CATS 20th Anniversary Tour

Chapter 2: Final Auditions

Written by Silvana and Tailkinker

"OK, ladies and gentleman. You have all been chosen to return for a second audition," Charles Frant, the person in charge of the Winter Garden auditions and the tour's eventual manager. "Today, we're going to be looking at how well you fit into the show. For that, I'm turning this over to Laura."

"Okay, each of you will be given an excerpt from one of the songs. What I need you to do is work with the others in your group to sound good. Once you've had a chance to practice it, you will sing the excerpt for us," Laura Frant, the dance and song captain, told them. "Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," the group said together.

"If you do not get an excerpt the first time around, you will be taken aside by one or two of the dance assistants," she indicated the eight men and women standing behind her, "to work on a dance audition sequence."

"Okay," the pianist sized up the three women and one man gathered around the piano. "Who's singing which part?"

"I'm singing Bustopher's part," the man, named Kevin Swift, volunteered, an impish grin on his face.

"No, I woulda never guessed," Teresea Forster, a redhead with brown highlights and pale green eyes, answered sarcastically. "I have Jennyanydots' part."

"I have Bombalurina's," Emma Paloma volunteered, deep emerald green eyes sparkling with laughter at Teresea's sarcasm.

"And I have Jellylorum's," Chelsea Hartford, a small, mousy woman, finished quietly.

"Alrighty," the small, slender piano player stretched out her hands and prepared to play. "I'm going to give each of you the starting notes for your parts and you have to figure it out from there. I'm assuming that each of you knows how to read music?"

"Of course," Kevin answered.

"Fiona, pay attention," Andrea Frant Andrews, Charles' younger sister, scolded as the auburn-haired woman's attention wandered to one of the tall, dark men practicing with one of the four pianists.

"Sorry, Mrs. Andrews," she turned her attention back to the dance captain's assistant, who was demonstrating Victoria's solo dance for the three women in the group auditioning for the part.

"Okay, let's go over it one more time, then each of you need to go off by yourselves and practice it," she told them. "When you actually audition, Julius will perform Mistoffelees' part."

"I'm scared, Tony," Jamie, his girlfriend, whispered as they watched the pair before them audition for Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer.

"Don't worry, Jamie," he whispered back. "You'll do fine."

"Tony Pravacheck and Jamie McCoy!" Charles' voice called from the back of the theater.

"Here we go," Tony grasped Jamie's hand and squeezed it before leading her up onstage. They took their positions center stage and waited for the music to start. When it did, they concentrated only on their dancing and the music, blocking everything else out.

"Whew! I'm bushed," Nancy Marvin announced when she came home to her husband.

"That's what you get when you audition for something like CATS," Burt teased as she flopped onto the couch with her feet in his lap. He slipped her shoes off and began to massage her feet.

She giggled, "That tickles," she told him, making no move to pull away, enjoying this rare quiet moment. They only came when she was looking for a role to play and it looked like she was going to be gone for awhile if she kept making these cuts.

In various cities around America, the list of likely candidates slowly shrank. The final audition arrived and everyone was told to travel to New York for it, which would take place the day after CATS final performance on Broadway. All of the people who made that cut were invited to attend the final performance, which many of them did.

"Now I'm sad," Angela Parker complained to her hotel roomate, Rebecca Taylor, as they returned to their hotel.

"I know what you mean," Rebecca agreed. "I know some of them were invited to take a role in the tour troupe, but they turned it down because they felt it was time to move on."

"Yeah," Angela flopped onto her bed. "Guess we'd better get to bed if we want to be awake for tomorrow's audition."

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for auditioning," Charles told the fifty performers sprawled out on the stage. "You will find out within the next couple days whether or not you made it. Remember, there will be four chorus cats: 2 guys and 2 girls, as well as nine standbys."

"Don't you mean 'two toms, two queens'?" Hank Ernstine asked cheekily from where his head was pillowed in Kelly Brown's (his fiancee) lap.

"Whatever," Charles answered. "Just get out of here and go get some sleep."

"Hiya, Fi," Maxie greeted the small, slender woman.

"Hi, Maxie," Fiona returned, letting the short, stout woman inside. "What's up?"

"This," Maxie handed the other woman an envelope.

Fiona tore it open and read through the enclosed letter, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "Yes!! I did it!" Fiona shrieked and began dancing a jig right there in the front hall.

"Congrats, Fi," Maxie hugged the woman that had become her friend.

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