Page 11 of He's The Reason Why

His paragraph ended there, but he felt like it wasn’t finished so he ad-libbed a little bit. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save my family and my kingdom, and I can’t wait to slay the evil beast.”

“Hey, if anything, it’ll be me doing the slaying, you insignificant royal worm of a man,” Gina Paige, the woman cast to play the dragon, said in her thick British accent.

She sat opposite him and looked like a queen on her throne as she surveyed the room.

Everyone laughed.

The introductions moved from him to Jeremy Graham, theevil sorcerer, to Rachel Morris, the kidnapped sister, Elaine, and on around the room.

It took over an hour, after which they launched right into the actual read.

The first few minutes of the movie focused on setting up the relationship between the sisters. Rachel, who’d been doing table reads since she was a teenager, threw herself into her character so well that it might have been the actual voice-over.

Piper sounded like she was reciting a dissertation out loud. There was no personality behind her words, no warmth or heart.

Didn’t she know that she was supposed to be getting a feel for the character?

She glanced at him as if sensing his scrutiny. He realized he was frowning at her and looked away. If this was her idea of a performance, they were in serious trouble. She had no feel for the character, no acting skill at all.

There was no way this movie was going to be finished on time.

He slumped into his chair and stared at the script without really seeing it. This had to be the most painful table read he’d ever experienced, and that included the one when he was eight years old and had been forced to listen to adults debate the many different ways to say the word endless.

When Piper reached the last line before the break where a song would be inserted, the atmosphere around him changed. Her voice shifted to something suddenly real.

“Elaine.” Piper drew out the name as she stood up. She shoved her chair out of the way like the frustrated young woman she was supposed to be playing, completely in character. “I don’twantto stay here forever. I want to see the world!”

Blake jerked his head up, startled.

All the longing for adventure was in Piper’s voice and on her face as she reached out to her sister. Suddenly, he could feel thecastle walls closing in around them, and he saw Princess Jewel, trapped by a society that demanded she fill a role she wasn’t ready for while denying her everything she truly wanted.

The group sitting along the wall quickly moved into positions around the room, their faces bright with anticipation.

Music started up from speakers in the corners.

Piper sang, “I want adventure and danger and daring. I want heroes and monsters galore. I want tolivebefore I reach twenty. It’s not fair that I’m trapped behind these doors!”

Piper’s voice was filled with all the emotion she’d left out of her spoken dialogue. When she sang, she became that frustrated young woman she was supposed to be.

Blake watched her, stunned, as she danced toward Rachel, took her hands, then whirled away toward a group of background singers. Their voices filled the room as they tried to convince Princess Jewel that duty and family were more important than adventure and excitement.

“Excellent!” Tamar hummed under her breath and tapped her foot.

To Blake’s surprise, it was.

They’d obviously rehearsed this many times. It was pitch-perfect and full of energy, and he couldn’t help but clap along to the beat.

Rachel rushed around the room to intercept Piper. “They can’t make us stay, they can’t turn us away. Together we’ll take on the world!”

Her voice soared through the room. There was a reason Rachel’s career had started on Broadway. She didn’t need microphones to make herself heard, which was why she usually sang solo. Other voices disappeared when Rachel Morris belted out a song.

Piper and Rachel launched into the chorus, but instead of disappearing, Piper’s voice rose into a harmony that wrappedaround Rachel’s contralto and merged until the two formed one uplifted sound that brought the room to their feet.

When the song finished, everyone cheered like they were at opening night. It was a feel-good, take-on-the-world kind of song, and they’d nailed it.

If they could get her to act half as well as she could sing, maybe this movie would not only get done on time, it would be a hit.

Chapter Three

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