Hollywood Domination Chapter 33: James Schubert

The competition of "Chicago" theater troupe is very fierce, and of course there are many people who get selected. This time, the troupe recruited about five new places, but there were two to three hundred actors of various colors who came to apply. In the first interview, the admission ratio was about three to one, but when it came to the second interview, there were only 90 people. The content of the interview this time is correspondingly more complicated. There are some basic skill assessments, and the interviewers will also be asked to act in pairs and perform some scenes specified by the examiner.

For Jenny, these skills were also the content of her training in the past six months, so she completed them smoothly without being too nervous. Now she has 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 all irrelevant eyes by pressing it. Only the camera, her, and the humanoid word matcher on the opposite side are left.

Speaking of which, the interview atmosphere of the troupe is more open than that of the crew. The interview is directly conducted in a large rehearsal room, and the candidates are sitting on the ground waiting, so this time there are a lot of onlookers . Jenny can also look at other people's audition performances to gauge her chances of winning.

As expected of the interview of "Chicago", those who can enter the second stage of the interview, the acting skills are at least passable, the lines can be followed naturally, and the singing is very beautiful, the pitch and volume are also very stable, so many interviewees , although some obviously sang tightly because of nervousness, but none of them were seriously out of tune. Jenny thought to herself that her acting skills might be considered excellent among these people, but her singing skills were mediocre, and she did not have an overwhelming advantage.

However...if her appearance is also included in the total score, her score can still be among the best. ——If a beautiful girl can sing well, she usually goes directly to the music scene, and there are very few who would want to act in a musical.

After the second round of interviews, Cesare also called to inquire about the progress. Jenny told her truthfully how she felt. Cesare—of course without any compliments, just told her, "Agata's impression of you Well, she told Rob to 'have a tiny bit of confidence' about your third audition. If Rob or I were free, we'd be there."

Jenny joined the crew very late, and the filming of "Chicago" is coming to an end, and the Christmas-New Year's holiday is approaching, so it is very possible that the crew will leave early. Jenny was quite moved by Rob's kindness, "He is so kind to me."

"So you can't live up to his expectations." Cesare said, "As far as I know, James Schubert will also go in the third round. Whether you can become Roxie for the first time is more than half of the decision." It's up to him, so don't take it lightly. Your minimum is not to embarrass Rob, who called James several times to get you into the interview."

Don't think that there is no "family world" in the United States. In fact, family businesses are very common in the United States. In addition to political circles with father and son presidents, it is also common for sons to inherit their father's business in the entertainment industry. From the vigorous development of Broadway in the early 20th century to the present, this small theater world has been divided equally between two or three families. There are dozens of large theaters on Broadway, and "Chicago" is regularly staged at the Shubert Theater. The Special Theater belongs to the Schubert Organization, and this company is one of the three major forces on Broadway. It owns more than a dozen well-known theaters. So far, a large part of the shares of the Schubert Organization is still in the hands of the Schubert Foundation. The company leader's surname is still Schubert. James Schubert is not yet the head of the group. According to Cesare, he is the manager of the Schubert Theater, and his influence on the "Chicago" troupe is of course more than the head of the troupe.

——Yes, in the power chain of Broadway, the theater manager is above the head of the troupe and the director. " will always be performed at the Schubert Theater, and it is impossible to move to Lincoln Center. From the preparation of the troupe to the performance, all the expenses during this period will be borne by the theater, and the box office revenue will also be collected by the theater. From the director to the director to the director are all paid work. The person who pays the most, so Cesare said that James Schubert is the one who decides whether she can become Roxy.

Based on the content of the call between Agata and Rob, it is very likely that Cesare had approached James Schubert beforehand to promote himself, and even proposed a whimsical publicity plan. But since he didn't say anything, Jenny didn't talk much, she asked, "This James, he—"

Cesare was silent for a moment, and then said, "If you have something to say, please speak up, Jefferson, I don't like to play guessing games."

"Is he straight?" Jenny grimaced into the air.

"Yes." Cesare said, "but you don't have to worry too much, have you forgotten? Rob also mistakenly thought we were a pair of lovebirds."

Jenny breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt that it was worthwhile to make mistakes that night, "Okay, speaking of it, have you talked to Lier about this?"

