Chapter 7: Sleeping Beauty

The opening day of Sleeping Beauty has finally arrived. After more than three weeks of rehearsal, the staff is finally ready to start a new show. Opening day is no joke as everything has to be ready and perfect before the guests begin to arrive. Even though this show was announced, the promotions were already done and costumes were made at a rapid speed. Many of the new recruits were nervous to be debuting on this stage with top performers since they want to look good for their ideals. As for the ones who are used to this, they are mostly relaxing and getting ready for their performances.

It is an hour before show time and cast members are busy getting dressed for the show.

“I cannot believe tonight is opening night. I cannot believe it. I feel like it came so fast,” Mina says excitedly putting on her costume.

“Yes, and it is a full house,” Sara chimed in.

“Probably because they want to see Risa,” Cassidy points out.

“I doubt it,” Risa says, coming in.

“Oh, Risa, that dress is amazing,” Mina said, admiring it.

“Thank you. It is not something I am used to performing in, but it will have to do,” Risa said, taking another look at the dress.

“You look great,” Sara complimented.

“Thanks,” Risa began before being cut off by the blinking lights.

“Five minutes to show time girls, please make your way to the stage,” a stagehand announced to the girls.

“Well, we better head to the stage and take your marks, break a leg everyone,” Cassidy encouraged, as she was heading out the door.

One by one, they follow Cassidy out the door feeling excited or nervous about the show. Risa sees Sara nervous about the performance and tries to comfort her.

“Don’t worry, you will be great,” Risa whispers.

“I know,” Sara whispers back.

“Kind of thinking about it, I wonder what role Laurel is playing,” Risa wonders.

“We won’t know until we take the stage,” Sara says.

“I suppose you are right,” Risa says.

“Break a leg,” Theo whispers behind Risa, as he walks by.

“Ha-ha, he is smitten with you,” Sara whispers.

“Shut up,” Risa whispers back, but this time blushing.

The curtains rise and the show begins.

The first act begins with the narrator speaking to the audience about the production along with the images of the two kingdoms and how one was blessed with a daughter. She is to marry the prince from another kingdom when she comes to age. To illustrate this, some performers came on stage with paint brushes on the tight rope and dance around giving the stage colors of blue, pink, and red. This continues on for a few more minutes until the scene changes to the next scene of the performance.

Coming on stage was all the minor cast coming in with their partners representing the kingdoms that were invited to the christening of the new princess. The performers dance a happy dance by performing a waltz on the stage while others are flying in the sky performing.

Then, into the next scene, the three good fairies played by Cassidy, Mina, and Sara, came to present their gifts to the king and queen’s new baby girl. Cassidy, the first enters an elegant pink dress representing beauty, on a trapeze as she is flying towards the new child. With the wave of her wand, she bestows the gift of beauty to the new baby girl. She exits the scene for Mina wearing a green glitter dress entering the stage by flying in on a trapeze as she twirls in the air presenting herself in front of the royals. As she twirls her wand, she gifts the new baby the gift of song to enchant anyone who hears her sing. Mina soon exits the center stage and joins Cassidy in the back. Finally, Sara, who plays the final good fairy wearing a blue dress knee length, is about to present her gift only interrupted by the evil fairy Maleficent.

Maleficent is being played by none other than Laurel. Risa sees this and starts laughing along with Melody as this was the perfect role for her. She continues watching as Laurel makes her grand speech performing on the trapeze wearing a black glitter dress with the end shaped like a dragon's tail and lands on the tightrope to finish her routine. She jumps around scaring the audience and jumps on the trapeze again, beginning flying ready to enact the curse. The girl would die if she pricked her finger on a spinning wheel on her sixteen birthday and then she disappeared. Sara, who has not presented a gift yet, returns to change the curse by instead of death, she will only fall into an eternal sleep and only to be awaken by true love’s kiss.

Cassidy, Mina, and Sara rejoin together on stage performing a little routine as they fly to the king and queen, notifying them; they would take the child and protect her until her sixteenth birthday has passed. They agreed and as an extra precaution, they would burn the entire kingdom’s supply of spinning wheels in order for this curse to never happen. The scene closes out with a fire in the center of the stage of the cast throwing in lookalike spinning wheels.

Risa begins to walk over her entrance ready on stand-by.

The set changes to the forest scene and cottage are present on stage. Risa wonders how they got to the house on stage. Cassidy, Mina, and Sara return to the stage only to set things up for the party to be given to the princess. They dance around the cottage excitedly for this day full of joy and excitement. Then the stage grew dark and the girls left.

It was almost time for her to take the stage, so she got into a position. It did surprise her Theo coming behind her and stealing a kiss from her which shocked her a bit. She cannot have this in her mind right now since she has an important scene coming up.

The stage went dark again as the set team quickly removes the cottage and changes the stage to the forest scene. A few cast members dressed in forest animal costumes dancing around the stage. Then Risa’s signal light appears, and she takes the stage. She gracefully walks on stage and simply charms the guests with her walk. She reaches the trampoline and jumps on it and reaches the momentum she needed to reach the tight rope.

As gracefully as she is, she lands on the tightrope; she begins to dance. She hopes on one foot as she twirls around in a charming little way. She performs a flawless spilt dance while twirling, thinking she would find her one true love. Risa enjoys being on the tightrope dancing carefree with the lights shining on her. Then a light signals her to switch over to the trapeze as it appears above her. She grabs it with perfect timing and begins to swing herself high above.

