It's Quiet Uptown

Chapter Twenty-Six: Mixing It Up

A/N: Quick note to all my fellow Hamilfans; there is a channel on YouTube named Hamilaudios that has tons of audio recordings of Hamilton songs done by the respective tours and casts. I highly recommend it; I've listened to a ton of songs over the holidays, and just fell in love with Julia K. Harriman's rendition of Eliza. Make sure to check it out!

Lin's POV

    Emily and I had been banished from the recording studio.

    We were a few months into filming (I'd started earlier than Groff) and Rob, the director, had finally decided it was time to record the songs. It was a musical, after all. He'd been pushing it back so I could work on my accent before the music since this would be the parts people listened the most to. Gulp.

    I still wasn't perfect, but working with a language specialist and private lessons with Groff had really helped me make a passable accent. It wasn't going to be praised by linguists everywhere, but it wouldn't become infamous like Dick Van Dyke's own in the original Mary Poppins. I hoped.

    And finally, here we were. Emily and I drew energy off each other, and since we were both excited, we were bouncing off the walls just like Joel, who never stopped running around. I suspected he extended the filming period singlehandedly.

    Rob had finally gotten tired of our chatter and kicked us out of the sound booth to look over our lines once more. I'd memorized them weeks before and instead practiced my accent.

    Absolutely everyone but me was British, so they didn't have a thing to worry about. All they had to do was sound similar.

    So I was muttering under my breath as I watched Georgie - I mean, Joel - race around the room, reenacting the balloon scene we'd filmed yesterday.

    I leaned over to Emily and muttered, "Bet you ten pounds that Joel forgets his lines."

    Pixie overheard and leaned in, snickering. "I know he'll forget them."

    Nathanael nodded, smiling wickedly. "He's gonna get in trouble," he sang.

    Emily shook her head and scolded the kids in her Supernanny voice. "Children, don't mock your brother."

    "Yes, Mary Poppins," they said in unison. Unluckily for them, they were too young and not experienced with lying, so their amusement shone right through. Though they both looked like the most innocent people to walk the planet, I saw mischievousness in their eyes.

    Instead of calling them out, I whispered, "He is so going to forget his lines," causing Pixie and Nathanael's innocent faces to collapse into giggles.

    Emily rolled her eyes.

      Finally, we were allowed to reenter. Both Emily and I had previous experiences in the recording booth, but since I had more, I went first. The others were going to watch me and hopefully learn. I was nervous - I didn't want to mess up in front of my friends.

    The orchestra had already warmed up and stood ready. The conductor glanced over at me, and at my nod, started the tempo. As I didn't have anything to say for a few seconds, I closed my eyes and swayed to the music, before leaning forward and starting to sing. I could do this.

    "When the early hours have come and gone," I sang. "Through the misty morning showers, I greet the door..."

    I sailed through the song, my accent not wavering once. A grin slowly spread across my lips as I sang, but I didn't allow my smile to enter my voice. With a final, "Lovely London sky," the song ended.