Cesare didn't answer right away, but kept silent, and Jenny almost said: 'Darling, do you agree to play guessing games? ’ But thinking of the last time Lilian and Cesare quarreled, she decided not to mention it.

"Then I'll call Li'er to explain it," she said proactively, "By the way, Cesare, do you think we should establish a system."

"What system?" Cesare's voice conveyed some doubts.

"Give me a dollar system for calling Jefferson?" Jenny said, "Seriously, as soon as you call me Jefferson, I want to say 'Yes, Master Vijay, yes, Vijay Master Li'. So it's better not to call me that."

"Okay, Jefferson." Cesare replied.

Jenny was very surprised for a moment—Cesare must be joking with her, right?

Unfortunately, Cesare did seem to be joking, and he hung up on her before she could come up with a clever retort.

#

Between the two auditions, she had been taking classes without any new ideas anyway. In this class, Agata no longer studied her basic skills in detail, but began to comment on her negligence in the aria.

"Your dance skills are relatively strong, and the dance of "Chicago" is not difficult." "With your physical expression ability, dancing will not be a big problem. Relatively speaking, singing is your weakness. I guess you haven't been trained for a long time, because your breath still has a big problem, but your voice condition It's better, and the aria of "Chicago" is not too difficult, I noticed that you have used skills to cover up your flaws during the audition, which is very good."

After being 'conquered' by Jenny's performance, Agata's attitude towards her became a little more enthusiastic and she talked more, and even gave some encouragement and praise, "Just keep your breath steady and your volume steady , I think you are still very promising. Your rhythm and intonation are quite good, are you from a chorus?"

In fact, Chen Zhen did participate in a choir for a while when she was a child, but she believes that the foundation of her singing skills comes from her obsession with KTV when she was a wealthy young lady, but now in front of Agata, She couldn't recognize any of them, so she had to shirk it on talent, "No, but I have always liked singing, and I often hum by myself when I have nothing to do."

Agata looked at her suspiciously, but fortunately, he didn't intend to go deeper, "After this class, I hope you will go home and do a few more vocal exercises, find a scented candle, and practice it in front of it." , try to reduce the vibration of the flame while making a sound, and never blow it out. And the deep breathing method I taught you before, you should also keep practicing. 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. She wrings herself out every morning, absorbs knowledge in a day, and goes home every night. From now on, she will go to the performing arts space, instead of watching movies, she just keeps practicing in the dark space, urging her brain to speed up and quickly digest Agata's teachings.

Agata asked her to do vocal exercises, but the frequency should be strictly controlled, so as not to practice inappropriately and consume her voice. Well, Jenny will practice in the performing arts space, and the shouting here has nothing to do with the vocal cords in reality. (Out of curiosity, she recorded her external performance when she entered the performing arts space. It looked like she was asleep. No matter what she did in the space, there was no abnormality on the outside.) The most important thing to stabilize the breath is to practice more vocalization , with the consciousness of 'holding the breath in her lungs', she practiced for at least nine hours in the performing arts space every day.

When the breath is stable, the singing volume will not fluctuate. This kind of progress can be seen. Agata looked at her more and more amazed every day, and even the little freshman William, who was in class with her, couldn't help yelling, jealously claiming that Jenny is "God's darling, you must have been kissed by an angel when you were born." .

Jennie couldn't laugh or cry, but William insisted, "Of course I know that you are good-looking, good at acting, and good at singing, but all this does not make me very jealous of you. I am most jealous Yours is the rate at which you improve, Jenny dear, your rate of improvement is maddening and demoralizing, and if I ever see a few more young men as talented as you, I'll give up trying to make it on Broadway Work hard—really, I will never compete with monsters like you for a role, it will definitely be a devastating blow.”

Looking at Agata who seemed to agree, Jenny was a little bit "I'm speechless", and the guilt of bullying others with golden fingers emerged, so she had to enlighten William from another angle, "In fact , I'm not a talented player, William, you see my progress, but what you can't see is the practice after I go back to the hotel. My after-school activities are only one: practice, practice, and practice. Of course, I I believe you are also very hardworking, but you have a family, William, and all I have now is study."

