Girlsies of New York

First Day, Pt. 2

It clicks in everyone's head very quickly, and everyone who's playing a Manhattan newsie collectively shouts, "Manhattan's here!"

"Flushing's here!"

"Richmond's here!"

"Woodside's here!"

"And so's the Bronx!"

Collective raspberry.

"Brooklyn's here!"

"Welcome to Broadway, newsies of New York!"

Loud cheering and shouting from most, tentative cheering and shouting from me.

"I said, WELCOME TO BROADWAY, NEWSIES OF NEW YORK!"

I shout louder this time, but there are several people still louder than me.

"Okay! Now, there's someone else who wants to shout stuff at you, so hold on to your caps. Also, please put on your caps."

Everyone yanks their caps down over their hair. Jeremy Jordan takes Tommy's place.

"First off, good job to everyone here. It is very difficult to get a role on Broadway."

Clapping from everyone.

"Second, we will be playing an icebreaker."

I drop my head into my hands. I hate icebreakers. They make me nervous.

"Please say your name, the character you'll be playing, your favorite song from the show, and your favorite part of the show. If you haven't seen the show, say your favorite line from any specific song. The two adult cast members will go first, and then the corresponding younger actress will go next. I'll start. My name is Jeremy Jordan, I played Jack Kelly in the show. My favorite song is Carrying the Banner, and my favorite part of the show is when Katherine says the thing about getting drunk and how disappointed everyone gets when she clarifies that it's a metaphor."

Laughter ripples through the gathering.

"Hi." Everyone turns to the sound of the voice. "I'm Corey Cott. I also played Jack Kelly. My favorite song is King of New York, and my favorite part of the show is when Crutchie hops over his foot in Seize the Day."

I take a deep breath and stand up. "Um, hello. My name is Cecelia Zyphiniah. I will be playing Jack Kelly, and-" I ball my hands into fists to stop their shaking- "my favorite song is Santa Fe, the first one, and my favorite part of the show...well, I've only seen Newsies Live, but my favorite part of that was in Once and For All, when they go "There's change comin', once and for all," and the entire thing lights up and moves forward and it just seems so powerful." I sink back down to the floor and swallow hard. I'm barely listening to everyone, just catching their names and their parts. The only reason I can do this is I feel free when I'm singing.

"That's everyone, yeah?" Sophie, the stage manager, asks.

A chorus of affirmation comes from us.

"Okay. So. Everyone from the national tour cast, collect the binder from the actress playing your character and go through and make sure all notes that need to be there are. Original cast, collect the actress and take them to their dressing rooms or area, where they will find their key for their apartment, the building of which is just two buildings to the left. Girls, you can leave your bags there until after rehearsal. How rehearsals are going to work is that one day you will work with the original cast, and the next you will work with the tour cast. Any further arrangement is to be planned as a little group. Got it?"

Another round of "yes" echoes.

"Well, then, get going!" 

I walk over to Corey and hand him my binder. "Thank you for making these notes, Mr. Cott."

"You can call me Corey. You can call everyone here by their first names, unless they introduced themselves with their last name."

"Okay. Thank you."

"No problem. You'll get more comfortable here."

"I hope so. Bye."

"Bye."

I then head over to Jeremy. He's talking to Kara, so I step to the side, because I don't want to interrupt. He finishes their conversation and turns to me.

"Hi. Cecelia, right?"

"Yep. Um, Mr. Jordan-"

"You can call everyone here by their first names, unless they introduce themselves with their last names."

"Okay. That was my question. Mr. Co- Corey said the same thing, but I wanted to make sure."

"You're fine. I'll show you to your dressing room, where you can drop your stuff, and then we'll find somewhere to rehearse. Later, at like one, we're gonna gather with everyone else and run Seize the Day and Once and For All. It's so the dance captain and the stage manager can see how everyone fits on the stage and what we need to work on. You don't have many dancing parts, but Seize the Day is a collection of most of them, so we should go over that. We'll run the finale tomorrow, which is also a get-to-know-a-cast-mate-day, so you'll practice with Clara, the girl who plays Katherine. And I want to see your one-handed cartwheel."

"It's not very good."

"Then you'll work on it. Follow me."

I do just that, and he leads me to a little room in a hall of other little rooms.

"Drop your stuff here. Your key is in that envelope there, but you can leave it until after rehearsal. If you have a lunch, bring it with you. We'll take a break at noon and you can join everyone else for lunch, and then it's back to rehearsal. Are you warmed up?"

"Yeah, I warmed up before auditions."

"Okay. You should probably stretch a little before we start, but it won't take as long."

"Where will we rehearse?"

"We'll find a hallway somewhere. There are railings along every wall you can use for a barre if necessary. Let's go."

We end up in a hall pretty close to back of the theater. Half of the hallway has been taken by Ben Fankhauser and the girl playing Davey, practicing Seize the Day. Jeremy waves to him and he waves back, and I wave to the girl and she waves back. I begin stretching. It takes about five minutes for me to feel fully limber.

"Jeremy?" God, it makes me uncomfortable calling adults by their first names.

"Yeah?"

"Should I start with my cartwheel, or..."

"Yeah, let's see your cartwheel."

I start in a lunge and rock forward into the cartwheel, one arm on the ground and one out to the side. I land in the right position, too, like I'm about to start King of New York.