Chapter 8: Hard Under A Spotlight

‘I’d love to do it,’ he told me, ‘But the idea terrifies me. I’ve never had a proper part before. I’m trying for it so that I can get experience, but I won’t mind in the least if someone else does it. This time at least.’ he added with a grin at me.’

‘Thanks for telling me that.’ I told him with a smile. Kerry handed us each a sheet of music. It was the words and music to ‘Where is Love,’ the solo Oliver sings. I knew the song, it was one of my favourites, but I couldn’t read music.’

‘When I told Kerry that, he said quite kindly, ‘Don’t worry I don’t suppose you’ll get picked anyway. But if you did, I could teach you enough to get by. Now,’ he said, ‘Garry will you try first, I’ll play the tune, and you just sing however you want to.’

‘If you get stuck, just listen to the music and try and join in again when you can.’ Kerry started playing and I was singing it to myself in my head as Garry sang out loud. He had no problem with the words and to me he sounded in tune.’

‘He didn’t sound very loud, but I assumed that was what microphones were for. When he finished, I gave him a clap and said, ‘That was lovely, well done.’ Kerry told him he’d done alright but his voice wasn’t very strong yet.’

‘Then he told me to try it. I knew a lot of the words, but I used the sheet to prompt me. As I started singing, I tried to imagine myself in Olivers place, an orphan who had never experienced anyone having any love for him. With my circumstances I imagined what might have happened to me if my aunt and uncle hadn’t taken me in.’

‘When I finished, Garry clapped really hard and said, ‘That was really lovely, so much better than me’ Kerry was just sitting looking at me. ‘Have you ever sung in public before?’ he asked. ‘No, never.’ I told him. ‘With some training you could be good enough to do it.’ he said. ‘But it would take a lot of teaching in a very short time.’

‘He went quiet obviously thinking, then he said, ‘I’m going to take a chance. I’ll tell the chairman not to ask other societies until after we hold our auditions in a fortnight.’

‘Between now and then, if you are prepared to work hard enough, I’ll train you. Out of fairness, I’ll train you both to start with,’ he said, ‘Then I’ll pick the best one to concentrate on.’

‘How did you feel?’ Lewis asked. ‘Surprised,’ Cliff told him, ‘It had never even crossed my mind I might end up singing. I’d expected I’d get walk on parts or a part with just a few words. The idea of being the star of the show was scary. But at that moment with it seeming a possibility I knew that it was something I really wanted to do.’

‘Kerry went and fetched the Chairman and the casting director. Garry and I had to sing it again. Then they told us to go back to the others, I presume whilst they talked about us. After we had left the room, Garry told me, ‘You’re so much better than me, when you sang it seemed to me as if you were really him, really Oliver, you’re bound to get the part.’

‘Just before the end of the evening, Kerry came over to tell me to come to his house at seven the next day and to tell Garry the same. ‘Be prepared for a lot of hard work.’ he told me. I went over and told Garry. He introduced me to his mum and dad.’

‘When we arrived at seven, Kerry let us in. He had an extension on the side of the house which he said was fairly soundproof. He put the lights on then drew the heavy curtains, which he said helped.’

‘There was a small stage in the corner. ‘Both go and stand on the stage and sing it right through together,’ he told us handing us both a music sheet. As we went over to the stage he sat at the piano and started playing.’

‘We started singing at the right time and I lost myself in the song again. When we’d finished, he called us over to the piano. ‘That wasn’t bad he said. ‘In many productions, Oliver sings that in Fagan’s attic wearing just shorts. I don’t know which version is planned but I’m going to work on the assumption that it’s that one.’

‘If it isn’t and you have more clothes on in the performance, it won’t matter. But if we rehearse fully dressed and it turns out to be just shorts, that could considerably affect your confidence and thus your performance.’

‘So, we’ll start off tonight with just your tops off please. Put them on the chair over, there then Garry return to the stage. He did and sang it through. It sounded fine to me. Garry came back over, and Kerry gave him a couple of tips.

‘Then I went to the stage and sang it through again. He called me over to the piano and he gave me a couple of pointers too. Then the two of us stood side by side by the piano and he had us going up and down the scales a number of times. Garry and I had both felt a bit shy singing with our tops off but now we had each done it, we felt more at ease. Being two of us the same made it easier too.’

‘Garry, come and stand here.’ Kerry instructed. He put one hand flat on his back and his other hand flat over his chest. ‘Sing the first two lines.’ Kerry instructed. Garry did, then Kerry moved his hands down so that the bottom of both hands where level with the top of his trousers. ‘Sing the same again.’ he instructed.’

‘After Garry finished, he looked at me and told us to change places. He put his hands on me the same and I sang the two lines. When his hands moved down to just above the top of my trousers, it sent a strange shiver through me. I thought nothing of it at the time and sang for the second time.’

‘Ok,’ he said, ‘Understandably because of his age, Cliff has more power in his chest. That’s not detrimental to you,’ he said smiling at Garry, ‘Because you will grow to be the same as Cliff is now. It might make a difference for this performance, but remember if it does, you’ll be far more confident trying next time.’

‘Thank you,’ Garry said. ‘I don’t expect to get it because Cliff is clearly far better than me. But thanks for helping me anyway.’ I turned and gave Garry a hug. ‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘That was a lovely thing to say.’

‘We did a couple more solos of the whole song again, then it was time to go. ‘Both of you again at the same time tomorrow,’ Kerry said. ‘Then on Saturday and Sunday I want Garry to come at ten o’clock and Cliff to come at twelve o’clock.’

‘The next night as soon as we arrived, Kerry told us to take our tops and our shoes off. Then we each went over to the stage one at a time and sang the full song.’

‘What are you wearing under your trousers?’ Kerry asked us. ‘Underpants.’ we both said after a short pause. ‘Ok, they’ll do.’ he told us. ‘Put your trousers over with your tops and go on the stage together.

‘I felt a bit shy, and it looked to me as if Garry was as well. But I was now feeing driven to be Oliver, so I took mine off. As soon as I started undoing them Garry followed suit. We glanced over and gave each other a brief grin. I was wearing white underpants and Garry’s were black.’

‘The black and white minstrel show.’ Kerry said smiling. Neither of us knew what he meant. I discovered a while later it was a popular Tv show from years ago.’

‘We stood side by side on the stage and sang, both feeling a little embarrassed. But by the time we had finished, we’d almost forgotten how little we were wearing.’

‘Kerry called us over to the piano again and gave us both a few tips on improving our singing, then we did some more scales. I couldn’t help noticing that Garry’s bulge was pretty much the same as mine despite our over two years age difference.’

‘We got dressed and left.’ The next day Saturday I arrived at twelve. There was no sign of Garry, so I assumed he must have finished just before I got there.’

‘Strip off the same as yesterday,’ Kerry ordered. ‘When I did, he told me to stand just to the side of the piano facing him and sing it right through. I did and he looked pleased with what he was hearing.’