Chapter 33: James Schubert

 The competition in the "Chicago" troupe is quite fierce, of course, there are a lot of people who brush down, this time the troupe recruits about five new places, but there are two or three hundred actors of all kinds who come to apply, this is still an interview after the resume, the first interview is about three to one admission ratio, and when the second interview, there are only more than 90 people. The content of this interview is correspondingly more complicated, and the assessment of some basic skills will also allow the interviewers to play in pairs and perform some scenes specified by the examiner.

 For Jenny, these kung fu have also been training for the past six months, so she completed it smoothly and was not too nervous. She has now gradually adapted to the interview atmosphere of a room full of people, as if there is a button in her heart, and she can block out all irrelevant eyes with a single click. Only the camera and her remained, as well as the humanoid lexicon opposite.

 Speaking of which, the interview atmosphere of the troupe is more open than the crew interview, the interview is held directly in a large rehearsal room, and the candidates sit on the ground and wait, so this time the crowd of onlookers is very large. Jenny can also look at other people's audition performances to gauge her chances.

 is worthy of the interview of "Chicago", those who can enter the second level of the interview, the acting skills are at least passable, the lines can be naturally smoothed, and the singing is very beautiful, the pitch and volume are also very stable, so many interviewers, although some are obviously nervous, singing very tightly, but none of them are seriously out of tune. Jenny thought to herself that her acting skills might be excellent among these people, but her singing skills were mediocre and there was no overwhelming advantage.

 But... If her looks are also included in the overall score, her score can still be at the top. - Beautiful girl, if you sing well, you usually go directly to the music scene, and there are really few people who want to act in musicals.

 After the second round of interviews, Cesare also called to inquire about progress, and Jeanne told her honestly how she felt, and Cesare, of course, without any compliment, just told her, "Agata was very impressed with you, and she told Rob that she had 'little confidence' in your third audition." If Rob or I are available, we will come too. "

 Jenny joined the crew very late, and the filming of "Chicago" is now coming to an end, plus it is close to the Christmas-New Year's Day holiday, so it is very possible for the crew to have an early holiday. Jenny was touched by Rob's kindness, "He's been so nice to me. "

 "So you can't live up to his expectations. "As far as I know, James Schubert will also go in the third round, and it's up to him to decide whether or not you can become Loxie for the first time, so don't take it lightly." The least you have to do is to disgrace Rob, and he calls Jaime several times in order to get you into the interview. "

 Don't think that there is no 'family world' in the United States, in fact, family businesses are extremely common in the United States, in addition to the political circles have father-son presidents, there are also many things in the entertainment industry where sons inherit their father's business. From the booming development of Broadway in the early 20th century to the present, this small theater world has been divided equally by two or three families, there are dozens of large theaters on Broadway, "Chicago" is fixed in the Schubert Theater, and the Schubert Theater belongs to the Schubert organization, this company is one of the three major forces on Broadway, with more than ten well-known theaters, so far, a large part of the shares of the Schubert organization is still in the hands of the Schubert Foundation, and the surname of the company's leaders is still Schubert. James Schubert was not yet the head of the group, but according to Cesare, he was the manager of the Schubert Theatre and had no influence on the Chicago troupe more than the head of the troupe.

 - Yes, in the chain of power on Broadway, the theater manager is above the head of the troupe and the choreographer, this is because Broadway is very traditional, every well-known musical has its own fixed theater, "Chicago" will always be performed at the Schubert Theater, it is impossible to move to Lincoln Center, and from the preparation of the troupe to the staging, all the expenses during this period are borne by the theater, and the box office income is also collected by the theater, from the director to the choreographer. The biggest contributor is the one who pays the most, so Cesare says James Schubert is the one who decides whether she can be a loxey or not.

 Judging from the content of Agata and Rob's phone call, it is likely that Cesare had approached James Schubert beforehand, pitched himself, and even came up with a whimsical publicity plan. But since he didn't say anything, Jenny didn't say much, she asked, "This James, he-"

 Cesare was silent for a moment, then said, "Speak up, Jefferson, I don't like to play guessing games. "

 "Is he straight?" said Jenny, grimacing at the air.

 "Yes. "But don't worry too much, you forgot?" said Cesare, and Rob mistook us for a pair of lovebirds. "

 Jenny breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt that the mistake of that night was still very valuable, "Okay, speaking of which, did you talk to Lil about it?"

