“Brilliant.” Lauren adored her staff. She was lucky, because this was not the kind of job you waded through alone. That’s actually how she and Trip had become so close. In stage management, you needed soldiers to help you crawl through the battlefield of high maintenance performers and irate designers. Later, you had a cocktail together and toasted days like today when nobody died and said all the things you could never say in the actual rehearsal room, even though you desperately wanted to. She and Trip had been through many such battles and were closer than ever because of it. They always had each other’s backs and always would.

“Night, Lauren,” Jesi, their wig mistress, said as she headed home. “Almost to the end of this one, and I don’t know about you, but I’m ready. This group is a handful.”

“They’re definitely on their own journey. I pray for them,” she said with a wink. “One more to go, and we’re out. Oh, hey,” Lauren said, pausing Jesi’s exit. “Did Cinderella’s act two wig sit far back tonight, or was that just me?”

“It did.” Jesi shook her head ruefully. “All because Alicia keeps tugging on it when she’s gabbing with the princes in the wings. It’s how she flirts. I’ve talked to her, but I can’t hold her hand all night. She’s a man-crazy lady.”

Lauren nodded, knowing how much Alicia hated being wigged. She was a kind person, but the brand of actress who didn’t understand why everything wasn’t simpler for her specifically. When she’d asked Lauren to run lines with her, part of her gig as stage manager, Alicia actually asked if she could rewrite a few of them. Sondheim and Lapine would be so pleased. Alicia had also argued to use her own hair for the show but lost that fight to the design team when it was pointed out quietly in a production meeting that she didn’t have a ton of hair to work with, as it had thinned out considerably once she’d entered her thirties. The costume designer had made the right call, in Lauren’s opinion, and Alicia was much more glamorous in the wig. Now, if they could keep the princes, who happened to be gay anyway, away from her for one more day.