You see, if you ask any theatre kid, dress rehearsals are a lot of things.
Chaotic, fun, crazy, an absolute blast?
All of the above.
And today was no different.
Here, let me give you a bit of insight on the last dress rehearsal we had until the show tomorrow.
"Conner and Travis! I swear to THE GODS ABOVE IF YOU TOOK MY PENS!"
"Perseus Jackson you get back here RIGHT NOW!"
"LEO I WAS GONE FOR TWO SECONDS HOW IS IT ON FIRE?!"
"Nico and Will, sitting in a tree-"
"No this isn't a competition for who can sing Guns and Ships the fastest!"
"Who the HELL took my costume!"
"Yes Leo you look gorgeous in Angelica's dress, NOW GIVE IT BACK!"
"Why the heck is this crown SO HEAVY!?"
So, it was chaotic, to say the least.
"Now, Annabeth, the question of the day, how'd you not set your dress of fire?"
I rolled my eyes, "You're the one who's been randomly setting things on fire today Leo, not me."
"And," Piper put in, "You aren't in charge so stop trying to run the rehearsal!"
"I'm not trying to run the rehearsal!" Leo objected, "I am running the rehearsal!"
I threw my hands up in confusion, "And do you mind telling us where Apollo went?"
Leo dismisses me almost immediately, with a wave of his hand a muttering, "irrelevant."
Finally, Piper and Hazel manage to drag Leo off of the stage (with him dramatically kicking and screaming 'release me' at the top of his lungs). To be completely fair, Apollo had basically vanished in thin air, leaving us no choice but to cause the absolute most amount of chaos possible
We were probably waiting for another 10 minutes before Apollo emerged from the wings, waving his hands in an apology. "So sorry!!! We had a bit of a costume emergency!" He cried, hurrying off the stage and into the audience seats, "Now where were we? Take a break! Right."
I laughed to myself, but began preparing to start the song again anyways.
"Ok! Everyone else off stage and spotlight on! Thank you, and Annabeth face a bit for to the right- yes perfect. And Piper- thankyou-p. Where is Nico, ah ok! And orchestra are we ready? Yep- great, Ms Helike, a' one, two three four, GO!"
"Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf," I sang to Nico- or Phillip, should I say? Nico was a Freshman, who played Phillip Hamilton, Alexander and Eliza's firstborn, who wasn't even alive for more than 15 songs. Still, despite him having such a small role, and him being a freshman this year, he quickly became a cast-favourite, (especially to Will Solace, who played John Laurens and was a Sophmore). According to Nico, they were 'just friends', but Will, who could probably talk to anyone who asked for hours on end just about Nico's eyes, would say differently.
Back to the musical... Can I just say, I did not appreciate having to learn how to beatbox for this. I really didn't.
Jason and Percy had taken glee in teaching me, both having fits of laughed after every time I tried, to the point where I was slapping them across the faces with a shoe Piper had so-kindly handed to me.
Now though, I was grateful for the lessons, since apparently, I wasn't making a complete fool out of myself during Take A Break.
From then on, it progressed pretty smoothly- well, as smoothly as you could hope it to go on for.
I have to say, throughout the entire musical process, Burn had become one of my favourites- if not; my favourite song to perform. I didn't have to worry about choreography- though I did have to worry about not burning myself or my dress. It was a slow song as well, which helped me take a small break from the havoc from both backstage and on stage.
"I hope that you burn," I sang, staring at the burning piece of parchment in my hand, before dropping it in the bucket at my feet. With that, I closed the lantern, trying to ignore the rapid increase of my heart and frantically hoping that my mic had already turned off, and walked off stage. Immediately it was chaos. I emerged from the entrance/exit to stage and was greeted by Frank's face, "You sounded great!" He shot me a thumbs up, "And Percy was looking for-"
I was flanked by a group of stylists dragging me to the dressing rooms, "Sorry Frank!" I called as quietly as possible as I was pushed down two flights of stairs and into a large room that smelt like hairspray and makeup.
