There’s still a glimmer of the girl who took the call for Lawrence Shippe inviting her to the Reflections callback.
God, I thought that show was going to be my big break.
But I thought a lot of things when I lived in New York.
I gaze back into my own reflection, and I’m strangely envious of her. The woman on the other side of the mirror lives in a world where things go the other way. All the bad decisions I made in my life, this woman made the opposite. She’s probably looking into her reflection in a private dressing room of a big Broadway show. Preparing for a performance of some classic. Maybe Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. My favorite musical. Johanna, the title character’s daughter, has long been my dream role.
The music in Sweeney Todd is so thrilling, so virtuosic.
A world away from the music I sing here at Aces. The sultry, jazzy songbook favorites that I’ve belted out every weekend and holiday night for the last five years.
I keep begging Rouge to let me change things up a bit, add in some of the songs I worked so hard on when I was running the audition circuit in New York, but those requests fell on deaf ears.
I turn to a knock on my dressing room door.
“Bianca? Are you decent?”
Speak of the ruffle-clad devil herself.
“Yes, Rouge,” I call out. “Come in.”
Rouge walks through my door effortlessly, despite the large Elizabethan ballgown she’s wearing. She wears a lot of green during March, and tonight’s number features cascading emerald velvet and delicate sage organza with a heavy bodice gleaming with silver-threaded vines and peridot beadwork. Her outrageous attire, as usual, eclipses the simple cream gown with matching heels I’ve chosen tonight.
She looks me up and down, a strange combination of smile and scowl twisting her lips. “I wanted to look over your set. I’ll be over at the Jade Sanctum tonight, and after that I have to do my weekly check-in at the Caterpillar, so I won’t be able to hear you, unfortunately.”
I stand and walk across the room, nearly tripping over a bunch of iron rods piled up in a corner. “How much longer are you going to be using my dressing room for storage, by the way?”
“Thank you for being such a good sport about that. I’ve been on the phone with my contractor, and he says the work to fortify my office security should be done in a week or so.” She looks to the corner, her lips pursed. “Until then, thank you so much for keeping the branding irons and extra uniforms for the staff in here.”
Right. A few club patrons broke into Rouge’s office a few weeks ago. I’m not sure who, and my sister is incredibly tightlipped whenever anyone brings it up. Since then, she’s been adding extra security measures to her office and using my dressing room to hold all her extra crap.
I walk past the clutter and pick up a sheet of paper with tonight’s rep selections printed on it. I hold it out to Rouge. “Nothing out of the ordinary, just as you like it.”
She snatches the paper and scans it. “‘At Last’… ‘I Put a Spell on You’… Good, good… Oh, ‘The Man I Love.’ I adore that one.”
“You adore all of them, Rouge. That’s why they’re on the list.”
She narrows her eyes. “Do I detect a hint of disdain in your voice, sister?”
My breath catches in my throat. “No… Of course not. I just… It wouldn’t kill us to throw in some new works now and then, would it?”
Rouge smiles. Sort of. “Sweetheart, the songs we sing at Aces are the tried and true. The ones that are timeless. I appreciate your input, but why don’t you focus on putting on a good show, and I’ll handle the nitty-gritty of it all, okay?” She hands me the setlist. “We’re all good here. I’ll expect a full report when I return.”
“Of course, Rouge.” I sit back down in my makeup chair and turn to my mirror. “Will there be anything else?”
She darts her gaze around the room, frowning. “Everything seems to be in order. Good luck tonight. I’ll see you when I return. Ta-ta!” She exits the room, closing the door behind her.
I grab my eye pencil out of my bag and continue working on my makeup.
I’m not surprised that Rouge rebuffed my suggestion. I ask once every few months, and the answer is always the same. I could have said the words along with her.
Tried and true.
Timeless.
Don’t get me wrong. These songs are great. But I spent years in NYC collecting a book of so many great songs by a diverse range of composers and lyricists. It feels like a waste to be singing the same pieces night after night.
But it’s Rouge’s way or the highway here at Aces Underground.
