Broadway

We stood there in awe, or at least, I know I did.

For me it was a dream come true. For him, it was a job. He did not have even the slightest of clue how lucky he was. His first play and he was going to be on the Broadway stage. Albeit, we were just extras for two scenes but he could have been more enthusiastic.

‘So, this is it, then?’ he nodded at the building.

‘Yes, isn’t it marvelous?’ I said.

He nodded yet again.

I ignored his utter lack of respect. ‘Come, we will be late,’ I said rushing in.

‘We are half an hour early, what’s all the hurry about?’ he said.

I really don’t know why he ended up joining our theater group. He did not care about theater and as far as I know he hadn’t done it before. If he wanted money, he could have done anything else. If the director hadn’t asked me to “be his mentor” I would have left him on the street. Heck, I would have pushed him in front of one of the cars.

‘I want to see how things are set,’ I calmly said. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Haven’t you been in ten plays before? It’s going to be the same, I am guessing,’ he had the ability to make Broadway theater sound boring. What a snob.

‘Yeah, but this is different,’ I said and rushed to the door. I wanted avoid talking to him as much as possible.

It was relief when the director saw us enter and told us to go to our green rooms, which, thankfully, meant I would not be seeing him till after the play.

‘Break a leg,’ I wished him luck more out of habit than actual enthusiasm.

‘What? Why would you want that?’ he said.

I looked at him to see if he was joking. How could he not know about that?

‘Well, saying “good luck” jinxes the whole play. So, it’s customary to say “break a leg”,’ I hid my irritation behind a smile.

‘Oh, if that’s the case, I hope I break both my legs!’ he said.

‘Yeah, I wish you break both your legs too,’ I said and proceeded to the green room.

Advertisement