SIXTH GRADE SUPERSTAR Chapters 9 and 10

Ty enters a whole new world.

When last we left Ty Bogart, he had just given the world’s worst middle school musical audition. There was no way he was getting a part.

CHAPTER NINE

I got a part.

I didn’t know why.  I didn’t know how.   I couldn’t believe it.  I almost didn’t even check the Official Cast List posted the next day on the door of Room 145.  But I did, and I saw this:

ARVIDE ABERNATHY……………….TY BOGART

Ty Bogart was in.  Ty Bogart had done it.  I put myself out there, and said, “Hello world, this is me, sorry, is that cool” and the world said, “I guess, just shut up.”

My Guys and Dolls character’s name was Arvide, who I assumed was going to be someone who said a single line to a guy and/or doll, before hurrying off of the stage.  But I didn’t care how small my part was.  I was in the play.   I was so excited, I wanted to quietly stammer the news from the rooftops.  My parents were excited.  My sister Grace was happy for me.  Bowen was very Bowen about it, thinking about the news for a few long moments, before offering a monotone:

Two days later, I reported to the very same classroom where we’d auditioned for a read-through of the script.  The desks were all moved into a circle.  The other actors, my fellow thespians, were buzzing.  Man, I thought they were excited the day of auditions, but that was nothing compared to the tornado of theater kid exhilaration that was sweeping through the room now.  They were striding around, practically bouncing off walls.  Wrestling.  Dancing despite a lack of music.  The amount of hugging had now multiplied by ten.

Most of the kids in the room were older.  Seventh graders, eighth graders, they had performed in plays with each other before, so they had history.  I knew none of them so I stood there, unsure of what to do.   The room thermometer was behind me on the wall, so I figured I’d give myself a bit of business reading the temperature.  This would buy me a minute or two before we’d all be told to take a seat.  But the thermometer would have to wait.  One of the kids, a very pretty girl with giant saucer eyes, calmly walked through the tornado of theater kids and put out her hand.

“I’m Holly Breyfogle,” she said. 

I shook her hand and introduced myself.    

“Are you in the sixth grade?”  she asked. 

I nodded.  

“That’s cool,”  she said.  “I don’t mean to brag, but I’m in eighth.”

Look, I’m not one to instantly crush on someone.  I believe crushes are serious matters that deserve proper time and research.  I didn’t just fall for the first girl with pigtails, or a cute SMURF shirt.  I didn’t moon over the girl I had to square dance with in gym.   It took me a full two years in elementary school to commit to my first crush. 

And when I landed on Denise, I stuck with it until she moved to Tennessee.  Even then, with no way of communicating with her, no way of knowing what she was doing, how she was doing, I continued my crush.  I crushed on the memory of a girl for an entire school year.  So, no, I don’t immediately like someone just to like someone.

But I immediately liked Holly Breyfogle.  And it wasn’t just that she was cute.   She was immediately welcoming, immediately warm, immediately, in the best sense of the word, nice.

And I wasn’t naïve, I knew she was probably just being friendly and probably had no interest in me romantically.  So I swear I wasn’t even the least bit jealous, when Holly offered to introduce me to the rest of the kids, and started with her boyfriend Ted.  This is what Ted looked like:

At least, that’s what I remember Ted looking like.  I may be getting a few details wrong but that was generally the gist. 

“How’s it going, Ty?” Ted said with his stupid voice.

“Great!  Great to meet you!” I said.  To be honest, it was not going great and it was not great to meet him.  But I think Ted bought it.  Ted wished me luck and said we were going to have “a blast” over the next couple of months.  

My introductions didn’t end with Ted, the next couple of minutes were a blur of names and greetings. I got to formally meet Astra Drakos, the closest thing O’Thomas Middle School had to a megastar.   She offered her hand for me, palm down.  I’m not sure if she wanted me to kiss it, but I went with shaking the ends of her fingers while curtseying.  Next, over to Hashir, a goofy seventh grader with a powerful high-five.   “Theater!” he yelled, I think sarcastically, as his big mitt slammed into mine. 

The other kids yelled “theater!” after him, which made him laugh. Finally, there was Eve, who seemed like she had wandered into the wrong room.   

It wasn’t just that she was wearing a varsity jacket, or that she sat away from everyone else.  Eve seemed too cool to be there.  Eve was too cool for everything.  We didn’t shake hands, we didn’t high-five, I got a slight head nod, and honestly, felt honored to get even that.

Lisa, the stage manager, barked for everyone to take a seat.  Everyone did, immediately, no one wanted to incur her wrath.   Coach Toth and Miss Havet entered to much applause from the kids.   I joined in, threw in some whoots to really let them know I was a team player.  

“Thank you.  Thank you so much,”  Coach Toth said.  “Congratulations to everyone here.  We had a lot of great auditions but you were all the best.”

I sat up straight, that was nice to hear.

“Now.  Guys and Dolls.  It’s based on the story The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Runyon.   Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser, and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.  It tells two interconnecting tales.  One tale is about a dancer who wants her gambler boyfriend to finally step up and marry her.  The other, about a suave gambler who takes a bet that he can win the heart of a missionary, only to fall in love with her.  It’s a wonderful play.  A classic.  But, I’m not going to lie, there are some questionable things in it for a middle school to perform.  Illegal betting, mobsters, some suggestive material,”  Coach Toth sighed. “However, it’s also Principal Blume’s favorite play, and she very firmly requested we tackle it.”