Risa is seen flying in the air waiting for the next trapeze to come. It turns out Theo makes his entrance on the trapeze catching her mid-flight. He swings them together as the next trapeze comes. Risa does not catch the trapeze and lands on the tightrope. Theo soon joins her on the tight rope and begins to dance. Their dance was a bit tricky as they had to balance their weight on the tightrope. There is one part of the dance where they stare into each other’s eyes as they fall in love with this one moment. Risa could not help herself falling in love with him in this moment leading her to misstep in their dance and quickly ad-lips, quickly spinning out of his embrace.

When the lights changed to mid-afternoon, she realized it was time for her to leave. She quickly jumps over Theo and runs away. Theo tries to catch up her, but she disappears. They exit the stage, and a short intermission begins for the cast to take a break.

“Wow, Risa, it seems you were really into it,” Melody teases.

“Melody, you do not say anything to anyone,” Risa warns.

“Ok, I promise,” Melody said, sounding scared.

Risa walks over to backstage to see her friends before the next act begins.

“Risa, that was amazing,” Mina said, jumping on Risa to hug her.

“Thank you, but I did ad-lib a bit,” Risa said, disappointed.

“Who cares? It was great,” Mina said cheerfully.

“Yes, it was. And it seems you were a little bit into dancing with Theo,” Sara said making an observation.

“Yes, well, we have to look like we are in love in order to make it believable,” Risa complimented.

“Keep telling yourself that,” Sara answers, not believing her.

The cast continues to rest as they enjoy the clown scene performance on stage. Risa enjoys the scene as she hopes it will last a bit longer. She would love more than ever to avoid Laurel and Theo because she does not want the drama to a raise between the three of them. It was about time to return to stage, and Laurel came to remind her.

“Better get ready,” Laurel whispers, as she walks by.

Risa heads to her position as the short break is ending.

The next scene has Risa (Princess Aurora) returning to her home to the palace, reuniting with her family and celebrating her return. Risa jumps on the trapeze, swinging herself in the center of the stage. She briefly let’s go of it as she catches the circlet trapeze as she spins herself gracefully. Performing her little dance for all to enjoy, she glides perfection to the next part of the dance. She jumps on the tightrope and twirls around all across the tight rope.

Her dance ends as she begins to hear a voice. This voice sends her as a hypnotic trance leading her to the end. She walks all across the tightrope with an image of the spinning wheel in the sky. She gracefully pricks her finger on the needle and faints on the tightrope entering her eternal sleep.

Laurel appears back on stage kidnapping the princess and taking her to the tower of her ruined palace. Cassidy, Mina, and Sara return to the stage trying to stop Maleficent, but they were too late. To not cause more distress to the king and queen, the Three Good Fairies cast a spell for them to fall asleep until they can rescue the princess and bring her home.

Quickly thinking on their feet, they go to the prince to ask for help. They are able to find him and rescue him from the dungeon and bestow the prince with a shield and sword to be able to fight Maleficent. Riding his trapeze, he races to the castle where the princess is being held. Laurel, seeing this, tries everything she can to block him from entering. A huge thorny wall blocks his path, so he has to try to find a way around it. Nothing is going to stop him from saving his true love. He flies above the wall on his trapeze and flies down, slicing the wall to make a path for him to go through.

As nothing is going to stop him from saving his princess, Laurel had no other choice but to turn herself into a dragon hoping this will end his crusade. She flies herself into the sky, engulfing herself in black smoke. Then later Theo jumps from trapeze to trapeze trying to find a weak spot to defeat the dragon. There was no time to waste, so Theo quickly jumps off the trapeze and throws his sword straight into the dragon’s heart, finally defeating her. Laurel is seen falling down to the stage as she loses her dragon form and disappears. Now with the last obstacle out of his way.

Theo (the prince) swings his trapeze high above as he enters the tower. He sees his princess beautifully sleeping; he walks over and kisses her. It took a moment for her to wake up and see her prince again. To end this show, Risa and Theo both share a special dance escaping the tower and share a romantic waltz on the tight rope. They dance as they have been missing each other for a long time. With their dance coming to an end, the stage grows dark and Theo kisses Risa again.

The show ends, and the cast comes out one last time to take a bow for their audience. Then the stage grew dark and the cast leaves for the living room. Risa leaves the stage quickly to avoid Laurel and Theo for what just happened on stage. Sadly, before she was even able to undress in her dressing room, Laurel barges in to start interrogating.

“What the hell was that?” Laurel shouts angrily.

“What do you mean?” Risa asks, playing stupid.

“I mean, you are ad-libbing most of your routines during the show,” Laurel shouts.

“I am sorry, but I thought I would make the show a bit more interesting. The routine was a bit safe for my taste,” Risa says defending herself.

“This is not about fun; this is about work…”

“All you care about is a performance for money. Then this is not the Dream I remember,” Risa responds furiously.

“Next time make sure you stick to your routine,” Laurel said, as she was walking out.

Not wanting to deal with the others, Risa quickly changes out of her costume and dresses in her street clothes and heads towards the lobby. She is about halfway out when Theo stops her in her tracks. Risa is not in the mood to talk, so she slaps him instead.

“Ow, what was that for?” Theo said, rubbing his cheek.

“Really, are you going to play stupid with me,” Risa replies quickly.

“Oh, right the kisses,” Theo admits.

“Yes, what gives you the right to kiss me, when you have girlfriend.”

“You know how I feel about you and I want you to know my heart belongs to you,” Theo confesses as a lovesick puppy.

“Take the hint Theo. I am not in love with you.”

“But-.”

“But nothing, Theo. I am sorry,” Risa said walking away and not bothering to turn back.

“Risa,” Theo whispers to himself as he watches Risa walk away and maybe the only chance, he would have in finding true love.