[The Live We Could've Had] Phillipa Soo& Andrew Burnap

Chapter 1: Closing

Andrew's POV:

I was confused, as our stage manager called everyone of the cast and crew onto the stage. We just finished our matinee performance on a Saturday afternoon in June, and most of the people just wanted to leave to catch some lunch, but our stage manager stopped us from doing so. Going on the stage and seeing everyone else gathering on it, so everyone had a clear sight on one of our stage managers, Leah.

Just for the record, my name's Andrew, and I'm currently starring in the lead role of King Arthur in the musical camelot on Broadway. We already opened the show in spring, and it has been the most amazing time with all the people working on the show. There was one specific person in the cast who made this time even more special than it already has been.

Her name's Phillipa Soo, and she plays my wife, Queen Guenevere, in the show. I knew from the second we first sang together during rehearsals that we'd get along. Somehow, we had this natural chemistry, and it was the easiest for me to find myself into my character just because of her. Previews started soon, and falling in love with her every single evening was my favourite part. The rest of the cast also noticed our unmatchable chemistry and always teased us backstage about it. Some of them even assumed that there must've been more than friendship between Phillipa and me. If they only knew that they weren't as wrong with that...

I scanned the room and caught Phillipa staring at me from the other side of the room. The moment she noticed that I caught her staring at me, she looked away, and her cheeks blushed slightly. "Attention, everyone!" Leah said, and the room, which was filled with muttering a few seconds ago, went silent. That's when the door to the theatre opened and to everyone's surprise Bartlett Sher, the director of our production entered the theatre. I looked at the rest of my castmates to see any reaction, but I only looked at confused faces.

"Hello." Bart began to speak seriously. "I know, you probably didn't expect me to show up today, but I had to..." He continued while I looked confused at our stage manager, who I noticed, was close to 5 "I wished I'd be here to deliver good news, but that's sadly not the case. Everyone standing on this stage made this production as special as it is. I'm incredibly proud of what we've accomplished, but even so... I need to tell you that due to different factors, we need to close the show on the 23rd of July."

The room was silent. Nobody dared to speak. I felt like somebody punched me into the stomach. The world around me went numb for a moment, and I didn't hear or see anything anymore. 'This can't be happening. This can't be happening.' I told myself in my mind. Shortly after, I came back to myself again. "Let's give our all throughout our last weeks." Leah told us, with tears in her eyes. I turned to my castmates. Some people were also close to crying and comforting each other. I saw Jordan Donica, who played Lancelot Dulac in the play, burying his face in his hands.

After that, my eyes stopped and looked for Phillipa or as friends called her "Pippa." I immediately saw that she looked completely pale, more than usual, which worried me. Her eyes began to get filled with tears, and I noticed how her hands began to shake uncontrollably, but she tried her best to control it. She probably noticed that this time I was the one staring at her, and she looked at me for a second as well. Her eyes were filled with devastation and helplessness. Something I haven't seen in her eyes a lot. I just decided to walk over to her, as she broke off our eye contact, turned around, and ran off the stage. The whole cast noticed as well that Pippa walked off and looked past her. I thanked Bart for everything and then went after Phillipa to her dressing room. I knocked onto her dressing room door and only got some soft sobbing from the inside as a response. "Pippa, it's me, Andrew." I said as I slowly opened the door and spotted her laying curled together on her dressing room couch.

I walked over to her and sat myself at the end of the couch, next to where her feet were laying. "Don't ever leave me." She said, defeated, turned around to me, and sat up broken-hearted. As she turned around,  I was able to see her beautiful face again, only this time it was red and swollen from all the crying. She scooped closer towards m  until she was able to put her head against my right shoulder. "Please promise me. You need to stay with me." She whispered. I left out a desperate sight as Pippa wanted the impossible of me.