Chapter 41 Slap in the face

 'Got news of Jennifer Jefferson. '

 After a few months, the page that belongs to Jenny on IMDB has been deserted a lot, after all, even if the vast majority of viewers have a good impression of Jenny in that episode of "CSI", it is impossible for them to become her fans just by virtue of their appearance time of more than 20 minutes, and they go to the page with no new news every day. Jennifer Jefferson is like a mystery, and now it has been preliminarily confirmed that this is her first time starring in a movie or TV series, and fans can only pray that she will develop smoothly in the entertainment industry and have a chance to be seen by them.

 In mid-January 2002, there was a sudden post in the discussion board, which put a photo of an advertisement in a New York subway station, on a pure white background, the words Chicago were decorated with neon lights with colored diamonds, and a blonde beauty wearing a short dance dress full of fine rhinestones, revealing a perfect figure that did not look like a real person, should be obviously groomed, she stepped on the capital letter C, raised her head to look at the camera, red lips up, revealing a light smile of unknown meaning. Behind her are two lines of casts lined with the word 'human', a black dancer, a young and handsome lawyer... Characters are listed in order of importance.

 For those who are familiar with the plot, many people can recognize the characters from their shapes, and for passers-by who are not familiar with the plot, the slogan above the poster is eye-catching enough.

 ——'Our Roxie is better'.

 Just at the top of the poster, the font is also the largest, and below it, there are some information words such as the start date of the performance, the name of the theater, etc. Judging from the poster, the weekend of February 14 was the beginning of the Broadway New Year's season for "Chicago" - after the Christmas-New Year performance month, "Chicago" was not scheduled in the second half of January, which was considered a vacation after the end of the performance year, and the performance month that began in February was considered the beginning of the 2002 performance year. Generally speaking, many shows will adjust their staffing at this time and carry out new publicity strategies, and this poster tells everyone that the "Chicago" musical has changed the cast of Lockhee, and she is the focus of publicity.

 This is a normal choice, and most passers-by scan this poster with this thought, because this new Loksh is really beautiful, so it also makes the poster of "Chicago" much more eye-catching than the poster of a regular musical. In any case, passers-by are absolutely snobbish, and their vision and comments are very tricky, so they don't care who has a good singing voice and good acting skills, from a poster, what they see is that this Lockshee is several times more beautiful than the characters on the posters of other musicals, and the characters of other families are obviously beautified and PS, and it is estimated that they are a little unrecognizable, but even if they are beautified to this point, they give people just the feeling of 'okay, beautiful', and this Lockxi is not only beautiful, but also has a posture and demeanor... Anyway, it's beautiful, attractive, and has an indescribable charm, even if it's just a musical poster, it's as beautiful and seductive as a blockbuster advertisement.

 'Our Loxey is better', this slogan is also curious, and it provokes different reactions among musical fans and passers-by, for musical fans, they have long known that "Chicago" is making a movie version, and the direction of this slogan is obvious, although it is not explicitly stated, but it is clearly to argue with the heroine of the movie version, the well-known actress Renee Zellweger. Jennifer Jefferson is more beautiful than Renee, but Renee is an acting school, where do they get their confidence?

 And although passers-by live in New York, they don't care too much about art, and only know that "Chicago" is a musical, so they are interested in this comparative level, since this Lockhee is better, which one is worse?

 People are competitive, and they all like to watch the excitement, and the confrontation between beauties and beauties can always cause the gossip masses to talk about, such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, who are now popular in the music scene, both of them used to be members of Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, but Britney became famous earlier, and now the two have similar positions in the music world, and the situation of competing with each other is very obvious, so the relationship between the two has always been the focus of attention of the masses, and there are gossip tabloids hinting at every turn that Christina can't stand Britney's inconsistency, and this kind of magazine always sells very well.

 Of course, there were many good people among these passers-by, and when they returned home they began to search for "Chicago", and soon they found that "Chicago" was being made in a movie version, and the other Loksha was the more famous Renee Zellweger...

