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SAMANTHA, JESSIE AND Nomusa scrambled out of their room and joined the throng clustered in front of the notice board. Jessie craned her neck, trying to see past the girls who were blocking her view. Samantha stood on tiptoe and tried to peer over their heads, but the writing was too small to read.
One of the girls in front exclaimed excitedly, “I’m in! I’m Liesl!” while another said disappointedly, “I’m not.”
Someone else said, “Ooh, look, it’s that hottie James Steadman. He’s been cast as —”
At that, Jessie elbowed several of the girls out of the way, ignoring their cries of protest. She dragged Samantha and Nomusa to the front of the group and all three read the notice.
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
A Clifford House - Clifford Heights co-production
DIRECTOR: MRS. BARBARA BORMAN
FINAL CAST LIST
Maria ..... Chelsea Somers
Captain George Von Trapp ..... James Steadman
The Baroness Elsa Schraeder ..... Bongiwe Letseka
Max Detweiler ..... Zakes Rantao
Mother Abbess ..... Lindiwe Sisulu
Liesl Von Trapp ..... Megan Macarthur
Louisa Von Trapp ..... Jessica Delaney
Friedrich Von Trapp ..... Mark Appleton
Kurt Von Trapp ..... Gabriel September
Brigitta Von Trapp ..... Caliope Katakouzinous
Marta Von Trapp ..... (to be announced)
Gretl Von Trapp ..... Savannah Borman
Sister Sophia ..... Nomusa Gule
Sister Bernice ..... Reyhana Govender
Sister Margaretta ..... Samantha Steadman
Sister Berta ..... Cindy Atkins
Herr Zeller ..... George Duarte
Rolfe Gruber ..... Ronald de Vries
Frau Schmidt ..... Charne Roos
Franz ..... Liam O’Leary
Nazis ..... Shadrack Mkisi; Luke Ward; Brandon Edgerton; Tehmal Nair; Micheal Harker
Nuns ..... Zenobia Best; Daniella Smythe; Uvani Moodley; Mercy Tshabalala
Catching sight of her name, Samantha punched the air in excitement, and then read through the list a second time, this time more slowly.
“You and I are nuns, Sam,” Nomusa said. “And Jess is Louisa Von Trapp!”
“And James is the Captain — that means I’ll be in lots of scenes with him!” Jessie said, dancing on the spot.
“And Chelsea got the lead,” Nomusa said. “We called it right.”
“I wonder what these boys will be like? I only know Apples. And James, of course,” Samantha said. “What do you think the ‘to be announced’ for Marta means?”
“And who’s this Savannah Borman? Some relation to The Bore?”
“Must be,” Nomusa said. “I see that our least favourite person has also been cast as a nun.”
“Yeah, I saw that.”
Samantha scowled. Nothing good could come from being cooped up on a stage with Cindy Atkins.
Jessie, still grinning from ear-to-ear, stabbed a finger at some writing under the cast list. “Do you see that? Rehearsals begin next week. I can’t wait!”
And she didn’t. Though she invariably ran late for everything, Jessie insisted on being early for the first rehearsal. She hurried Nomusa and Samantha through dinner, and then hustled them off directly to the hall. Mrs. Borman arrived shortly after them and promptly set the girls to work moving chairs into a large circle in the centre of the floor. After a while, more of the cast began arriving, but it was only five minutes after the scheduled starting time when they heard the sound of the Clifford Heights bus arriving.
A troop of boys barrelled noisily into the hall, talking loudly, knocking over chairs and jostling to see who could avoid sitting next to a girl.
“I’ll come with you to say hi to your brother,” Jessie said, hoisting Samantha to her feet by the elbow and marching her over to the hall door, where James had just entered.
“Hi, James,” Samantha said.
“Howzit,” he replied. He was wearing a pair of worn jeans and a faded blue T-shirt which, judging by the soft sigh Samantha heard from her left, Jessie found very attractive. “Hi, Delaney,” he said to her.
“Hi,” Jessie said, her voice higher than usual. “Congratulations on making Captain.”
“Making Captain?” A puzzled frown creased James’ forehead. “Oh, you mean in the play. Captain von Trapp. Yeah, speaking of which — I’d better go introduce myself to Maria.”
He headed off in the direction of the senior girls, who were sitting with studied casualness on a few of the chairs in the circle. Jessie watched him go, but Samantha was surprised to see Dan walking through the door, followed by Mark Appleton.
“Hey, Dan!” she said.
Jessie turned around and grimaced. “What are you doing here? You’re not in the play.”
“Not cast, crew,” Dan replied. “I’m on the sound desk, so unless you want me to mess with your levels, you’d better be a bit nicer to me, Louise.”
“I’m playing the role of Louisa,” Jessie said.
“Whatever.”
While this exchange was happening, Mark Appleton turned to Samantha, smiled and said, “Hi.”
Samantha noticed that when he smiled, he had deep dimples on either side of his mouth.
“Hi, uh, Apples,” she said, the nickname sounding strange on her tongue.
