young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 3

The days flew by. On the day of opening night, they all got there unnecessarily early. Kasey and Carleigh dropped off their opening night gifts to all the cast members, as well as many of the pit and techies, too.

Kasey had gotten Carleigh the candle and also wrote a letter. She included a picture of them that had been taken at the first Broadway cast read-through, when they had already bonded at the Public Theatre.

Kasey watched Carleigh open the candle.

"Vanilla is my favorite!" she exclaimed. "Thank you, Kasey."

"You're welcome. There's a letter, too."

"'Dear Carleigh, thank you for being an amazing friend. You are an extraordinary dancer and I'm so happy to be in ensemble with you on Broadway! You are so beautiful, talented, and generous. You're a great roommate. Here's to many, many shows in Hamilton together. Also, thank you for coaching me on my American accent. Love, Kasey'," Carleigh read out loud. "Aww, Kase."

"You're welcome," Kasey said, hugging her best friend. "I know you'll be great tonight."

"Unlike someone," Megan sneered as she walked past Kasey and Carleigh. "Carleigh, good luck tonight. You'll need it. Babysitting the rat is a lot of work. And Kasey, we all know that you never have a good show."

"Ignore her," Carleigh said, glaring at Megan's retreating back. "You're a hundred times more talented than she is. She's just jealous."

"I don't know..." Kasey said.

"Don't let it ruin your Broadway debut, Kase," Carleigh reminded her. She took the curling iron and started curling Kasey's hair.

"I can curl my own hair, you know," Kasey laughed.

"It's opening night. I can curl your hair, and you can style mine. It will be a special thing," Carleigh said. "We have plenty of time. The show's not for two hours."

Kasey obediently waited for Carleigh to curl her hair.

"Close your eyes, unless you want hairspray in them," Carleigh said. Kasey immediately closed her eyes. Once Carleigh was done spraying Kasey's hair in place, Kasey stated to style Carleigh's hair. She made it somewhat poufy in the front, and then left some of her hair down.

"Spray," Kasey warned. She hairsprayed Carleigh's hair and then sat down next to her friend. "I'm going to go into American mode now."

"Alright. Do you want to go over lyrics with your accent?"

"Sure," Kasey agreed. "It wouldn't hurt."

They didn't sing the lyrics, but the spoke through them with Carleigh gently correcting Kasey's missteps. There weren't many. She'd learned the songs with an American accent, so the only mistakes she made were in 'Satisfied' on the word 'always'.

"You should be fine," Carleigh said once they had covered the main songs and warmed up on the song 'America the Beautiful'. Carleigh liked to force Kasey to sing patriotic songs. "You've done it perfectly so many times."

"It's not our first show. I'd be more nervous if we started from the beginning on Broadway," Kasey admitted.

"Places!" the loudspeaker called. Kasey checked her ponytail one more time in the mirror and then followed Carleigh and the other girls out of the dressing room.

From her place backstage, Kasey could hear the excited buzzing of the crowd. She took a few deep breaths. She could do this. She was finally on Broadway.

It was where she belonged.

The first four songs went by so quickly that Kasey hardly had time to dwell on the fact that she was on Broadway. By the time 'Schuyler Sisters' rolled around, Kasey had forgotten the huge audience and was focused on the steps and singing as best she could.

There were a few little mistakes, mostly ensemble spacing issues. Sometimes they weren't exactly in their spotlights. Kasey once made eye contact with Carleigh and nearly started laughing. Carleigh wasn't facing the audience, but Kasey was, and Carleigh stuck her tongue out. It had taken all of Kasey's concentration to not break character.

Intermission rolled around and Kasey rushed backstage to touch up her makeup and fix her ponytail before prepping for the beginning of act two. So far, so good. She had made very few mistakes. She hadn't dropped the gun during 'Yorktown', thankfully. Neither did anyone else.

"Great job!" Lin said, hurrying by and high-fiving all the ensemblists as they waited for the next act to begin. "OPENING NIGHT Y'ALL!"

The second act went by slower. It was a lot more emotional. Kasey loved the second act even more than she loved the first act because of how dramatically it changed. Sh cried during 'Stay Alive Reprise' because of how agonizing Pippa's scream was at the end. She high-fived Renee before she went out for 'It's Quiet Uptown' and then stepped onstage to make her own entrance.

The bows were so emotional. The theatre was so loud. Everyone was screaming, and every single person was standing up and clapping. Kasey was next to Anthony and Renee. She could not believe she had just made her Broadway debut.

It was a dream come true.

Then Lin gave his parting words and they all filed offstage, giving one last final wave to their first Broadway performance. Kasey immediately searched for Carleigh.

"Kasey Winslow!" Kasey heard someone call. She turned around and was instantly swept into a hug by Carleigh. "We did it!!"

"You were so amazing," Kasey told Carleigh.

They went back to the dressing room. Everyone was talking about the things that happened during the show. It was chaos, but Kasey loved it. It was amazing to be around everyone in the cast.