Who: Marguerite and Liv What: Liv goes to see Bandstand and fangirls over Marguerite When: Tonight after the performance Where: Stagedoor of the theatre Warnings: Low Status: Log | Complete
Liv hadn’t been to many musicals before. Not that she didn’t like them, she just didn’t have the time. She was pretty sure the last one she went to was Grease when her high school had put it on. But tonight? She was in the mood for a musical. She remembered someone mentioning Bandstand somewhere. She couldn’t exactly remember where she had heard about it, maybe it was the dead girl that had heard about it and Liv was just remembering from her. But either way it seemed like the perfect thing to go see.
The cast was amazing. Especially Julia. After the show Liv hung out by the stage door to hopefully meet and congratulate some of the cast.
Four more performances in two days, she could do this. It wasn’t even that she didn’t like the performance, she did. It was just that in making up for the lost performances thanks to the demon invasion, they had been doing two shows a day for a week now. It was exhausting, yet that exhaustion never impacted the show. Not with her or the others as she knew she wasn’t the only one feeling it.
Once she had washed her face and changed back into her regular clothes, Marguerite headed out. It was always unknown which show or performance would be met with people at the stagedoor, so Marguerite never knew what to expect at the end of the performance. Tonight seemed to be a slower night when it came to people at the stage door, but there were still some.
“Oh my god!” Liv squealed when Marguerite walked through the door. She had read the playbill so she knew what her name was. But she still just saw her as Julia. “You were so amazing,” she gushed to the woman. “I loved ‘Love Will Come Find Me Again.’ Your voice is angelic.”
Even if she was tired, Liv’s excitement was rather infectious and for the moment, the actress had forgotten her exhaustion and instead she smiled at Liv.
“Thank you. And that’s one of my favorite songs to perform in this show as well.”
It had that swing feel and also worked for the random ‘Broadway by the Bay’ type performances she would go to throughout the run in the area to showcase and gather publicity besides the television spots they had done and word of mouth.
“I can see why,” Liv beamed at the actress. “I’m so glad I was able to make it. I know closing night is coming up.” Granted Liv had only been interested in going for about two days now. A week ago she could have cared less. But that wasn’t the point.
“I’m Liv by the way,” she added introducing herself, not that Marguerite had asked.
“I’m glad you were able to make it as well. I know that even with the added shows, it was likely hard for people to come because we had to cancel shows a few weekends ago with everything that was going on.”
The show must go on, so even if they’d been stopped because of invasions and damaged theaters, they still found a way to make up those five performances.
“It’s nice meeting you, Liv. I’m Marguerite. Which is in the playbill.”
“That’s Orange County for you.” Because really, what else was there to say about that? But it was a good hint that Marguerite might also be a dreamer. The ones that didn’t dream didn’t seem to notice the strangeness as much, or at least they didn’t comment on it.
“I know!” Liv gushed some more. She had read all about Marguerite and the rest of the cast in the playbill. “What was it like living and performing in Paris?” Granted she knew a bit about living in Europe, well if her two months in London counted that was. But still, being an actress in Paris just sounded so glamorous.
“That it is, you never know what to prepare for.” Which was why she had her rapier with her. While they had already dealt with an invasion so she probably didn’t need to keep bringing it with her in case of such a situation, Marguerite would rather be prepared than caught off guard as the props for this show weren’t as conducive to fighting against things if they decided to strike in the middle of a run (which happened more often than she liked).
“It was great. The Comedie Francaise has a rich history as it’s the oldest still active theatre in the world.” And the one she had dreamt of performing at in her dreams, which had been one of the main reasons it had been impossible to pass up the opportunity even though she’d been a swing member for Waitress on Broadway at the time. “So to be asked to perform there was a major honor. And since I was born in France, it was also nice to return for a while.”
“At least it keeps things interesting,” Liv offered with a smile. Although even without the extra insanity Orange County seemed to throw at them, Liv’s life would still be interesting. Her personality changes were enough to keep anyone from being bored.
