The Role of Queen Esther
In February 2022 I got a phone call from a random stranger asking if I’d please come audition for a new musical that would be performed at the Cailloux Theater in Kerrville, TX. What’s crazy is that the person on the other end of the line sounded like he knew me, but I had no remembrance of such a meeting!
As we talked about the story later, we figured out that he’d met a gal who goes to the same church and he was trying to get in touch with her to audition, but someone gave him my number instead. So when I showed up to audition on the very last night of callbacks, he looked at me quizzically and said, “well you’re not the person I remember meeting in PAX coffee shop, although I’m glad you’re here.”
I proceeded to sing “Think of Me” from Phantom of the Opera as my audition piece. After singing an adequate number of bars the director said, “Thank you, that’s good” and motioned for me to be finished. Comically, one of the ladies chimed in to say, “hey, you can’t stop her before she gets to the best part!” She knew the ending took the vocals up to a high B flat after a lengthy run of soprano vocal acrobatics. The director was a little startled, and happily told me to take center stage again to finish the last phrase, to which end, the crowd cheered loudly.
Pshewwww, step one . . . Audition . . . DONE!!!
I felt like it was a good audition and by the next day at noon I’d know the results. In the meantime, my prayers went something like this. “Lord, you know I resonate well with the life of Queen Esther. She played such a large role in history by saving the Jewish people. I feel like my own life somewhat mirrors the trials she experienced, and I know what persecution feels like. I haven’t even heard the music or read the script for this production, but if you want me to be in it, then I pray that I get the role of the Queen.”
My thinking was partly greedy, you may think. But honestly, life was very full at the time. I was on the go constantly and knew that to take roughly 3 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 6 weeks, plus 7 performances over 3 weekends, was a massive exchange of time. Plus, community theater does not pay the actors, so it’s a gift of love for sure. I knew that if I was to get the lead role, it would be a miracle!
Fast forward to 12:05pm the next day. I pulled up the website of the Cailloux Theater audition page. Sat down! My jaw dropped! And I sat there in awe for a moment of silence!
ELIZABETH ROSE - QUEEN ESTHER
ANTHONY TEAGUE - KING AHASURAS
… and so on and so forth!
AHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I could hardly contain my excitement!
And then the phone rang. It was my mother who was equally as enthusiastic about hitting the refresh bottom on the website. She was ecstatic, almost more than I was. She wanted all the details, all the show times. Before I knew it, she had already purchased her own ticket to a performance. But not just ONE performance. I lost track of how many performances she came to and how many friends she brought with her. In totally, I wrote down the names of 126 friends who we personally invited that came to a performance.
Knowing that so many friends would be in the crowd, I wanted to do my very best! If you can imagine, these were friends that I see on a weekly basis at church, at business gatherings and meet-up events, my health coaching clients, piano students and their parents, even my hairdresser. An entire homeschool group of 30 came on the free preview night. A few friends drove all the way from Austin and San Antonio with carloads of friends. This was a BIG deal!
As rehearsals began and I got to know the cast, it was fun discovering the AMAZING talent that I was sharing the stage with. In fact, I was the ONLY person on state who had never performed in a musical before. Even one of the 12 year old extras and his sister had been in multiple musicals and plays already. So I was at a huge disadvantage. However, due to the fact that I have lots of performance experience, all of that training kicked in — the stage presence, projecting out into the 480-seat theater, being “camera ready” at all times. The hardest part was probably remembering the song lyrics, memorizing speaking lines, and adding in the necessary acting parts. Well, and then there came a point when I stealthily went to the director after rehearsal one night to ask him if there was some sort of variation we could do when the script said, “king and queen kiss”. He quite understood my concern and recommended that we simply hug to finish out the scene. Pshewww!
Thankfully, all of the cast members were very encouraging and offered helpful suggestions for how to get “in character” as the Queen. My acting was pretty bad at first, but as time went on I really enjoyed the challenge of imagine myself as Queen Esther. The hardest part was that her character was actually written to be somewhat funny and comedic. Three time, during different entrances, I was supposed to “accidentally” step on Hamon’s feet. Getting into the character of a ditsy blonde queen who keeps forgetting her crown and stepping on the King’s right-hand man was not what I had envisioned for the character of a “regal queen”.
On a different note, we kept the focus on music and didn’t get into each other’s personal lives too much. I was very glad of that. My off-stage life was a bit challenging at the time. But I think doing this show only strengthened my resolve that I am indeed alive “for such a time as this”. My faith in Jesus Christ keeps me strong and pushing forward. The unwavering support from family and friends reminded me that no matter what we go through in life, if you have a strong community, they will share the love needed to get you through.
My favorite song in the whole show is “A Time Like This”. It finished the first half of the show with the lyrics, “A time like this, a time like this, God, help me be strong for a time life this.” As the music fades, Esther walks into the palace to talk with the King — an act that may have gotten her killed if the king did not extend his hand of grace and give her permission to speak. She goes on to explain how the King’s right hand man, Hamon, had a plot to kill her people. She was, in essence, saving the Jewish people from extinction. She knew God had put her in the palace and given her favor with the King for this moment in time. Even writing this blog, I get chills thinking about the significance of her bravery.
May each of us learn from this story, and choose bravery and courage in the face of trials and tribulations!
Now that the musical performances have come to completion, writing this blog felt like the next step in sharing this journey with you and others. A lesson that I can pass on is this … everything worth doing, is worth doing in excellence. When you give your all to an endeavor, then you can feel confident that what you have to give is enough.
I hope this journey inspires you. And I invited you to check back in for more inspiring stories on this blog.
With Love,
Elizabeth Rose