 Cesare didn't answer immediately, but remained silent, and Jenny almost answered, 'Dear, don't you like to play guessing games?' but thinking of the last time Lillian and Cesare had a fight, she decided not to mention it.

 "Then I'll call Lille and explain," she said, "by the way, Cesare, do you think we should have a system?" "

 "What system?" Cesare's voice said, with a hint of doubt.

 "Call me Jefferson and give me a penny?" said Jenny, "Seriously, as soon as you call me Jefferson, I'm going to say, 'Yes, Lord Vijerry, yes, Lord Vijerry.'" So it's better not to call me that. "

 "Okay, Jefferson. Cesare replied.

 Jenny was taken aback for a moment - Cesare was joking with her, was he?

 Unfortunately, Cesare did seem to be joking, and he hung up before she could come up with a witty riposte.

 #

 In between the two auditions, she had been attending classes anyway, and this time, Agata didn't go into the basics of her work, but began to comment on her oversights in the singing.

 "Your dancing skills are relatively strong, and the dance of "Chicago" is not difficult," she deserves to be a professional class, and every sentence is extremely accurate. "With your physical expression, dancing won't be too much of a problem. Relatively speaking, singing skills are your weakness, I guess you haven't been trained for a long time, because your breath is still very problematic, but your voice is relatively good, and the singing section of "Chicago" is not too difficult, and I noticed that you have already used technique to cover up your flaws when you audition, which is very good. "

 After being 'conquered' by Jenny's performance, Agata was a little more enthusiastic about her, and even talked a lot, and even showed some encouragement and praise, "As long as your breath is steady and your volume is stable, I think you are still very hopeful." You're pretty good at rhythm and pitch, are you from a choir?"

 In fact, Chen Zhen did participate in the choir for a period of time when she was a child, but she believes that the basis of her singing skills still comes from her obsession with KTV when she was a wealthy young woman, but now in front of Agata, she can't admit it, so she has to blame it on talent, "No, but I have always liked to sing, and I often hum by myself when I have nothing to do." "

 Agata looked at her suspiciously, but fortunately he had no intention of delving into it, "After this class, I hope you go home and do a few more vocal exercises, find a fragrant candle, practice on it, try to reduce the fluttering of the flame while making a sound, and never blow it out." And the deep breathing method I taught you before, keep practicing it as well. You usually need to do some basic training to expand your lung capacity..."

 Needless to say, Jenny has been as tired as a dog in the past ten days, she is like a sponge, wring herself out every morning, and then spending a day absorbing full of knowledge, every night after going home, she has to enter the acting space, and she does not watch movies, but keeps practicing in the dark space, urging her brain to speed up and quickly digest Agatta's teachings.

 Agata asked her to do vocal exercises, but the number of times should be strictly controlled, so as not to practice illegally and consume her voice, okay, Jenny is practicing in the acting space, where shouting has nothing to do with the vocal cords in reality. (Out of curiosity, she recorded her external performance during entering the performing arts space, which looks like falling asleep, no matter what she does in the space, there is no abnormality on the outside) The most important thing to stabilize her breath is to practice her voice more, and she has the consciousness of 'holding her breath in her lungs', and she practices in the performing arts space for at least nine hours a day.

 When the breath is stable, the singing volume will not fluctuate, and this kind of progress can be seen. Agata looked at her with more and more amazement day by day, and even William, the little fresh meat who was in class with her, couldn't help but scream, jealously claiming that Jenny was 'God's favorite, you must have been kissed by an angel when you were born'.

 Jenny couldn't laugh or cry at this, but William insisted, "Of course I know that you are very good-looking, very good at acting, and singing very well, but all this does not make me very jealous of you." What I'm most jealous of you is the speed of your progress, dear Jenny, you're maddening and disingenuous in your progress, and if I were to see a few more young men as talented as you, I'd give up trying to get ahead on Broadway - really, I'm not going to compete with a monster like you for a role, it would be a devastating blow. "

 Looking at Agata who seemed to have a look of approval, Jenny was a little 'I'm speechless', and the guilt of bullying people with a golden finger came up, and she had to change her perspective to enlighten William, "Actually, I'm not a talented player, William, you can see my progress, but what you can't see is the practice after I go back to the hotel." I have only one extracurricular activity: practice, practice, and practice. Of course, I'm sure you're also very hardworking, but you have a family, William, and all I have now is studying. "

 She's telling the truth, homework is nine hours a day, and it's fun to talk about it for nine hours in a row? Not necessarily. I don't know what a full meal is for a year, in order to save money, after arriving in New York, she almost eats supermarket salad without the slightest taste, and she can at least eat fresh vegetables in LA, and the salad here is not too fresh, not to mention how strange the taste is. In addition, Jeanne had no personal life at all this month, and in order to realize Cesare's whimsical arrangement, she could only make up for her weakness in singing skills by studying without sleep or food. Now she doesn't even know what she's trying to keep herself motivated.

