young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 57

The next few weeks were chaotic. There seemed to be some kind of sickness going through some cast members- a lot of the main cast was out. And Hamilton only had five swings.

This wasn't good. 

It really, really was not good. 

Most of the ensemblists were understudying their main cast counterparts. And some of the ensemblists were sick, too. Ariana and Sydney.

Morgan Marcell was playing Ariana's bullet track, because that was essential. Stephanie Klemons was understudying Carleigh, who was understudying Pippa. Voltaire was swinging into Sydney's track. Andrew Chappelle was covering for Anthony. And Javier was Hamilton instead of Lin. And Neil was swinging into Ephraim's track, because Ephraim was covering for Oak. And then Renee was out.

That was the doom of the ensemble and the swings.

Because Renee was out, someone had to sub for her. But there were no other swings to cover whichever ensemblist did understudy for Renee.

And, then, when everyone was running around preparing for the show, they got the call that Daveed was calling in sick, too.

That meant Seth had to understudy for Jefferson/Lafayette. Which meant they were yet another ensemble track down.

The stage management called them all down to the stage to talk to them.

"I know that there's a lot of people missing, and as a result, there are two ensemble tracks that are kind of up in the air right now," John, the stage manager, announced. "And they are- W2 and M3. Those are the tracks of Seth Stewart and Kasey Winslow."

"Kasey, I'm going to ask you to understudy for Angelica," John continued. "When you're not onstage as Angelica, I'm going to ask that you try and make it onstage in ensemble costume as your track."

"And Seth, the same thing goes for you. You two are both extremely talented people. I wouldn't ask you to do this if I didn't think you can handle it," John said. "I'll post a list of all of the tracks you must be onstage for as your characters. And then there will be a separate list of songs you might have enough time to change into for. We'll have Renee and Daveed's dressers ready to help you in and out of your costumes."

Well. This was going to be interesting.

Kasey mentally thought through what songs she'd have to be Angelica for. Not the ones that Angelica just stood on the second level, she knew for certain.

Alexander Hamilton, Schuyler Sisters, Helpless, Satisfied, Non-Stop, The Reynolds Pamphlet, It's Quiet Uptown, and Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story were the ones she needed to be Angelica. 

The first act was worse than the second act. Kasey knew before they even started that she wasn't going to make the song right after her change from Angelica to her ensemble costume in any given moment.

This was not going to be fun. At all. 

It was going to be a lot of mad dashing. For everyone.

She'd finally get to be Angelica when Carleigh was Eliza, though, which would be amazing. 

Also, apparently Laura Osnes was coming to the show. Kasey was excited about that, but she wasn't sure how she felt about how chaotic the show was going to be.

At least they had a little rehearsal time to work everything out. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Kasey felt extremely nervous. Not only was she going on as Angelica- she was also expected to complete most of the ensemble track, too. It was going to be an adventure, that was for sure.

The entire cast was a little on edge. They'd never had to do something like this before. It was a lot to process. Everyone was going to be running around like crazy during the show- even the normal ensemblists. 

The voice of Jonathan Groff came on. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Please silence your cell phones, and no recording devices. Or else I, King George the Third, will punish you for your actions. In tonight's performance, the role of Alexander Hamilton will be played by Javier Munoz, the role of Eliza Hamilton will be played by Carleigh Bettiol, the roles of Jefferson and Lafayette will be played by Seth Stewart, the roles of Madison and Mulligan will be played by Ephraim Sykes, the roles of Laurens and Phillip Hamilton will be played by Andrew Chappelle, and the role of Angelica Schuyler will be played by Kasey Winslow."

Then, the green light appeared. The show was about to begin. Kasey took a deep breath and exchanged glances with Jazzy and Carleigh. 

Once the show started, there wasn't going to be much time to breathe. Kasey prayed that nothing would go drastically wrong.