If a bad dress rehearsal means a fabulous opening night, than our production of Oklahoma! was about to become Broadway’s biggest hit. It was H-E-double toothpicks week at Martin High School’s theater (that’s the week before opening night), and we had yet to make it through the entire show in one evening. No doubt this disaster had a lot to do with Frankie White, king of the production pranks, who was supposed to be playing Curly, the handsome leading man. Oh, sure, he has the wavy brown locks and eyes as blue as Elvis’s suede shoes and tenor notes that make the girls melt. He can also get the cast in such a fit of laughter that no one can remember their lines. Very professional, I’m sure!
“Casey!” hissed a voice behind me as I waited in the dim lights behind the heavy black fabric curtain just sweeping the plywood floor of the stage. A hand tugged my braid. “Check out the ‘Li’l Wonder!’ I made some alterations.” Frankie handed me the kaleidoscope that within the context of the show held a picture of a scantily clad Victorian woman but in reality was a cardboard tube presumably left over from someone’s bathroom with a piece of white paper taped to the end.
I turned the tube over in my hands and held the eyepiece up to my eye. “You didn’t!” I said.
“Sure did!” said Frankie. I don’t know how he did it, but a photo was pasted inside the “L’il Wonder” of a ballerina with Jamie Finster’s head fixed on top. Jamie Finster was the quiet kid who somehow snagged the role of the comic male Will Parker, my character’s love interest.
“Frankie, really! We open in 2 days- that’s so immature!” I said.
“Killjoy!” said Frankie. I narrowed my eyes to retort, but Frankie had made his entrance on stage. I smacked my palm to my forehead. I had worked way too hard to have this show ruined by Frankster the Prankster.
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