Chapter 28

The ‘Brides’ rehearsal that night went quite well, many of the people again came up to me to say they would be at Auditions on Saturday. I told them to come prepared to sing and dance.

Dance, I don’t have a choreographer yet ... oh shit! I can call Marcus.

“Hello Marcus?”

“Yeah, Hey Randall ... what can I do you for?”

“The choreographer for WEST SIDE STORY, what’s his name?”

“John Newcomb, why?”

“What’s he doing after WSS is over?”

“I understand he’s taking a break. He has a local dance studio, so he’s always working, really.”

“Do you think he would do BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Marcus? You know him better than me, do you want to ask him or should i?”

“Let me, if it’s OK with you. I’ve known him a real long time. I’m sure he’d do it, it’s just a question of scheduling.”

“If he can do it, have him there on Saturday at 11am, please.”

“Sure, Randall ... see you and that beautiful sist ... wife of yours.”

“OK, Seeya then.”

SATURDAY

OK, Today is Auditions for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. I reworked the audition tryout form, adding musical range and measurements, including cup size for the girls.

I bought an IPad 2, mainly because I’ve been wanting one for the longest time, but I decided to buy it yesterday because there is a camera built in; I’ll have Carol ... or someone, take everybody’s picture that way. How we boys justify our toys!

Even though the notice for the Auditions that we put all over campus said 12noon, I know theatre people, so I got all of my stuff together, and Carol and I got to the theatre about 11am to set up.

Amazingly, there was quite a crowd of people already there; my guess was 50 or so. I saw a number of people I knew, but there were a fair share of strangers in the crowd. Good!

Carol and I excused ourselves through the masses, and I opened up the doors to the place. The crowd trickled in, filling the seats. I hope I have enough audition materials. I decided to print 300 of the Audition tryout sheets, thinking I had probably wasted paper in the process.

Marcus, Maurice and Jeff showed up ... Marcus told me that John Newcomb would be there. I asked Maurice to go over to the piano I had asked to be put on the stage. Just before noon a fellow I remembered being John, showed up, and sat by Marcus.

I got up and walked up on the stage ... causing a minor applause moment amongst the crowd. They got quiet, knowing ‘the speech’ was coming.

Every director, at the start of Auditions, has a speech they may or may not rehearse. There are a number of things to talk about; Welcome, rehearsal schedule, synopsis of the show if it’s not well known, and so forth.

“For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Randall Knight.” A perfunctory applause occurred.

“And to make sure we’re all here for the same reason, this is Auditions for DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.” That made them all laugh, but nobody got up and left.

“I see a number of people I know, and more importantly, a whole lot of people I’ve never seen before. That’s great; it just gives me that many more people to choose from. There are some people you all should meet. Stand up as I mention your names, please?”

“First, the Director of WEST SIDE STORY and my Co-Director for this musical enterprise, Marcus Diamond.” There was a smattering of applause.

“Next, the Director of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, Jeff Calhoun,” Jeff got up and bowed to all.

“Next, the newest member of ‘Team Beauty’, as I call it, is John Newcomb, who was choreographer for WEST SIDE STORY, who will be our choreographer as well.” John got up and waved his hand at the crowd.

“Our sole musician for this show, tripling as our Music Director and the Narrator ... Maurice Lebertain!”

This time, the crowd made some noise. Maurice, who was up on stage, got up and waved at the crowd.

“Lastly, but first in my heart, is the young lady who will be playing the role of Belle. Currently on stage, for one more performance as Maria in WEST SIDE STORY, and in rehearsal with yours truly as Milly in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, my wife, Carol Knight.”

The crowd went bananas over this announcement ... Carol glided up on stage and curtseyed to the crowd.

“And playing the role of the Beast is my husband, Randall Knight,” Carol said as she kissed me and left the stage, her long red hair beautifully flowing behind her as she walked back to her chair.

“Now, everybody – Listen up, we have only five hours to do this, so as soon as I’m through with what I have to say, I want all my Gaston’s on the stage.”

“Now, everybody and their dog knows this show, it was an Oscar winning movie and a Broadway Blockbuster for 13 years. There is talk of a real person musical move coming out in early 2017 starring Emma Watson and Dan Butler.”

That seemed to be news to most of them.

“I want my Gaston’s arrogant, my Lumiere’s French, Mrs. Potts British, Lefou with a lisp, Babbette is a total babe, Maurice is befuddled and Cogsworth should be the snob of all snobs.”

There was a lot of snickering going on in the crowd about this announcement.

“I have some pre-conceived ideas about what the people should look and sound like. To move things along, I will be making cuts brutally and quickly ... you can stay and Audition for a different part, or you can go home and wait for the next Musical after this, which is...”