“That must have been incredible!” Liv gushed some more. She could see how it would make Marguerite feel honored, but if you asked Liv she deserved it. Especially if her performance tonight was anything to go by. “And well deserved,” she added with a genuine smile.
“It certainly does. Yet we find ourselves coming back all the same.” Even if sometimes it was pushing it. Yet Orange County had a pull to it. She could have stayed in Paris, or gone back to New York and yet she had taken the offer for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 and returned to a place where invasions were common and there was always some strange thing afoot. She knew that and returned anyway.
“It really was.” There would always be part of her that stayed in Paris, both in the dreams as well as here. Between her and Armand, she had always been more likely to embrace that part of their past and having gotten to perform there? Well, it was all the more true. The smile was met with one of her own, “Why thank you.”
“Tell me about it,” Liv agreed. “I tried moving away for a bit and ended up right back here.” Although there were reasons for her return. The most important one being that Orange County was probably the only place that would accept who she truly was. And even then, she wasn’t sure how excepted she would be. Especially after the recent zombie invasion.
“Such is the way of life.” They all had their own reasons for why they stayed or left or came back. But somehow Orange County had it’s way of pulling you back. Though it did seem that was more a thing that happened once you were on the network and dealt with dreams. Her dreams were fairly normal all things considered, just set in the past. Yet who else would really understand? “Are you happy to be back at least?”
“I am,” Liv replied. She had thought moving away was what she wanted. But really she had just been doing what her boyfriend wanted and that wasn’t what was best for her. It was clear that even though they shared dreams and were both zombies, they weren’t meant for each other. And that was okay. “Even though I grew up in Seattle this place just feels like home. What about you?” Liv questioned. “With all the places you’ve performed, how does Orange County measure up?”
“That’s good.” It could be hard moving back sometimes. The first time Marguerite had come back it was because the woman who had adopted her and Armand was sick so she had needed to take care of her and her affairs. Not the easiest way to come back, but that had been it and then she’d gotten caught up in all that was Orange County before she got that second chance at Broadway. Then Paris. And here she was again because of chance and circumstance.
“Well, Orange County certainly keeps things interesting between things that only happen here and the fact that I’ve worked with so many in the area that if I try to go watch a performance I’ve done before, I somehow always end up doing an emergency performance for them because they know me.”
One of these days she’d be able to see a show she once performed in without being needed to fill in because lead, understudy and swing were all unable to perform for whatever reason. Or she’d just go in disguise.
“But I do love the community. Especially this company which has been working to bring shows currently on Broadway but not on tour to the area to provide more opportunity for people to see current shows that are unable to get to New York.”
“That has to be flattering though,” Liv commented. Along with stressful, probably. But still. “What are you guys doing next?” Not that Liv would see it. Bandstand was just about to close. She was sure the company had to have rehearsals before their next production. And by that time, Liv’s interests would probably change again.
“It is,” Even if she had to look over scripts during the show to see the blocking. Luckily live theatre was always different so even if she messed up, those one stage could play along and no one would know if she did the blocking she was used to. Still, she wanted to support friends from the audience, not on stage.
“I’m not sure. I don’t think this company has figured out its next show. Given we’ve been doing two shows a day for the past week, I haven’t looked into current auditions though one of the directors I’ve worked with before asked if I’d be okay with them submitting a video from a different show as a sort of audition because their auditions were during the past week.”
Marguerite wasn’t sure if she’d get a call back or not, but she’d know by Tuesday. It wasn’t the first time she had ‘auditioned’ by video, meaning someone who she’d worked with before had submitted an audition for her because of her schedule.
Oh Orange County and it’s insanity. Just messing with everything. “It’s awesome you guys did that though,” Liv commented. Because it wasn’t fair the people that lost out due to the crazy had to miss the show. “I’ll definitely try and check it out,” she added but again, who knew where her interest would be in a few weeks.
“It is and I’m glad we were able to.” Smiling, Marguerite nodded, “Excellent.” Then her phone buzzed and she looked down. “And it looks like my Lyft is here. It was nice speaking with you. Have a nice rest of the night.” With a small wave, Marguerite made her way to the car so that she could get home for the night.