When the cast of Dreamgirls arrived in Grand Rapids, the city was damp and drizzly. That afternoon a fierce rain came and moved through the downtown area as though it had been prearranged. Rainy days and Mondays …
Nicole was missing Jared and adjusting to yet another convention center hotel attached to the theater where they would be performing. Jared had rented a car and drove her and Yancey to Grand Rapids and then drove to Chicago and caught a late flight to New York on Sunday night. Nicole was putting some clothes in the dresser drawers when Yancey walked in with two cold specialty coffee drinks in a cardboard carrying case.
“Honey, you’ll never guess what I just saw,” Yancey said as she carefully positioned the drinks on the desk. She had already sipped half of one of the drinks and gave Nicole the one filled to the brim.
“Thanks a lot. I can never get enough caffeine,” Nicole said. “What did you see?”
“Before I went to get our afternoon pick-me-up, I stopped at the gym, and there was this overweight lady walking on the treadmill in heels and a skirt! Now, if that don’t tell you how country this city is, then nothing else will,” Yancey laughed.
“I kinda enjoy playing a town this size. You can rest assured that we will have full houses every night and standing ovations will be the norm. These people are so happy to see a Broadway show, and they’re not as jaded as New York crowds,” Nicole said. She sipped the cold coffee drink.
“You don’t have any more of those brownies I gave you, do you? I’m kinda famished,” Yancey said.
“No, honey, those things were good. And so is this. I ate two of them Sunday, and Jared had a couple also. But I need some real food. The restaurant looked interesting. Maybe we can go down and have some fruit or a salad before we have our walk-through,” Nicole suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds good. What time are we supposed to be over there?”
“Four o’clock. I don’t think we’ll be there that long,” Nicole said.
Yancey looked at her watch and said, “Then I think I’ll take a quick shower. How are the towels? Are we talking Holiday Inn or Four Seasons?”
“I think something in the middle,” Nicole said. Then she finished the last of her drink.
Shortly after Yancey went into the shower, the phone rang. Nicole was hoping it was Jared, saying he had arrived safely back in New York, but it was Dennis, her agent.
“Hello.”
“Nicole, how you doing?”
“Dennis, I’m okay. Ready to get back to New York, but I’m good,” Nicole said as she sat on the bed.
“Nervous about what?” She thought this was a strange question, since Dennis knew she could now play Dena Jones in her sleep.
“Didn’t you get my message?”
“What message?”
“That some of the producers of Dottie are going to be at the show tonight, checking you and some other people out. I think they finally got the backing they need and they plan to bring the show to Broadway before the Tonys next year.”
“Did you leave the message with Jared?”
“No, I think I spoke to your roommate in Detroit. She didn’t tell you?”
“No, I don’t think so. This is great news. But why on earth would they come to Grand Rapids?”
“It’s funny. I think one of the moneymen is a big Amway guy. And I think Grand Rapids is the headquarters for Amway and he has a lot of family there. You know moneymen—cutting corners any way they can.”
“Well, that’s great news. I was telling Yancey how the crowds will probably be great. They’re even doing an opening night party,” Nicole said.
“Knock ’em dead, which I know you will. I’ll let you know what I hear,” Dennis said.
“I’ll be waiting. Are they going straight to Broadway, or are they going to do a tryout in Boston or somewhere?”
“From what I hear, they’re going to do a short workshop and then they’re heading to the Great White Way.”
“That could be both good and bad,” Nicole mused aloud.
“I heard another rumor. Is there any truth that you guys are going to get a new director?”
“There have been some rumblings, but we haven’t heard anything definite.”
“Well, I heard it’s going to happen—and real soon. I’m told the producers are bringing in an African-American director,” Dennis said.
“I guess we’ll see soon enough,” Nicole said.
“Any way it goes, you’ll be fine.”
Nicole looked at her watch as Yancey walked out of the bathroom, wearing an eggshell-white hotel robe and a towel wrapped around her head. “Dennis, thanks so much for calling, but I’ve got to run. I want to get something to eat before I’m due at the theater.”
As Nicole hung up the phone, Yancey removed the towel from her head and started massaging her hair. “Was that the hubby?” she asked Nicole.
“No, that was my agent, Dennis. Did he call me when we were in Detroit?” Nicole asked.
Yancey paused for a moment and a quizzical look crossed her face like she was thinking really hard. “What’s his name?”
“Dennis Hopkins,” Nicole said.
“Yeah, he did call. I forgot. I don’t know where you were since we’re together so much, but he did call. I’m sorry,” Yancey said.
“Oh, that’s all right, but he gave me some good news,” Nicole shared.
“What? Are we on our way to Broadway?” Yancey asked, fully aware of why Dennis had called.
“It looks like they got the money to do the show Dottie, and some of the producers are going to be here tonight to check me out,” Nicole said proudly.
“That’s great. But for which role?”
