Chapter 29

Everybody in the place applauded in appreciation of this young lady who just sang her heart out; the other folks from Albuquerque being the loudest.

“Thank you, Karol ... that was superb ... anybody else ... nobody? I’ll be posting the cast list on Facebook within the next 24 hours, along with a downloadable rehearsal schedule.”

“Albuquerque people, come over to me please, for a minute.”

“Thank you -- I appreciate the four of you traveling this far for an audition, but are you sure you can do this for six weeks, not counting the run of the play?”

They all shook their heads yes, looking around at each other to see what the others were doing.

I leaned into them, saying, “Congratulations, you were all magnificent, George is it, will you please play the role of Lumiere?”

“Hell, yes ... Mr. Knight.”

“Everybody call me Randall.”

“Hell yes, Randall,” George repeated, making everyone laugh.

“Phyllis, We would like you to play Mrs. Potts?”

“Hell, yes Randall,” she said giving me a great big hug.

“Michael, I’m offering you Maurice, Belle’s father.”

“Hell, yes Randall,” he said appreciatively.

Karol was fidgeting, not really paying attention, when I approached her, “Karol, I have three roles for you to play; The Enchantress, Babette and one of the Silly Girls.”

She didn’t say anything ... her eyes opened real wide and she just put her arms around me and gave me a great big kiss. Carol looked over at what was going on, and smiled at me.

“I’m ... I’m ... I’m, so sorry, Randall ... I—I – it’s just that I’ve never gotten such a big part in a musical before. I always got parts based on how I looked, not how I performed.”

“Albuquerque is going to be well-represented in ‘Beauty and the Beast’,” I said.

“Randall,” Michael said. “If you have time, and I know you’re very busy, come down to Albuquerque to the Union Avenue Playhouse; George here is directing a new drama called ‘My Life with My Father’, a very adult drama. Our hell week starts on Monday and we run for three weekends.”

“After we close, this young lady and I are getting married ... consider yourself, and your lovely wife, invited to the wedding. We’re going to head back now. Thanks you so much. We’ll see you in ten days.”

Wow, I thought to myself ... these are true blue actors, traveling 60 miles to an audition.

John came back with the dancers and put them in groups of six, showing me what he taught them. John, Jeff and I picked the dancers we wanted from each group of six, sifting down to the final ones we selected.

Marcus, Carol and I huddled together to discuss our choices for Lefou, Cogsworth and Gaston. We took a poll of all of us and had a consensus on our Lefou and Cogsworth, but nobody felt passionate about any of the Gaston’s. I know I didn’t, but we do need an understudy for Beast and Gaston, and the decision was made.

I’m directing, while playing the Beast, and Gaston. The Kemp Twins, Bobbie and Richard, are the Gaston and Beast understudies.

Marcus slapped me on the shoulder and said, “Randall, I know you can do it physically, but can you do it emotionally?”

“What exactly do you mean, Marcus?”

“In the scenes as Gaston, you have to treat Belle like a commodity, but as the Beast, you’re indifferent to her until that moment when you realize that there are feelings happening, that maybe she is the one,” Marcus said.

“I see what you mean, Marcus ... and yes I believe I can make that distinction. I clearly remember how I felt for her before I declared my love to her, and now she’s all I think of. Thanks a lot, buddy ... I am going to rely on you a lot, you know.”

“I have strong shoulders Randall, load me up,” he replied.

We let everybody go and told them all how much we appreciated their Auditions.

Carol and I drove home in relative quiet. She was leaning against me humming ‘Going Courtin’ which brought me out of my funk.

“What made you think of singing that, Blue Eyes?”

“Just remembering back before we’d become a couple. I was always humming something and when I would hear you start to hum or sing ‘Soliloquy’, I would stop, wherever I was, and smile because my big brother, whom I loved and adored, but couldn’t possibly tell, was this out-of-reach person I cared for deeply.”

“So, you’re saying we were like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, caring for each other, but not sure how to say anything ‘out loud’ to one another?”

“Yeah, Rann – exactly. And now, what we have in front of us is amazing.”

“NO, what I have next to me is amazing. I’d love to go home and make love to you, but we have a performance tonight. How about first thing in the morning, I could start making love to you as Gaston, but finish as the Beast.”

“Oooh, a threesome ... that sounds like fun, Rann.”

I woke up and went right to work on finalizing the speaking roles’ cast list. I had promised this right away and I keep my promises. It was posted on Facebook as follows:

Carol Knight – Belle
Randall Knight – Beast
George Howell – Lumiere
Mark Levinson—Young Prince
Michael Manning – Maurice
Phyllis Gorman – Mrs. Potts
Heath Lambert – Cogsworth
Karol Lebrecque – Enchantress, Silly Girl, Babette
Hank T Grindall – Gaston (That’s an anagram)
Not Yet Cast – Chip
Mary Anne Price – Silly Girl
Jon Givens – Lefou
Sarah Stevens – Silly Girl
Stanley Gordon – Bookseller, Monsieur D’arque
Maurice Lebertain – Narrator, Musician
Bobbie Kemp – Gaston understudy
Richard Kemp – Beast Understudy