Sunnydale High School Drama Presents...
by Ben Church
b_church@yahoo.com
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Buffy and co. belong to Joss Whedon and the WB. Joe, Armand and
Micky are mine. All the rest are real to some extent. I've known
most of them.
Part 2: Callbacks
Xander strolled bravely into the chorus room, where Oz had
assured him Joe could be found. Sure enough, Joe sat at the grand
piano playing Eye of the Tiger. Xander cracked a smile when he
realized that Ben Church, who was also present, was singing Weird
Al's version.
"Yo Joe!" Xander called. Most in the room ignored him.
Joe looked up, a little surprised to see Xander there. Without
missing a beat, he quit the song he was playing and instead played
the theme from G.I.Joe.
Shaking his head in amusement, Xander approached the piano.
"'Sup Der?" Joe asked, still playing.
"I was wondering," Xander started.
"Not a prayer."
"What?"
"It's the day after auditions. I know you're going to ask
me to tell you who made callbacks. But I ain't going to. 'Sides,
I don't know myself."
"How'd you know?" Xander asked.
"'Cause everybody else already asked him." Ben grinned.
"Oh," Xander said. "That makes sense."
"God I'm so nervous." Willow confided. "What if I don't
make it?"
"I wouldn't worry about it." Giles advised. "I did a bit
of theater in my own school days, and I assure you, worrying does
no good at all. Besides," he said. "Just because you don't make
callbacks does not exclude you entirely from the play."
"I know." Willow agreed. "I mean, my head says not to
worry, but my body is all shivery. Which is interesting
considering the fact that I didn't want to audition in the first
place."
"Oz," Cordy said, coming up behind the boy.
"Cordelia," Oz greeted. "Hi."
"You got a minute?"
"I got a couple yeah. What's up?"
"Do I suck?"
Oz was taken aback. "Um, I can only assume you don't mean
in the literal sense."
"I mean like, my voice. My singing. Does it suck?"
"Do you want an honest answer, a polite answer, or a lie?"
Cordelia hesitated. What did she want? She'd always had
a habit of being brutally honest with most people. Was that what
she wanted?
"Honest." she finally decided.
Oz too a deep breath. "Yes." he told her. "I'm afraid
so. Don't hurt me."
Cordelia said nothing, she merely sighed, and walked away.
"Oh well," she thought. "At least I've still got my looks."
Buffy was among the first to see the list.
CALLBACKS FOR LITTLE SHOP:
SEYMOUR: MICKY KEELER, JOE MACLEOD, STEVE LUBER, DUSTIN MOTE, RICK SMITH,
STEFAN BERTEAU
AUDREY: ANDREA ABRAHMS, NICOLE TRAVERS, WILLOW ROSENBERG,
AARON DERBY
MUSHNIK: JOE MACLEOD, XANDER HARRIS, FITZ HARRIS, MATT
SIEGEL, RICK SMITH, SAM RICHARDSON
DENTIST: DAN O'BRIAN, XANDER HARRIS, BRIAN CONNOR, BEN
CHURCH, RICK SMITH, CHRIS SMITH
AUDREY 2: BEN CHURCH, XANDER HARRIS, ARMAND SMITH, RICK
SMITH, JOSEPH MACLEOD
SOUL GIRLS: WILLOW ROSENBURG, ANDREA ABRAMS, MIRIAM SCHWEDT,
NICOLE TRAVERS, ISABEL CHURCH
THE REST OF YOU: DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED, MAKING CALLBACKS
HAS NO BEARING ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU GET IN.
Buffy sighed in relief. Despite what the sign said, she
was pretty sure she hadn't gotten in. Now all she had to do was
crew. That was nothing she couldn't handle. And it would be
easier than cast to skip out on if she had to. Which reminded her,
she had to check with Giles to see what dire prophecies were
brewing.
The day arrived at last. The tension was a bit higher
than last time, so the silliness was at a minimum. Which was of
course, not saying much at all.
Xander and Willow were on their own, as neither Cordelia or
Buffy had made callbacks. Xander sighed. At least Willow had Oz
there.
Mr. Dean called everyone to order fairly quickly. He
seemed to want to get the auditions over.
This time, every one needed to sing a song from the show,
one for each character they'd been called back for. After everyone
had sung solos, Mr. Dean had the duets planned.
"Okay," he said. I want everyone who was called back for
Audrey, Audrey Two, and Seymour to stay, everyone else is free to
go."
Once everyone else had left, the auditions resumed.
After checking in with Giles, Buffy decided to spy on
the callbacks. If anyone spotted her, she could just say she was
getting a feel for the backstage area.
So caught up in her thoughts was she, that she almost
missed the voices coming from one of the dressing rooms.
"I'll, I'll run down to the store and pick up some nice
chopped sirloin!"
"Must be blood."
Buffy froze. She didn't recognize either voice, but it was
obvious to her what was going on.
"Twoie that's disgusting!"
"Must be fresh!"
"I don't wanna hear this!"
"Feed me."
"Does it have to be human?"
"Feed me."
"Does it have to be mine?"
Kicking the door open, Buffy charged in, stake ready. Only
to see Steve Luber and Rick Smith holding scripts and looking quite
shocked to see her.
"Um," Steve said. "Can we help you?"
"Not that we mind you in here of course." Rick amended
quickly. "Girls have always been welcome in the guys' dressing
room."
"Good looking ones anyway." Steve said.
"Uh, no." Buffy said hastily, backing out of the room.
"No, thanks."
"God!" she thought, once she was out of the room. "How
paranoid am I?!"
Willow was beside herself with fear. She stood frozen on stage
with Joe. She was supposed to sing this song she'd only learned two
minutes ago?! She gave a small whimper.
"Willow," Joe said, touching her shoulder. "Calm down. It's
just like the other auditions. You know the words well enough, and
I know you can sing it. Just pretend there's no one out there. Just
focus on me, and pretend I'm a guy you've always had a crush on."
"Oh." Willow said. She could do that, now that she thought
about it, she could really understand Audrey. They'd both been kicked
around by life, and their relationships were hardly perfect. For
different reasons of course.
So she sang. And when it was over, she was quite proud of
herself.
"Okay Xander," Joe said. "It's our turn. Here." He handed
the Audrey 2 Puppet to the boy. "This may help you get in the proper
mood."
Xander grinned as he slipped the glorified sock over his hand.
He moved the puppet around, getting a feel for it. "Hio! Kermit the
Frog here!" he had the puppet say with a fairly passable Kermit voice.
The audience cracked up.
Joe smiled. Xander would fit in just fine. Xander had the
puppet go for his throat.
To be continued...