 If Jenny were a mediocre-looking girl, no matter how good she was at singing and dancing, most people would first sneer at the battle, 'I can't help myself!', and then find evidence of Jenny's arrogance from various angles, and have a bad feeling for her first. Of course, it's impossible to go to the show out of curiosity, but now, she obviously overlooks Renee, so many people will think: "Well, she is indeed prettier than Renee, but isn't she singing and dancing very well, will she be better than Renee in the future? Maybe it's unlikely, right?"

 Broadway ticket prices are not very expensive, for most New Yorkers, it is not the kind of expense to be carefully considered, the best location is only a few hundred yuan, and the worse position is a few dozen yuan, students, groups have discounts, for musical theater fans, once they see the poster, attracted by Jenny's beauty and slogans, sixty percent of them may pay for tickets, and they have the psychology of personally verifying whether the troupe is talking big, and then the remaining four achievements are waiting for drama reviews and feedback, and then see if they pay for it. Among the passers-by who did not have the habit of watching the drama, those who were not bad for money also had a certain proportion of them driven by curiosity to buy tickets, of course, to buy cheaper seats, most of them had not seen musicals, and they were more cautious about this kind of expenditure.

 Publicity and marketing is actually to spend money to buy attention, this time the publicity of the Schubert Theater is very strong, plus Jenny's appearance is really eye-catching, so the publicity effect is very good, the box office in the first week is full, and soon there will be no more seats, and the box office in the next few weeks is also a good beginning. Of course, some of the sporadic votes also came from former "CSI" viewers, who would still be willing to see this mysterious 'Huanita' if they happened to live in New York and had the financial means.

 'Wow, oh my God, she's a musical theater actress, so is this her first show? No one has ever found evidence that she's playing on Broadway before, this girl is a mystery. '

 'Maybe we didn't find out before, does this girl have an agency, why didn't her PR update her details?'

 'I really envy the New Yorkers who can see JJ perform, will anyone go to see her show?'

 I've bought tickets, if you're interested, but I don't know if I can talk to her in person, and I'm not usually the kind of person who chases stars. '

 My mom and I bought tickets together, and we'd go to the premiere, and my mom really wanted to know if JJ was really that beautiful in real life. '

 'I'm so envious of you!' If you get an autograph or a group photo, be sure to send it!'

 At that time, the 20 million viewers of "CSI" were left for Jenny to be the dozens of fans who would actively reply to the discussion on the IMDB discussion board, and of course, there may be some silent people who just passed by the station, saw the billboard, and then thought of "CSI", so they silently bought tickets, and did not go online to discuss with others.

 In addition, there are also some insiders, including theater critics, who have also asked for tickets after seeing such an arrogant slogan, and they are full of interest in this attempt by the "Chicago" theater company.

 Either way, the campaign paid off, and everyone was happy – the troupe and theater were happy with the box office, Jenny was happy with the feedback from her few dozen fans on IMDB about the poster, and even the film was happy with the publicity that had ended filming and Robb, who was busy with post-production, called to say that Cesare had shown them a report on "Chicago" The search volume of several keywords for the movie version has increased sharply in the past few weeks, starting from the weekend when the theater started to advertise, including keywords such as "Chicago" release time" and "Chicago actors", all of which have a clear upward trend.

 Who doesn't like free publicity? No one knows what will happen next, but so far, it's a win-win for both theaters and studios. It is estimated that Renee's side will have a few more reporters to ask questions, but so far, Renee has remained silent and has not commented or responded at all.

 "It's quite normal. Cesare handed her a pen and commented casually, "Renee's best thing to do right now is not to respond, any one of her responses will help you." "

 Across from Cesare, a middle-aged Jewish woman smiled and said, "Yes, of course you should say no to any interview now, just let the work and the critics speak for you, hunger marketing is a great new concept, and now what we need is to keep the public and the critics hungry for you all the time — hunger beautifies everything." "

 Yes, on the eve of the show, Jeanne had another person on her team, and Cesare found a PR specialist for her: Judy Ackerman, for whom she flew to New York to sign a contract.

 The amount of money Jenny had to pay her was not very much, and it could even be said that it was surprisingly low — a few hundred dollars a month would allow her to enjoy Ackerman's public relations services.

