young, scrappy and hungry | a hamilton story | √

Chapter 60

The show that night was amazing. Everyone was ecstatic over the 17 Tony nominations. The tech, the pit, the cast, everyone was happy. 

It was nice. 

After they'd all been through the shooting together, Kasey felt like they deserved this kind of happiness. Such warm-hearted, caring people should never have to go through the pain like the Hamilton cast had gone through. 

It seemed like just yesterday Kasey had stood on the stage and made her Broadway debut. It seemed like she had just witnessed the shooting. 

But at the same time, it felt like her whole life had been spent onstage with the Hamilton cast. She could barely remember when she wasn't performing with them. It was all a blur. 

She wished that every day could be like Tony nomination day. Other than opening night, there had never been this much energy and excitement onstage.

She was glad everyone had recovered. The few shows in which they were short on people were intense. Once, the head lighting guy was sick, too. That was an adventure. 

But they'd gotten through it, like they'd gotten through everything else. And they'd made it to this moment.

~~~~~

"Kasey!" someone called backstage after the show was over. Kasey turned around. 

"Hey!" Kasey greeted Renee. 

"Congratulations on your nomination," Renee said, grinning. "The ensemble deserves it. You guys really pull the show together."

"Aww, thanks," Kasey said. "It's nice to have the appreciation, but I don't need a Tony to be happy about being in the ensemble. You deserve congratulations, too."

"You've invented a new kind of stupid," Renee joked. "But thank you, Kasey. It means a lot."

"You deserve it, so much, too,"  Kasey said earnestly. "Renee, you're such an amazing actress. You're the mother hen of the cast and honestly, everyone adores you. Thank you, for everything."

Renee clasped her hands together. "You flatter me too much."

"It's as much as you deserve," Kasey laughed. "I wish that Jazzy had gotten nominated."

"What's this about Jazzy?"

Jazzy appeared out of the stairwell. 

"I wanted you to get a Tony nomination," Kasey explained.

"I don't need a nomination to be happy," Jazzy said, waving her hand dismissively. "All I care about is that my all of my favorite Schuyler Sisters got exactly what their hard work deserves."

"You only have two Schuyler Sisters," Kasey reminded Jazzy.

Jazzy raised an eyebrow. "Let me list them all... Renee and Pippa, of course. Carleigh. Alysha. And of course, you."

"Thanks, Jazzy," Kasey said, hugging her friend. "And we got nominated for Best Musical!"

"We were," Renee laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the week, everyone was in extremely good spirits. Lin seemed a little shell-shocked that he had gotten so many nominations.

The ensemble was beyond happy. Kasey didn't consider the Tony nomination as an award she would win for herself. Even though she would get an award if the ensemble won, she was doing it for everyone else. Not so she could have a Tony.

That was why the ensemble was so much like a family. They all did it for each other. Kasey had been part of other shows before, and she's never had as strong of bonds with the ensemble as she did in Hamilton.

Before Kasey knew it, they had started rehearsal for the Tony awards.

They'd talked about what number they wanted to do. Someone suggested 'Alexander Hamilton'. At first, everyone was on board.

Kasey suggested 'Yorktown'.

Everyone was silent for a moment. They hadn't considered 'Yorktown' as their Tony number before.

But suddenly, it made a lot of sense.

The world really would be turned upsidedown at the Tony Awards.