All Grown Up: The Story of Jacob and Renesmee Part III

33

Swan 

It wasn't opening night of the show, but it felt like it to me because it was the first night I'd get to play Mary. I was super pumped. I had rehearsed on the stage a hundred times, and in my head at least a thousand. I knew all of my cues and all of my songs. I'd read up on Mary, and found some interesting stuff.

 Depending on who you talk to, the kind of relationship she had with Jesus is somewhat disputed. Some people think they were in love or even married. The debates I found online cited all kinds of verses from The Bible, which left me lost, so I looked up those too. For the purposes of playing Mary, one thing was clear. She cared for him very deeply. The whole cast had worked really hard it still amazes me how the whole thing came together.

Josie had warned us from the start that Jesus Christ Superstar wasn't an easy show, and if you were as passionate about it as you should be, it would wear you out. At first, I wasn't worried about it. There weren't any spoken words, just singing. Songs would be a lot easier to remember than lines. I already had a better than average memory. I thought that, and my superhuman endurance when it comes to the physical stuff would make me exempt from the challenges the other cast members would face. Wrong?! I was often emotionally exhausted after practice.? ?Even though you are? "faking it?" it doesn't feel like it at the time and it takes a lot out of you. It was all about to become worth it!

 As I was sitting backstage my friend Tara, who'd gotten me into this, said she couldn't believe I wasn't nervous. 

"I wouldn't call it nervous," I explained. "It's more like anxious excitement, I just wanna hurry up and do it?!" 

 Everyone had come in from Montana. I hadn't seen them yet so I was also super excited for after the show. The only person missing was Anthony. He just wouldn't leave Amy. He had promised me that he would at least ask her if she would come to another performance, but this show isn't for kids and he said there was nobody close by to watch Daisy. I reminded him that Daisy really liked Mollie. He'd given me a maybe, that sounded more like a probably not, but I really hoped he would make it. I was also hoping he'd come over tonight. He had said it would depend on how Daisy and Amy were doing.

 A couple of the ushers would run back with flowers for somebody every so often. I knew my family was out there somewhere, so every time a bouquet came through I'd look up to see if it was for me. When it was only fifteen minutes until curtain, I started to get a little discouraged, but when I saw the bright bunch of pink roses, I just knew they had to be mine. I read the card out loud. 

"Break a leg, love Asa. Nobody else, just Asa." 

I smiled and shook my head. He had kept telling me he wasn't going to come. I told Mom she should make him! She insisted he was only teasing, just to get a rise out of me. I guess that's what little brothers are for.

 "Greenroom! Josie wants everybody in the green room!" the guy playing Simon called out as he quickly passed by. 

 We all made our way to the tiny back hallway that was known as the green room. I don't know where that expression came from, but our "green room" made me giggle because it wasn't even a room, and it certainly wasn't green. 

Once we'd all crammed ourselves in there, Josie began her pep talk. 

"Okay, my little sugar plums. We've got a few great shows under our belt now, so we know we can do it. However, that also means there's a real danger in getting too cocky, so don't do it! Give it everything you have been, keep that same level of intensity. Now, tonight is the night for the understudies!"

 Jim, the understudy for Jesus, gave me a slightly nervous smile from across the hallway as Josie continued. 

"Let's have a nice, seamless transition. You've got a great cast behind you to support you, and back you up. I'm so proud of everyone already, now let's go tell this story!"