This sounded very exciting.  Mobsters?  Suggestive material?  Were we doing a musical POLICE STORY?   Maybe Bowen Tu should have tried out for this.

We went around the room and introduced ourselves, and what character we would be playing.    Holly and her boyfriend Ted would be playing hotbox dancer Adelaide and her boyfriend Nathan Detroit.

“A real life couple playing a couple onstage,”  Astra declared to the room. “The press is going to have a field day with this.”

I wasn’t sure what press she was talking about.  Maybe O’Thomas Middle School’s newspaper?   Not sure it had room for such a story, as it was only six pages, two of which were coupons for local restaurants.

Speaking of Astra, it turns out she was playing two different parts, combined into one mega-part.  She was the Voltron of O’Thomas Middle School Musical Theater.  Astra would be singing not one, not two, not three, but four solos.

That news was met with a chorus of “well of course” and “who else” from around the room.  

Less fortunate was Wade Moody, a sullen kid clad entirely in black.  He didn’t get a part.  Wade would be the understudy for all of the guys.   That meant he had to learn every part, so that on the off-chance someone got sick, he could jump in and perform it. 

Wade did not seem happy about this.  Arms crossed, he slumped in his chair, mumbling something about how no one appreciates real talent. 

Lisa, meanwhile, would understudy for all of the girls.  

“BUT I DON’T WANT TO PERFORM.” Lisa grimaced.  “So no one get SICK.  Wear WARM HATS and HAND-KNIT SCARVES.  HYDRATE.  Stay WELL.  I don’t want to ACT, are we CLEAR?”

Varsity Jacket Eve was playing Sister Sarah.  Sarah works for a Mission, falls in love with a gambler named Sky Masterson, to be played by Hashir.  As we began to read the script, Eve’s character introduced my character as her grandfather. Eve and I were related.  I literally let out a “wow, really” when Eve’s character revealed that fact.

The play stopped, and everyone looked up at my surprising ad-lib.  Eve managed a half-smile and put her hand out to air-five me from across the room. 

She is the first person I ever saw do that.  Part of me maintains she was the first person to ever do that and everyone else who has done it since then was just “pulling an Eve.”

As the play continued, I was surprised to discover I was in it a lot.  I had a ton of dialogue, and I was onstage for half the songs.  It all seemed doable, as most of the songs I was a part of were performed with other people. 
Until Act Two.

When I had a full solo.

CHAPTER TEN

More I Cannot Wish You.  A two-page ballad that would be sung by me and me alone.   It was slow and wistful.  If performed by someone talented, it would probably be quite beautiful.  Unfortunately for More I Cannot Wish You, and anyone within earshot opening night of the play, it was going to be sung by me. 

I’m not quite sure what Coach Toth was thinking.  Two days earlier I had proven that I couldn’t sing.  And I don’t mean that I was a bad singer, I mean I was physically unable to sing.  Was this all some prank?  Was Coach Toth eventually going to rip off her face, revealing that she’d been Craig Stone THIS WHOLE TIME?

As it was just the first read-through, we weren’t singing the songs yet so luckily, no one was aware of how badly this was going to go.  But it was only a matter of time.  Maybe I could lip sync?  Was that frowned upon? 

But the hits just kept on coming!  Coach Toth suggested that after the song was over, I should kiss Eve on the forehead.  Singing and kissing back-to-back?  Why stop there?  Keep having me run through this gauntlet of things I have never done before.  Suggest that Arvide juggle knives, swallow fire, and levitate for the big Act Two Finale.

I don’t know what was said the rest of the play.  For all I knew, every character died.  I wasn’t paying attention.

I only knew the read-through had ended because everyone started clapping and saying things like “that was great” and “so exciting.”  I clapped and nodded and blurted out “kiss” but luckily no one heard me.

Coach Toth told us we did a great job, but that we still had a lot of work to do. 

“It is now mid-March.  In mid-May, we put on two performances in the O’Thomas Middle School Gymnasium.  One on a Thursday afternoon right after school and then the Big Show, Friday night.   That gives us two months to rehearse.”

She said, though, that it wasn’t just about doing the work during the actual rehearsals.  Coach Toth wanted us to practice our acting, singing and dancing at home as well.  And she wanted us off-book three weeks from today, which meant we had to memorize all of our lines. 

Everyone broke off into little groups to discuss how wonderful it went.  I didn’t talk to anyone.  Instead, I was making a plan in my head.  This was going to be really tough.  I could drop out now, and never talk to these people again…but truth be told, that wasn’t a real option.  I was already craving these kids’ acceptance.  The group was incredibly welcoming.   Their energy was the complete opposite of Craig Stone and his soul-sucking minions, and I wanted more.

No.  The only real option I had was to learn how to sing and be cool (well, more accurately, the musical theater version of cool).  And to do that, I was going to take a page from the dozens of superheroes I read about every weekend.  How do they tackle their problems?  Well, they’d probably want to get an origin, like being dropped in a vat of Broadway stars, or be bitten by a radioactive choreographer.   But sadly, the technology was just not at the point where I could do that yet.  So I was going to take a page from the one without powers.  I was going to be like Batman.  And if Batman wanted to be in a play, he’d make sure he was ready in every conceivable way.

That’s what I was gonna do. 

I was going to be a musical theater Batman.

TO BE CONTINUED! SAME TY TIME! SAME TY SUBSTACK!