“Dorothy, I hope,” Nicole said.
Yancey was quiet for a moment and then asked, “Wasn’t Dorothy Dandridge mixed?”
“No!” Nicole snapped. “Both of her parents were black. As a matter of fact, her mother was real dark. Even darker than me. She was also an actress who played a lot of roles as a domestic.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by that. I just remember looking at the cover of the book about her you were reading. And she kinda favors Halle Berry.”
“She favors Janet Jackson as well, and we both know both her parents are black,” Nicole said.
“Well then, they have to be considering you for Dorothy. Why else would they come to Grand funkin’ Rapids to see you? And what other female leads are there?”
“There is the role of her sister,” Nicole said.
“What about her mother?” Yancey asked.
“They better not try to offer me that role. I ain’t ready to play nobody’s mama.”
“I know that’s right,” Yancey laughed, and gave Nicole an airborne high-five slap.
“Let me check my face and then let’s go and get something to eat,” Nicole said.
“Okay. What are you going to wear?” Yancey asked as she walked over to her side of the closet and touched a light blue cashmere sweater, wondering if it was cool enough to wear it.
“What I have on,” Nicole said. “It’s just a check-out-the-theater thing.”
“That’s not what I heard,” Yancey said, pulling the sweater off the wooden hanger.
“What did you hear?”
“I ran into Cedric when I was at the coffee shop and he said we’re in for a big surprise this evening.”
“What did he say?”
“I think Dan is out as director. I heard they’re bringing in somebody black. And ain’t nobody seen hide nor hair of Dan since the last show in Detroit. For all we know he might already be out of the country.”
“I hope that’s not true. I love Dan,” Nicole said as she brushed some loose hairs back into place.
“I like him too, but maybe we need some new blood in this show,” Yancey said.
“Like my daddy used to say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Nicole said. She pressed her lips together and decided she needed a new layer of lipstick.
Yancey started to tell Nicole that there were a lot of things wrong with the show, like the fact that she wasn’t playing Dena. But Yancey decided Nicole would learn soon enough.
Yancey and Nicole were running late for the cast walk-through of their first performance at the Devoss Theater. They’d had a light but filling dinner at the hotel restaurant, but skipped the coffee to get back on time.
It was 5:30 P.M. by the time the cast toured the theater and made minor adjustments to key scenes to fit the new stage.
Nicole, Yancey, and two other female cast members shared a dressing room that included a brightly lit, mirrored row of dressing tables along one wall and a water cooler, wet bar, and chaise lounge against the opposite wall. Their costumes hung on a circular rack at the far end of the room near the two-stall rest room.
A fresh carafe of coffee brewed on the wet bar’s counter, next to an open chest of colas and fruit drinks.
Nicole placed her makeup bag on the dressing table in front of the middle chair.
“Mmmm,” she said, “that coffee smells wonderful. Anyone else want a cup?” She walked over to the wet bar and took a Styrofoam cup from the stack on the counter.
“Wait!” Yancey yelled. She jumped up from her chair and rushed over to Nicole. “Let me get that for you. I brought some mugs from Detroit. You don’t know where those cups have been.”
“Thanks, Yancey. You’re so sweet, and these cups do look a little dusty,” Nicole said as she returned to her seat and began removing makeup from her bag.
With her back to the dressing tables, Yancey pulled out the mugs and a tiny eyedropper from her large black satchel. She took a quick glance over her shoulder, then added three drops of a clear liquid to the empty mug and poured hot coffee into it. Yancey then poured herself a cup and made sure she filled it with cream, and placed it in her left hand. “Here you go, darling,” Yancey said, and placed the mug from her right hand in front of Nicole.
“Thank you, darling.” She took a small sip. “Mmmm, this is good and hot,” she said.
While applying their makeup, Nicole and Yancey talked about the previous weekend, and whispered to each other when discussing the producers who were going to be in the audience. Yancey had suggested that the other cast divas didn’t need to know that important producers were casting a new musical.
About thirty minutes later, with their makeup and coffee completed, Yancey and Nicole started to put on their costumes for the opening act. While Yancey was zipping up Nicole’s dress, Nicole felt a wave of nausea roll from her stomach to her throat. She fought back the urge to vomit and the nausea seemed to diminish after a few moments.
“Nicole,” Yancey asked, “are you all right? I didn’t zip you too tight, did I?”
“I’m okay, thanks. And no, you didn’t zip me,” she smiled. Nicole returned to the mirrors to make sure her makeup was in place, and while touching right under her eyes, her hands felt shaky.
Yancey watched her in the mirror and looked truly concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay, darling?”
Another wave of nausea hit at the same time a violent abdominal spasm doubled Nicole over. She grabbed her stomach and rushed to the rest room.
Yancey waited a few moments, then went in to check on her. She could hear Nicole groaning behind one of the stall doors.