 It is estimated that it is poor - although musicals are not a very rich industry, if they are successfully elected to Lockhee, they should be able to earn two or three thousand dollars a week, which is a lot of money for Jenny, at least she doesn't need to worry about her food in a short time. And if he misses the role, even if Cesare doesn't disappoint her, he would rather have a style than a bad one, and God knows the next audition will be in a few months. If she loses the election and wants to continue walking the dog and serving dishes, of course she will desperately want to play "Chicago".

 William grimaced at her remarks, "If the price of success is to give up life, then why should I succeed?"

 But if you don't have the determination to give up your life, you'll never be able to achieve the slightest success in this business. It wasn't Jenny who answered him, but Agatta, who was still very strict with William, "No one can become famous in one fell swoop with the attitude of enjoying life, William, all you see is the enjoyment of those big-name stars after success, only we know their madness before they became famous." "

 Jenny's 'you don't know how hard I've worked' chicken soup didn't move her, but Agata emphasized to her again, "If you still want to continue to develop on the road of musical, you must practice rationally, I know you are eager to succeed, but a voice pour will destroy all your hopes, so I still say the same sentence, practice moderately, pay attention to your throat." "

 This day was also the last class before the third audition, and Agata did not assign homework, so that Jenny would not talk too much when she came home tonight, and protect her voice. William smiled and hugged her, wishing her good luck, "If I could, I would really like to see you audition, and seeing you crush other people's hopes to the soles of your feet, this scene must be exciting." "

 Even Agata made an exception and smiled, "I'll go and see your audition, Jennifer, just treat tomorrow as if it were my exam for you, and trust me, the interviewer's questions will never be harder than the ones I've given you these days." "

 She has a rare sense of humor, Jenny of course laughed again and again, and she also had some warmth in her heart: In fact, from a certain point of view, the entertainment industry may be the fairest circle, as long as you have talent and a basic level of life, most people will choose to pull you instead of stepping on you, after all, the mountains and rivers meet again, in this circle that pays attention to connections, investing in newcomers is also part of the work.

 Of course, this is talking about behind-the-scenes people like Agata and Rob, who have never been Jenny's competitors, and what she sees is of course the warm side of the showbiz, and as for the ugly side of showbiz, Jenny believes that she also has a lot of opportunities to see it in her fellow actors. For example, Renee's manager, Veronica's hand in hamburger sauce, should be considered a very introductory rehearsal.

 And all the efforts she is making now, this kind of almost masochistic cultivation, is to be among the older children to play games, to experience the more prosperous and extravagant side of the entertainment industry, and to be more ugly.

 The third audition was a closed audition, and even if William came, he shouldn't have seen the scene he expected of 'Jenny showing off her talent and breaking countless glass hearts', but the atmosphere at the scene was actually very tense and dull, this time there were five new places for the troupe, and there were still thirty people waiting, and most of them were young women. In proportion, their elimination rate is much higher than one in six, and may even reach one in ten, while other types of actors may only have a two-to-one elimination rate - one of the black middle-aged women has no actors of the same type to compete with her, she is equivalent to a certainty, ironclad will be selected for the troupe.

 During the waiting, Jenny had already endured a lot of jealous looks, which made her a little allergic, afraid that she would become the protagonist of 'Cat Fight', or like a shoujo manga, when she changed her shoes, she found that there were glass shards on the soles...

 Of course this is not possible, there is no need to change shoes for musical auditions, only for ballet. But even so, she was very careful, she didn't pick up the coffee provided by the troupe, just drank the bottled water she brought, and sat in the corner, far away from the competitors, to eliminate all the possibility of soiling her clothes.

 Her audition sequence was in the middle, and in the roll call again and again, Jenny inevitably had a rapid heartbeat and some symptoms of adrenaline hypersecretion - this was really the most unsure of her several auditions, and she still didn't dare to say that she was sure of the role, and the most important thing was the damn singing skills.