 It's not because Judy's reputation is not loud, but Jenny's reputation is not good enough now, so what PR has to do is close to nothing, Cesare is now bringing her Judy, obviously to prepare for some interviews and reviews that may appear after the musical is staged, if Jenny becomes a hit, PR's workload increases, and it will naturally change the contract to raise the service fee, of course, if Jenny is a hit, Judy herself may not be willing to serve her, she will take over Jenny now, obviously optimistic about her potential.

 There is no need for Cesaremin to say that Jenny can make up all these considerations in her own mind. She read the simple contract, signed her name, and shook Judy's hand, "Will you stay and see my show?"

 "That's why we flew here the day before the show. Judy smiled kindly at her, "Can you have dinner with me tonight if you have time?" I think we should get acquainted with each other. "

 But she was visibly busy, and as soon as she finished speaking, her phone rang, and Judy made an apologetic gesture and walked outside the door to answer the call.

 There was a brief silence in the room - it was the first time Jenny and Cesare had communicated since she hung up the phone. Cesare came over to take Judy to sign a contract or something, but they were all brief phone calls, and the two didn't say much.

 He still seems to be the same, handsome, neat, cold, full of the oppressive power of Alpha male, but he does not seem to exude any special displeasure for Jenny, who was kind when Judy was there, and now that Judy is gone, he does not immediately sink his face to pursue Jenny's old account for hanging up on his phone. Jeanne, on the other hand, knew that she was naïve, but she still rolled her eyes and looked around, just unwilling to look at Cesare.

 "So. "It was Cesare who broke the silence first, and his tone sounded tolerant, completely 'you're acting naïve now, I know, and I know you know you know it yourself, but I don't bother with you,' is the guy you said you were going to fix before, is he okay now?"

 Jenny snorted, but quickly suppressed her temper - of course, Cesare didn't support her in this matter, which annoyed her, but after all, they didn't see each other too much, Cesare was far away in Los Angeles and hadn't met Dietrich, and if even Jaime couldn't trust her, then Cesare didn't support her. Cesare was a very professional agent, and he was not thin on her, and she should at least repay him with a professional attitude, rather than allowing herself to quarrel with him.

 "I have rehearsals in the afternoon, and if you don't have to go out for dinner tonight, you're welcome to visit the troupe. Jenny invited him.

 Cesare raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask, just nodded. "There should be a lot of hope, and judging by Judy's expression, she may have to go back to Los Angeles early. "

 Cesare was right, Judy hung up the phone and came in to apologize, one of her clients was in trouble and she had to fly back to Los Angeles immediately for a meeting with his team, and Jenny's debut had to be put aside, but Judy kept her assistant to watch the show in her place so that she wouldn't miss her debut altogether.

 Jenny came over at lunchtime to sign the contract, of course she had to go back to rehearse in the afternoon, tomorrow is the premiere of the new season, and now the stage has been basically built, this afternoon is a rehearsal with makeup, the band is also coming, not the accompaniment tape, everything is exactly the same as the official performance. Cesare spent most of his time offstage, sitting with James to watch the show.

 After more than a month of hellish training, Jenny is already familiar with this play, and even the psychology of Lockhee can be ignored after many empathies, as if there is a pattern in the emotion, which can be released by pressing the switch. The whole rehearsal was completed in one go, and the stage manager, music supervisor and choreographer did not have any objections to her performance.

 After two rehearsals, the work in the afternoon was over, but I had to continue working in the evening, because there were many people in the troupe, not to mention the division of groups A and B, and the substitute actors also had to come up to rehearse again. For a while, people came and went inside and outside the stage, some went out for dinner, some stayed to prepare their own rehearsals, and the order was a little chaotic.

 "How's I doing?" said Jeanne, who had been talking to James (who was clearly familiar with each other), as Jeanne walked into the audience. James smiled and clapped and even called 'Bravo', and Cesare nodded reservedly in approval.

 Jeanne didn't expect Cesare to suddenly praise her, she didn't come to ask for compliments, but to create opportunities.

 Generally speaking, after the rehearsal, the choreographer will call her over, point out some of her emotional and technical flaws, and give another guidance. Today was no exception, of course, and when Jenny saw her beckoning to her, she seized the opportunity to walk over with the two men in her arms.