“Somewhere here there should be stairs to the control room,” Dan said, looking around the foyer. “Ah, here we go. See you later, Apples, Sam ... Lisa.”
“Louisa,” Jessie said irritably.
Dan disappeared up the stairs which led to the glass-fronted lighting and sound booth that looked out over the hall and stage.
“Well, there’s no point standing about here,” Jessie said and went back to the circle of chairs.
Apples stepped aside to let Samantha through the door. “After you.”
Inside the hall, Mrs. Borman — who was wearing an olive-green dress which made her orangey foundation look even worse than usual — was calling the rehearsal to order.
“Please take your seats, boys and girls. I am pleased to welcome every one of you to this production. Stop that at once!” she told a boy who was shooting rubber bands across the circle at a giggling grade nine girl, “Tonight, I — and Mr. Matteson, of course — will be conducting a read-through of the script. But first, we need to warm up our voices.”
Samantha caught Nomusa’s enquiring glance but could only shrug.
“When I toured with the National Performing Arts Council Players,” continued Mrs. Borman, in a tone that suggested this should be regarded as a mightily impressive accomplishment, “we would precede every rehearsal, and naturally every performance, with exercises designed to protect and strengthen the vocal chords. I, myself, found these exercises to be invaluable in preparing my voice for such roles as Lady Macbeth and Ophelia, which I was fortunate enough to have played at the Alhambra and the State Theatre. Your voice, dear children, is your instrument!”
“Yeah, and yours is an instrument of torture,” Jessie muttered under her breath. “Will the woman never stop talking?”
“Form your mouth so,” Mrs. Borman said, puckering her lips into a small O. “And say OOOoooohhhhhmmmmn, thus.”
There were a few Oooohhmmmn’s from around the circle, but there were more disbelieving laughs.
“Come now,” Mrs. Borman ordered. “Altogether, now. OOhhhmmmmmnnn!”
Everyone picked up the chant. Samantha thought they sounded like a pack of mad monks, while Jessie was more disgusted with how they looked while doing this exercise.
“How can I look good enough to impress James if I have to make my mouth look like a dog’s bottom?” she said, causing Samantha and Nomusa to choke with laughter, and Mrs. Borman to frown in their direction.
“Now the vowels,” said Mrs. Borman, and they all had to chant in a sing song voice, “Maaame, meeeem, myyyyme, mohme, mu-ume!”
“If you are doing this exercise incorrectly, your throat will be hurting. But if you are doing it correctly,” Mrs. Borman boomed over the loud humming, “then your lips should be tingling!”
“I must be doing it correctly, then, because my lips are totally tingling,” Jessie said brightly, but she was looking at James when she said it.
After making them repeat a series of tongue-twisters, the director finally announced that they would begin the read-through.
“The role of Gretl will be played by a very talented young actress, who just happens to be my granddaughter.”
Jessie gave Samantha and Nomusa a told-you-so look. Mr. Matteson cleared his throat and stared up at the ceiling. The foot of his crossed leg was rocking in a kicking motion as Mrs. Borman continued, “The very youngest members of our cast will be joining us only towards the end of rehearsals. But now, let us go around the circle so that each of you can introduce yourself and state which role you will be playing, and then we’ll start the read-through.”
Perking up, boys and girls eyed each other across the circle with keen interest. Jessie clearly had eyes only for James, but he seemed as oblivious to her glances as to those of almost every other girl in the cast. Samantha noticed that when Cindy Atkins wasn’t looking longingly at James, she was sending coy looks from under her lashes at Liam O’Leary. Liam, a lanky boy with an attractive, freckled face and a slight Irish brogue, was playing the role of the butler, Franz. Cindy herself was being admired by several of the boys. Samantha distinctly heard Gabriel September, who was playing one of the Von Trap boys, turn to George Duarte and say in a bad German accent, “Herr Zeller, check out das blonde mädchen!”
Cindy smiled and tossed her shiny blonde hair.
“She’s going to hate having to wear a nun’s habit and headdress,” Nomusa said.
When it came to acting, James was a natural. He played the part of the distant, autocratic father easily and seemed to enjoy barking out orders at “his children”. Mr. Matteson sat quietly, though with a pained expression on his face as if he was biting back several pithy comments throughout the whole rehearsal, but Mrs. Borman, who had informed them that this was to be an uninterrupted read-through, apparently could not resist interjecting a few directorial instructions.
“James, you are being far too nice to Maria. Remember that you disapprove of her. Make your voice hard and firm!”
James smiled apologetically at Chelsea and read his next line in a stern voice: “I’m afraid you don’t look much like a governess!”
Chelsea smiled sweetly back at him.
“No, no, Maria,” Mrs. Borman told her. “You are supposed to be intimidated by the Captain, or even afraid. Try it again, you two — and this time, with feeling.”
Samantha thought James and Chelsea had a great deal of feeling between them, just not the sort Mrs. Borman was looking for.
Or the sort that would please Jessie.