 She didn't dare to enter the performing arts space, she was afraid that she wouldn't hear the roll call, so she could only look around boredly, the audition went very slowly, and she had to stay in it for at least ten minutes alone, and in her nervous mood, these ten minutes were doubled and stretched, and it felt like the whole audition would last all day.

 The audition room was still in the rehearsal hall of the Schubert Theater, and about half an hour after the audition began, a dark-haired man caught Jenny's attention.

 Or rather, his attention to her caught Jenny's attention—by the time she found out, the man had been watching her for at least a minute.

 He stood in the corner of the doorway, leaning casually against the door frame, dressed very casually, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, if it weren't for the proper hairstyle, this fashion taste would be a bit homely, anyway, a little out of place with the surroundings - he looked good, between Zhou Zheng and handsome, enough to make an impression, but Jenny certainly hadn't seen him in the audition.

 He kept staring at her, and he was not shy when he was discovered, but smiled at her and nodded. Jenny smiled back, and lowered her head to do her own thing, no longer looking at him.

 But she could feel that he was still watching, so generously, without hiding his interest in Jenny, to be honest, she often met men who looked at her, but she really had to count the anonymous person in front of her so generously and calmly. He seemed to treat her like an exhibition animal, and he paid close attention to her every move—that kind of scientific attention.

 Jenny's anger was accumulating for the first ten minutes of being watched by him, but after ten minutes it gradually subsided, and she began to have a suspicion.

 The man looked at her for about an hour, the most uncomfortable hour in Jenny's life, and then he pushed the door straight into the audition room.

 About five minutes later, Jenny's name was called, and she pushed the door open and went inside, seeing the man again, this time sitting in the middle of the audition table.

 Unsurprisingly, Jenny thought, ah, he's James Schubert.

 Combined with his performance today, she was almost certain that he had come to see her - and to be honest, Jeanne did admire Cesare, his brokerage skills were nothing short of amazing. She had no idea how Cesare had managed to convince a high-ranking figure like James Schubert to come and see her, or even an hour (this last point, of course, could have been James' free play). She thought it had something to do with Cesare's way of selling her, and she was really curious, and decided she had to ask about it afterwards.

 But now, the most important thing is, of course, the interview. Jenny spotted Rob in the crowd behind the audition table (she didn't expect him to come) and Agata with a slight greeting with her eyes, then turned her full attention to James Schubert, took a deep breath, and got into the fight.

 Schubert looked her down again, then smiled good-naturedly and took the microphone, "I just wanted to see you dance, but I've heard that your singing skills have improved a lot, and you're very good at several of Lockhee's singing passages." "

 He gestured behind him, and a familiar black actress stepped forward and smiled at Jenny, who recognized her as Dietrich, the black female prisoner in the movie. Speaking of which, they had sat together and talked a few times during lunch, and Jenny thought that they were almost friends, or at least acquaintances, but now Dietrich acted as if she did not know her.

 "This is my Velma. Schubert kissed the actress on the face, "Now she will be with you in the last performance of "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag", no rehearsal, one shot, are you confident?"

 - "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag" are singing and dancing first, and there are constant moves during the period, and because Schubert is still smiling so friendly, the result is difficult at first, and this so-called 'Have confidence' is obviously just a kind word, and as soon as his words fell, the people around him have already made way for them.

 Jenny looked at 'Velma', the other party had already begun to break hands and twist his legs to prepare, and he didn't mean to make eye contact with her, his attitude was quite indifferent, it seemed that he was not even ready to communicate beforehand.

 In order to be safe, she had planned to use the golden finger, but now she would not make another choice, Jenny withdrew her eyes, nodded and said, "Hell yes, of course I am very confident. "

 Her attitude was almost arrogant, very justified and completely unreckless - as long as she was given room to perform, the challenge was entirely as much as possible for Jenny. The more difficulty and time Schubert gave her, the more confident she was to conquer the field with her performance.

 After all, in Agata's words, 'she has a special gift,' doesn't she?

 Schubert let out an exclamatory laugh, and in the crowd, Rob laughed and shook his head, and Jenny stepped back to 'Velma' - this time it was her turn to look at Jenny.

 Jenny ignored her, she closed her eyes and 'adjusted herself' and chose these two passages in the performance space.

 Then, the music played, and Lockey Hart opened his eyes.

 She began to sing.

 The author has something to say: Note: The Schubert organization is real, and some of the knowledge points in this chapter are real except for James Schubert's fiction, including the theater power chain.