I had approximately 3 minutes to change from my nightgown to a black-widowed dress. I honestly think during this musical I have lost all the sense of dignity I had for myself for all the girls in the cast. I had about 3 different people helping me out of one outfit, and another three helping me into my dress. We had practised this change only once before, and it had resulted in me being late onto stage by a full 36 seconds.
"What time is it?!" I asked, running my hands through my hair that got messed up during the dress change).
"You've got 45 seconds!" Rachel whispered, fixing my hair into another low pony.
Right. Stage. Entrance. Should probably get there.
"Kay. Thanks guys erm-"
"Annabeth go!" Someone yelled at me, maybe it was Piper. Who knows.
I made it up to the stage with around 15 seconds to spare. I breathed out and took the couple seconds of quiet for relaxation, preparing myself for Stay Alive (Reprise).
"Annabeth!" Piper whispered to me. I turned my head, "What!?"
"Percy had-"
I had someone shoving me into the entrance and onto the stage before I could hear the rest of what she wanted to say. My brain was spinning with both her and Frank, that all of my years of experience had to take over, leaning over Nico's limp body, continuing to act off insinct.
The confusion had set into me that I didn't recognise that the person standing next to me was shorter than Connor, and was standing much closer to me than Connor ever did.
In fact, the worry over what Piper and Frank had wanted to tell me about Percy had kept me so mentally preoccupied that I didn't realise the answer was standing right next to me the entire time. Well, I didn't realise until the spotlight changed onto Piper, singing the opening to Quiet Uptown. And thank gods for that, because I'm pretty sure that if the spotlight was on me, my face would be a limp ball of shock.
Because Connor wasn't on stage like he should be. He wasn't the one whose voice I could hear through the vibrations of his mic. It was Percy.
My eyes blinked in shock twice before I focused on the song. It was the only song where I was just there. No singing (save for one line at the end). Basically no choreography (other than just walking around). And the only acting I had to do was look sad. Hard, right?
"It's quiet uptown."
The last line of the song rang out into the empty theatre, my hand tingling at the comforting familiarity of Percy's.
The music fades and I hurry off stage, trying to wrap my head around the fact that Percy was playing Hamilton. Why was Percy playing Hamilton?
"Hey, Annabeth, down here!"
Rachel was beckoning me down the stairs into the dressing rooms. I had yet another change, though this one was somewhat more relaxed.
The girls helped me out of the heavy black dress, and into the light blue dressing gown. Apparently, in the original, the design for the black dress was different. In fact, it wasn't even a dress, just a coat that was put over the nightgown. Why Apollo authorised it to be changed will forever be a mystery to me.
I was walking up backstage when I ran into Piper, who was grinning ear-to-ear.
"Hey," I said, grabbing her arm lightly and directing her to walk in my direction, "Why is Percy on stage right now?" I whispered, hearing the end of The Election of 1800 through my earpieces.
"Did Apollo not tell you?" Piper whispered back.
"Only that there was a 'costume emergency'."
"Oh my gosh, well, Connor tripped over in the changing rooms, and a bookshelf fell onto his legs, I think one is broken."
I gasped, "What?!"
"Yeah, he won't be able to do any of the shows! It's disappointing, right?"
I nodded in agreement, wrapping the blue robe that I wore for Best of wives and Best of women around me. "Is Percy going to have to sing for all of the ten days?"
"I don't know," Piper admitted, "His voice will be in for it if he does."
I nodded again before I heard my cue to prepare to enter stage. Your Obedient Servant was just ending, and I was needed for all of roughly 50 seconds during Best of Wives and Best of Women.
It was a really short song.
During the whole thing, I was staring at Percy, trying to figure out what my opinion on the situation was. Firstly, I felt extremely bad for Connor. It was any performer's worst nightmare to go through what he has to go through.
On the other hand, this was an extremely big opportunity for Percy, to see if he could step up to it, and although it would be hard, and stressful, it would look very good for him if he pulled it off.
I really just didn't know.
I JUST REALISED IVE BEEN SPELLING CONNOR ALL WRONG THE ENTIRE STORY!!!
So, this part is the only time it's been spelt correctly, I thinkkkkk.
Eek. Sry about that.