“Nicole? What is it? Are you sick?” she said with a touch of alarm in her voice.
Nicole opened the stall door and stood bent over, bracing herself against the door frame. “I think it must be something I ate,” she said weakly. “Maybe it was the smoked salmon Jared and I had.”
“Oh, Nicole, you look terrible. Poor baby. Come lay down. I’m going to get Vincent.” Yancey helped Nicole to the chaise lounge and the other women crowded around, trying to make Nicole comfortable. During the commotion, Yancey took the eyedropper from her bag and went to find the stage manager. She didn’t want to leave any evidence of her bad deed around.
When they returned to the dressing room, Nicole was feverish and tiny beads of sweat formed on her forehead and across her upper lip. Vincent felt her blushing cheeks.
“My God, Nicole, you’re burning up!” he said. “Do you think you can go on? It’s almost a half hour before curtain.”
Nicole sat up and struggled to her feet. “I’ve got to get to the rest room quick,” she said. The other two cast members took her arms and walked her to the rest room just in time.
“I’m calling a doctor,” Vincent said. “Yancey, do you know the number to the hotel?”
“No, but I can get it,” Yancey offered.
“No, don’t worry, I’ll get it. You need to change costumes. You’re going to play Dena Jones tonight!”
Vincent hurried out of the dressing room, leaving Yancey alone in front of the bank of mirrors.
“I am Dena Jones,” Yancey said to herself, smiling broadly at her own reflection.
Yancey located a bank of phones outside the ladies’ room at the Amway Hotel. She had finally managed to escape a group of local well-wishers at a festive party being given in honor of the Dreamgirls company. Yancey looked around to see if any of her castmates were in the area before dialing Ava’s number.
“Hello,” Ava answered.
“It’s me, and I can’t talk long,” Yancey whispered.
“Where are you?”
“I’m at the hotel, at a party a group of sororities is giving the cast, but I had to tell you what happened,” Yancey said excitedly.
“Tell me. Did my little care package work?”
“Like a charm! Right before the show Miss Pretty got sick as a dog. She was sweating, and from what I heard she was hugging the toilet in more ways than one, but I think she’s okay. The stage manager called a doctor and he said it was probably food poisoning or something. She’s up in the room now, sleeping.”
“So you got to go on as Dena?”
“You got that right. And guess what? We did get a new director, and he was in the cast of Dreamgirls when Nicole was.” Yancey smiled at one of the ladies going into the rest room.
“Is that going to be good or bad for you?” Ava asked, sounding a bit concerned.
“I think it’s going to be good, because Nicole was not happy when she found out who the new director was. When I asked her why, she told me that Chris, that’s the director’s name, was upset with her when she didn’t accept a role on the first national tour. It seems she kept him waiting and then decided not to do the show,” Yancey said. She had stopped whispering because the area near the phones was empty.
“So how did it go? Did you sing them up out of there?”
“It was glorious! When I came out and took my bow, the audience started standing up. They went wild! I mean, it almost brought me to tears. I got almost as much applause as that dreadful child who plays Effie.”
“Oh, I wish I had been there,” Ava said.
“I wish you’d been there too. It was just magical. The gowns looked marvelous on me. I hit all my marks, didn’t miss one line, and I sang and acted my ass off,” Yancey boasted.
“How long you think Miss Pretty is going to be out?”
“I think only a day or so. But you can bet your last dollar that after hearing me tonight, Nicole will not miss a single performance. You might need to send me some more of that magic potion,” Yancey laughed.
“Does she know how well you did?”
“I think so, because she was in the rest room close to the dressing room during the first act and half of the second act before they carted her ass back to the hotel,” Yancey said. She noticed Monica Evans, one of the members of the chorus, walking toward the phones. Yancey smiled and gave her best fake wave, then turned her back toward Monica.
“I’ve got to go,” she whispered into the phone. Suddenly she felt someone touch the back of her shoulder. Yancey turned to find Monica standing right behind her.
“You were fierce, girl! Just awesome. You blew them out of there,” Monica said.
Yancey told Ava to hang on for a minute as she turned to hug Monica and say, “Thank you so much.”
“And I heard the reviews are going to be good,” Monica said.
Yancey raised her eyebrows and smiled. She had forgotten that in cities where they stayed less than a week the reviewers came out the first night. “I hope you’re right,” she said.
“Let me get in here before I burst,” Monica said, pointing toward the ladies’ room.
“Okay, thanks again,” Yancey said, and returned the phone to her ear. “Ava, I gotta go. Thanks so much. I never could have done this without you.”
“Yes, you could, but we ain’t finished yet. We’ve got to make sure you’re Dena when the show hits New York,” Ava said.
“Good night, darling. I’ll talk to you when I can.”
“Good night, baby, and congratulations.”
Yancey hung up the phone, took a deep breath, and let out a satisfied sigh.