She's telling the truth, homework is nine hours a day, is it fun to talk about it for nine hours? Not necessarily. For a year in a row, she didn’t know what a full meal is. In order to save money, she ate almost tasteless supermarket salads for three meals after arriving in New York. In LA, she could at least eat fresh vegetables, and the salads here Everything is not very fresh, not to mention the strange taste. Furthermore, Jenny has no personal life at all this month. In order to realize Cesare's whimsical arrangement, she can only make up for her weakness in singing by studying all day and night. Now she doesn't know what she is relying on to maintain her motivation.

Probably poor—although musical theater is not a very rich industry, but if Roxy is successfully selected, the weekly salary should be two to three thousand dollars, which is considered a lot of money for Jenny, at least She doesn't need to worry about her career in a short time. And if he misses this role, even if Cesare is not disappointed in her, but he would rather not be too lazy, God knows that the next audition opportunity will be in a few months. If she loses the election and continues to walk the dog and serve dishes, of course she will desperately want to play "Chicago".

Responding to her remarks, William made a grimace, "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 life, you will never be able to achieve the slightest success in this business." It was not Jenny who answered him, but Agata, who was still very strict with William, " No one can become famous in one fell swoop with the attitude of enjoying life, William, what you see is the enjoyment of those big-name stars after their success, and only we know how crazy they were before they became famous.”

Jenny's 'You don't know how hard I worked' kind of chicken soup did not move her, but Agata emphasized to her again, "If you want to continue to develop on the road of musicals, You must practice rationally, I know that you are eager to succeed, but one drop of your voice will destroy all your hopes, so I still say that, practice moderately and pay attention to protecting your voice.”

This day was also the last class before the third audition. Agata did not assign homework, and told Jenny not to talk too much when she went home tonight to protect her voice. William hugged her with a smile and wished her good luck, "If possible, I really want to watch your audition, and see you crushing other people's hopes under your feet. This scene must be very exciting."

Even Agata made an exception and smiled, "I will go to your audition, Jennifer, and treat tomorrow as an exam for you. Believe me, the interviewer's exam questions will never be better than mine. It's harder for you these days."

She is rarely humorous, and of course Jenny laughed in unison, and she felt warm in her heart: In fact, from a certain point of view, the entertainment industry may be the most fair circle, as long as you are talented and have a basic level of life, Most people will choose to pull you up instead of stepping you down. After all, mountains and rivers meet again. In this circle that pays attention to connections, investing in newcomers is also part of the job.

Of course, this refers to the behind-the-scenes personnel like Agata and Rob. They will never be Jenny's competitors. Of course, what she sees is the tender side of the entertainment industry. As for the ugly side of the entertainment industry , Jenny believes she, too, has plenty of opportunities to see what her fellow actors have to offer. For example, the hamburger sauce served by Veronica, Renee's manager, should be considered a very introductory preview.

And all the hard work she is doing now, this almost self-abuse practice, is to be able to play games among the older children, to experience the more prosperous, extravagant, and uglier side of the entertainment industry.

The third audition is a closed audition. Even if William comes, he should not see the scene of "Jenny shows off her talents and crushes countless glass hearts" that he expected, but the atmosphere at the scene is already very tense and tense. It's boring, this time the troupe has five new places to recruit, and there are still thirty people waiting, and most of them are young women. Calculated in proportion, their elimination rate is much higher than one-sixth, and may even reach one-tenth, while other types of actors may only have a two-to-one elimination rate—one of them is a black middle-aged woman. There is no actor of the same type to compete with her, she is a certainty, and she will definitely be selected for the troupe.

During the waiting period, Jenny has already endured a lot of jealous eyes, which made her a little allergic, afraid that she would become the protagonist of 'CatFight', or that she would find glass shards on the soles of her shoes like a shoujo manga... ...

Of course, this is impossible. Musical theater auditions do not need to change shoes, but ballet does. But even so, she was very careful, she didn't go to pick up the coffee provided by the troupe, she just drank the bottled water she brought, and sat in the corner, far away from the competitors, to prevent any possibility of soiling the clothes.

Her audition sequence was in the middle, and during the roll calls, Jenny inevitably had a racing heart and some symptoms of excessive adrenaline secretion-this was really the most uncertain of her several auditions , until now she dare not say that she is sure about this role, the most important thing is that **** singing skills.

