I grinned. “No sightings yet,” I answered. I was happy that the water incident before his audition hadn’t thrown him off enough to ruin his performance.
“Maybe someone threw water onherand she melted.”
I erupted into amused laughter. The studio door opened, and the strong smell of overly sweet perfume drifted into the room.
“Well, you have the witchy cackle down,” said a high-pitched voice.
I turned in my chair to find Cheryl dressed in pink and smirking, not a wet spot in sight.
Too bad.
“Oh, good,” I muttered to Warren under my breath. “She’s heeeerrreee,” I singsonged in the same tone as the little girl fromPoltergeist.
He chuckled and shook his head. “I knew we weren’t going to get that lucky.”
He turned to the man sitting on his other side, making idle chitchat with him while we waited. The other man was going gray at the temples, and his eyes crinkled behind his wire-rimmed glasses when he smiled.
The studio door opened again, and a handful of people came in. I recognized most of them from my auditions. The director, producers, stage manager, and musical director took their reserved seats at the ends of the table and the group quieted down.
The director, a gray-haired man with a mustache, stood up and clapped his hands together. “Congratulations and welcome to our first rehearsal forWretched!”
The table erupted into applause with a few whoops of delight added to the general cacophony. Once everyone settled back down, he continued, “Most of you know, but in case anyone has forgotten, I’m the director, Ed Gardner. There are muffins and coffee. If you want to grab some before we get started, feel free.”
He gestured to a long table set up in front of the large windows overlooking the Manhattan streets, where a short woman with dark hair was hurriedly opening the boxes of muffins, arranging carafes of coffee, and setting out plates and disposable cups.
A few people slowly pushed out from the large circle of rectangle tables to get some caffeine in their system. Warren offered to grab me some coffee as he went, but I declined. The water in my bag would be better than the bitter coffee that had been sitting in those carafes for the better part of an hour.
“Do some of these muffins have walnuts?” Cheryl asked, peering into the box before leaping away from the table.
Ed cleared his throat in the silence that followed. “Laurie?” he called to the dark-haired woman who had set up the table. “Are there walnuts?”
“I—I’m not sure. I asked for a variety. Some of them might have walnuts,” she answered before returning to the large box that she was now pulling binders and folders from.
“I told you no walnuts, Ed. I would go into anaphylactic shock if I ingested any. Is your assistant incompetent?” Cheryl hissed.
There were gasps around the room at her impudence.
“Cut the shit, Cheryl,” Ed said, eyes flashing at her dangerously.
I bit back a smile. It was good to see the director had a backbone. Everyone would be miserable if Cheryl was allowed to completely run the show.
She lifted her chin, arms crossing in front of her. She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off.
“I neglected to tell Laurie about your allergy. It was an oversight, and I apologize.” He stared her down until she gave him a silent nod.
“Laurie, next time make sure to tell them nothing with walnuts.”
“Of course,” Laurie said, stacking the binders in front of her.
“Right. Now that’s settled, I’ll have my assistant, Laurie, pass around the scripts and scores. Go around the table and introduce yourselves and tell everyone the part you will be playing. Let’s start with our musical director, here on my left.”
I made note of who was who as everyone introduced themselves. Warren would play the sorcerer, a part which fit him perfectly. Blake, the nervous guy from auditions, would be the male love interest. He smiled at me from across the table when I introduced myself and announced my part as Evangeline.
I tried to remember the names of some ofthe supporting characters. Michelle, a woman in her 40s, would be the headmistress and the part of the professor would be played by Derek, the man who had been talking to Warren.
Cheryl was playing my best friend, Grace. She may look the bubbly and cheery part, but I’d seen her diva side enough to know that looks were deceiving when it came to her.
Once the introductions were finished, we did our first table read. I’d done table reads before, but never on a production this large with a cast this talented.
