Chapter One
Olivia Marvell jumped lightly on to the low wall outside the stage door of the Duke’s theatre, flipped forwards on to her hands, and walked the entire length of the wall upside down as if it was the most natural thing to do in the world. Her little sister, Eel, and her friend Aeysha clapped enthusiastically. Several passers-by walking down the passage that divided the Duke’s from the New Vic theatre next door stopped to applaud too.
Olivia flashed them a shy grin as she jumped gracefully down, wiped her hands on her jeans and said impatiently, “How much longer? They’ve been yonks. I’m going to explode into a billion pieces if I can’t tell them our news soon!”
A gaggle of children emerged from the stage door, adults in tow. Like all the children who had dribbled out in small groups over the last hour, they didn’t look too happy. One of the girls was snivelling, and her mother, a glamorous blonde with sharp features, said loudly, “Silly man. That director wouldn’t know real talent if it bit him on the nose. Never mind, Kelly, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. You’re on the shortlist for that car commercial. It’s much better paid.”
“But I wanted to be in The Sound of Music and sing ‘Do-Re-Mi’…” whined Kelly, her voice drifting into the distance as they walked down the passageway.
“Not long now; they’re down to the last few,” said Bert, the stage door keeper. He’d slipped out from behind his counter just inside the stage door to join Olivia, Eel and Aeysha. Nobody, not even Gus the theatre cat, got into or out of the Duke’s without passing by eagle-eyed Bert. He prided himself on knowing everything that was going on and was a fount of delicious gossip.
“So do you think that Tom and Georgia will be cast in The Sound of Music?” asked Eel, doing the little wriggle that had given her her nickname.
Bert shrugged. “The longer they’re kept back, the better it looks for them. But there’s another group of kids coming back for a final audition this afternoon, so nothing’s certain. The director, Jon James, and the casting director may not finally make up their minds for days. And of course Chuck Daniels’ll be trying to stick his oar in.”
“Who’s Chuck Daniels?” asked Aeysha.
“He’s important; he’s the producer. He raised the money to stage the show. Anyway, they’ll want to decide which kids they think will work well together in which teams. I doubt anyone will be told today, although I have known it happen.”
“Teams? It makes it sound as if they’re going to play netball,” said Eel, wrinkling her nose.
“No,” explained Bert with a smile. “There are six Von Trapp children without counting Liesl, but they’ll cast eighteen children in the roles and split the children into three teams. Each team rehearses and performs together and the three teams share the eight performances a week between them. That way nobody gets too tired. But it does mean auditioning a lot of children.”
“I’d hate to have to do an audition,” said Olivia vehemently, pushing back her curtain of dark hair. “If I had to choose between going to an audition and going to the dentist for a filling, I’d choose the dentist.”
“You’re just weird, Livy,” said Eel, pirouetting very fast across the passageway and causing a man in a pinstripe suit to glare at her. She came to a stop with her chestnut curls still dancing and said, “Oh, I wish, I really, really wish that I was auditioning,” so dramatically that Olivia, Aeysha and Bert smiled at her heartfelt passion.