back out.

“Ohhhh. This is so pretty – don’t you think?”

How do I describe this dress? It’s a soft medium gray, hits about mid-thigh, with a tie at the waist that brings attention to her bust.

Tyra came in and said, “We don’t have a green in stock, but I can order it for you in any color it comes in.”

“Thank you, Tyra – We’ll take the red dress she tried on and another one of the same design in Navy blue; the LBD she tried on and another one of the same color and this dress she has on in gray and Hunter green.”

“Carol – honey ... Don’t you need shoes to go with all these dresses? Tyra, where would you suggest we find matching shoes?”

“Actually, Randall ... I get all of my shoes at JC Penny’s on the other side of the Mall.”

“Thank you, for all your help, Tyra – get it all together and we’ll pay for it and be on our way to Penny’s.”

“Thank you – you two. You have been a blast to help,” Tyra responded.

I turned to Carol who had changed and was clinging to me and beaming, looking up at me, “I love you, Rann.”

Wearing the gray dress out, with her three and a half inch heels, we just got in four different colors, we were now through with all of our shopping, and it was coming up on 3:30, so I turned to Carol and said, “Why don’t we sit in on the ‘Brides’ rehearsal and then hang around until our WEST SIDE STORY final dress rehearsal? We can follow along in our scripts we got from Jeff, the director.”

“Sounds like a plan, Rann.”

“You’ve been waiting all day to say that to me, haven’t you?”

“Uh-huh,” she smiled, giggled and blushed.

We arrived about 4:15pm to the SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS rehearsal, coming in quietly because we knew it had started at four but we went by the apartment to get our scripts and follow along. We got a nod from Jeff the director as we came in, and we quietly sat down behind him, simply because we didn’t want to be in his eye-line while he was directing.

It’s an actor’s thing – If the director doesn’t see you, then he can’t yell at you!

Since we saw six brides and six brothers, Dorcus must have been replaced. Apparently, Jeff is the also the choreographer, due to the fact he was teaching the transitions from the acting part of the scene to the dancing part of the scene. They were working on the ‘Going Courtin’ sequence.

Jeff yelled out, “Carol – I know you can’t possibly know this song yet, but, could you please come up and stand in an approximate position to help these poor slobs ... actors, understand the concept of talking and dancing at the same time.”

Jeff was about to be surprised out of his mind. If I’ve seen this movie fifteen times, Carol has more like thirty times. I don’t think she realized just how well she knew the show – with her steel trap of a mind – and ability to learn quickly, she could probably spout off whole scenes as well as the songs. Also, she was wearing the new dress, causing most of the ‘brothers’ to stare at her.

Jeff told the piano player to start at the beginning of the song so the actors would understand their starting positions. He placed her where he wanted her to start. After the usual four or eight measures that start most musical theatre numbers, Carol started belting out:

“Goin’ courtin’, goin’ courtin’,
Oh it sets your senses in a whirl.
Goin’ courtin’, goin’ courtin’,
Dudin’ up to go and see your gal.
Oh, it’s fun to hunt and shoot a gun
or to catch a rabbit on the run...
But you’ll find it’s twice
as sportin’ goin’ courtin’”

I could see that Jeff was impressed, and so was I. The piano player was watching her for cues,

“Now, there’s lots of things
you’ve ... gotta know.
Be sure the parlor light is...
way down low.
You sidle up and squeeze her hand,
Let me tell you fellas that it’s grand.”

“You hem and haw—a little while,
She gives you kinda—half a smile,
You cuddle up—she moves away...
Then the strategy comes into play.”

Every nuance from the movie version was perfect.

She stopped the rehearsal in its tracks. Jeff and all the actors applauded loudly and Jeff asked, “Can we all go on, including you Carol – just this first time, please?”

This was going to be a great time had by all.

We stayed throughout the entire rehearsal, watching Jeff’s style of direction, and following along in our scripts. Apparently, we are the only ones in ‘Brides’ who will have been in West Side Story – that’s unusual because there always seems to be a few people who travel from one show to the next.