 "This is my agent, Cesare Vijeri. She introduced Cesare to the choreographer and Dietrich, who was standing on the side. Dietrich, as the second leading actor, is also the key target of the choreographer's concern, and the two have to receive guidance together almost every day.

 After a few pleasantries, Jeanne said to Cesare, "Look, my dear, I probably won't be able to have dinner with you, and I can only read the script in the evening, and now if you don't mind, can you go out and buy me a salad?" "

 Cesare gave her one look, then smiled wryly, and said to the crowd, "You see, this is the privilege of a beautiful woman, and Miss Jefferson has always been an errand runner for me, but for some reason I just can't be angry with her." "

 Everyone laughed, and Jeanne smiled smugly at Cesare (she's an actress, so it didn't bother her), "If you don't want to wait for me to rehearse, buy it and put it in the refrigerator and go first, if you want to wait for me, come to the big rehearsal room after you put it in the lounge." "

 James shook his finger at Jenny and said, "Chesa, let the assistant buy it, I'll go to Jim's kitchen with you for dinner, I have an idea for the follow-up publicity..."

 They walked away, Jenny and Dietrich moved to the rehearsal room, and after half an hour of practice, Jenny's leg cramped a little, so it was time for dinner, and Dietrich helped Jenny sympathetically, "Do you need me to pour you some water?"

 "Thank you. Jenny smiled appreciatively at Dietrich, "Actually, I'm not very thirsty, but if you don't bother you, can you drop by and bring me dinner, you know, I can't walk right now—"

 "Absolutely. Dietrich assured.

 As soon as she left the office, Jeanne called Cesare, "Now bring James to the rehearsal room." "

 Although there was no communication, she believed that Cesare's IQ could not be too low and would not actually go to Jim's kitchen with James to eat, and would definitely find an excuse to try to drag the two in the theater.

 After about two minutes, Cesare walked into the rehearsal room laughing with James, and saw her sitting on the floor, and James laughed at her, "I heard you have cramps, girl? "

 Jenny stood up and said, "Of course, I have hard willpower, but I don't need to be too myself now, is there?"

 While they were talking, Dietrich came in with a lunch box in her hand, and when she saw Cesare and the others, she was visibly stunned for a moment, before handing the lunch box to Jenny, "Here." "

 "Thank you. Jeanne stroked her injured leg and smiled at Dietrich, she opened the lunch box, forked a salad, brought it to her mouth, sniffed it without a trace, then put the leaves back, turned to Cesare and said, "By the way, I have an idea for the follow-up promotion of the musical... But let's not talk about it here, don't disturb other people's rehearsals. "

 "Of course. Cesare said, "Jaime, back to your office?"

 "No problem. When it came to the follow-up publicity, James was focused, and he motioned to help Jenny walk, but Jenny shook her head and refused, just limping and following the two to the manager's office.

 When they entered the manager's office, Jenny gave up her pretense of cramps, put her lunch box on the small conference table, sat down first, and asked James, "Jaime, you haven't had dinner yet, have you?"

 James shook his head, he was starting to notice that something was wrong, so he was cautious, "Is there anything I should know?"

 "Here's a box of salad that Cesare bought for me, and he put it in the fridge when he got it, and I think you've been there the whole time. "And then it stayed in the fridge until Dietrich brought it back to me, and I opened it in front of you, and it didn't touch a mouthful, and it was completely clean." "

 She opened the lid of the lunch box, raised an eyebrow at James, and said in a slightly defiant tone, "Would you like to share it with me?"

 James knew what Jenny meant no matter how stupid he was now, and his face changed wonderfully, unhappy-skeptical-resolute-hesitant... These emotions obviously changed in turn, and at one point his hand reached for the side of the lunch box, but finally he let go.

 Jenny turned to Cesare and asked, "Lillian told me that you also have a slight nut allergy - Cesa darling, tell me, would you like to?"

 Cesare shook his head, "Thanks, but still not." "

 Jenny spread her hands and said slowly, "Ha, gentlemen, ha." Now, tell me, am I right or wrong?"

 The author has something to say: Note: Alpha male is the term given to a man who is born to be a leader, and this type of person is known to be domineering and aggressive.