She didn't dare to enter the performing arts space, she was afraid that she would not hear the roll call, so she could only look around boredly. The minutes were doubled, and it felt like the whole audition would last a whole day.

The audition room was still in the rehearsal hall of the Schubert Theatre. About half an hour after the audition started, a black-haired man attracted Jenny's attention.

In other words, his attention to her attracted Jenny's attention - when she found out, this man had been looking at her for at least a minute.

He stood at the corner of the door, leaning casually on the door frame, and dressed casually, wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. A little out of place—good-looking, somewhere between Zhou Zheng and handsome, enough to make an impression, but Jenny was sure she hadn't seen him in the audition cast.

He just kept staring at her, and he wasn't shy when he was discovered. Instead, he smiled and nodded at her. Jenny also smiled back, then lowered her head to do her own thing, and stopped looking at him.

But she can feel that he is still watching, just watching so openly, without hiding his interest in Jenny, to be honest, she often meets men who pay attention to her, but it is so Dafang calmly really counted the anonymous man in front of him. He seemed to treat her like an exhibit animal, paying close attention to her every move—the kind of scientific research attention.

In the first ten minutes when Jenny was watched by him, the annoyance value was accumulating, but it gradually subsided after ten minutes, and she began to have a suspicion.

The man watched her carefully for about an hour, which was the most uncomfortable hour in Jenny's life, and then he pushed the door directly into the audition room.

About five minutes later, Jenny's name was called, she opened the door and went in, and saw the man again, this time he was sitting in the middle of the audition table.

As expected, Jenny thought, ah, he is James Schubert.

Combined with his performance today, she can almost be sure that he came to see her specially - to be honest, Jenny really admires Cesare, his management ability is simply superb. She had no idea how Cesare persuaded a high-ranking figure like James Schubert to come and see her, and even to see her for an hour (of course, this last point may be James' free play). She thought that this should be related to Cesare's way of promoting her, and she really aroused her curiosity, and decided to ask about it afterward.

But now, of course, the most important thing is the interview. Jenny spotted Rob in the crowd behind the audition table (she didn't expect him to come), and Agata, and she gave them a little glance and then turned her full attention to James Shu Bert, took a deep breath and entered the fighting state.

Schubert looked her up and down again, then smiled kindly, and took the microphone, "I just wanted to watch you dance, but I heard that your singing skills have improved a lot, and you are very interested in Locke. Xi's several arias are very proficient."

He gestured behind him, and a familiar black actress stepped forward and smiled at Jenny, who recognized her as Dietrich, who played the black female prisoner in the movie. Speaking of which, when they had lunch, they sat together and chatted a few times, Jenny thought they were almost friends, or at least acquaintances, but now Dietrich's attitude seemed to be that she didn't know her.

"This is my Velma." Schubert kissed the actress on the cheek, "Now she will cooperate with you to perform the last performance of "Nowadays" in series with "HotHoneyRag". Are you confident?"

——"Nowadays" and "HotHoneyRag" are singing first and then dancing. Is it?" Obviously, it was just a polite word. As soon as he finished speaking, the people around had already made room for them.

Jenny looked at 'Velma', and the other party had already started to shake hands and twist legs to prepare, and he didn't intend to meet her eyes, and his attitude was quite indifferent, it seemed that he was not even ready to communicate beforehand.

To be on the safe side, she was planning to use the golden finger, and now she would not make another choice. Jenny looked away, nodded and said, "Hellyeah, of course I am very confident."

Her attitude can be regarded as a little arrogant, very righteous, without any pretentiousness at all-as long as she is given room to express, for Jenny, the more challenges the better. The more difficult and time Schubert gave her, the more confident she was to conquer the audience with her performance.

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

Schubert laughed in amazement. In the crowd, Rob shook his head with a smile, and Jenny retreated to the side of 'Velma'—this time it was her turn to look at Jenny.

Jenny ignored her, she closed her eyes to 'adjust herself', and selected these two arias in the performing arts space.

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

She began to sing.

The author has something to say: Note: The Schubert Organization is real, and some knowledge points in this chapter are real except that James Schubert is fictitious, including the power chain of the theater. Indeed.

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Uh, I checked, the comments in the background are already 2100+, and the income is already over 1,000, and the collection will soon be 5K...

Okay, there will be updates for three consecutive days today

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