Chapter Text
It starts with The Prom. The musical, not the over-expensive, somewhat claustrophobic school dance. Ranboo is in ninth grade, his first year of high school, and the drama teacher is desperate to find someone to play Kevin (one of the homophobic teenagers) in The Prom. Ranboo decides why not and auditions. It’s a small role, the only time he sings alone is in the song “You Happened”, but it’s what makes Ranboo realize that he likes - no, loves - musical theatre.
He’s always known that he likes to sing and dance (he has a fairly high level of ballet training) but he never really thought about putting it all together. It’s strange, considering how much he loves watching musicals.
He gets a part in Newsies on Broadway the summer before tenth grade. He knows that it’s kind of crazy that he was able to get the part, considering his age and all, but it’s not like he’s playing anybody specific. Ranboo is just one of the newsies, his character doesn’t even have a name. He sings background and dances and it’s amazing.
The show rehearses for most of July and August. By the time the show opens in September, Ranboo has made a ton of new friends and he’s found his calling.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical is what makes Ranboo recognizable. In eleventh grade (yes, he has a tutor since he misses school for rehearsals and shows), he plays Luke Castellan in the show’s second Broadway run. It’s a big role, and he also gets to play Ares (and Gabe) since the show’s cast is so small.
A lot of people are very impressed. Maybe it’s because he’s so new to the Broadway scene, maybe it’s because he’s the youngest member of the cast, or maybe it’s because of his talent and voice. It doesn’t really matter why, because suddenly he’s pretty famous in the musical theatre community.
And then Broadway shuts down.
It makes sense, there’s a global pandemic and keeping people safe is top priority.
It does mean that Ranboo can’t do any stage productions. So, he turns to his second favourite thing: gaming. More specifically, he plays Minecraft. He streams on twitch, gets tons of followers on TikTok, and uploads the occasional YouTube video.
All the while, he doesn’t show his face. He wears a mask, glasses, and gloves whenever he’s on camera, which isn’t often.
And then he gets added to the Dream SMP.
His platform grows. A lot. During his senior year. When he’s taking AP classes…
But he loves it.
And he loves the friends that he’s made through it all.
Ranboo doesn’t tell anybody about Broadway, though. Not even Tubbo and Tommy. He’s perfectly content to keep his two worlds completely separate. He’s thankful that when he does eventually end up showing his face to a few of his streamer friends, none of them recognize him as a Broadway actor. Considering a lot of his friends are from the UK and none of them are, like, Broadway stans (ignoring the fact that the smp is basically one big Hamilton reference), Ranboo isn’t that surprised that none of them recognize him. He prefers it that way.
Only, it’s nearing the summer of 2021 and Ranboo has a dilemma. He really really wants to visit Tubbo once he graduates at the end of June, but Broadway just opened back up again. It wouldn’t be that huge of a deal if it weren’t for “Check Please! The Musical”
It’s a musical based off of one of Ranboo’s favourite graphic novels. It follows Eric “Bitty” Bittle during his four years of university (the first two years are act one, the second two years are act two). Bitty, a former high school figure skater and current online baking vlogger - his specialty is pies - is on his university’s NCAA hockey team, only he’s terrified of being checked and he definitely has a thing for the team’s captain, Jack Zimmerman.
The musical has had one off-broadway run and now it’s moving to Broadway. A lot of the original cast is staying, like the actors for Bitty and Jack, but others have other commitments.
Ranboo wants to audition.
Auditions are at the beginning of June (yes, while Ranboo is still in school) and callbacks would probably happen throughout June and maybe into July. Rehearsals would start in August. Opening night would be just after labour day in September. So, theoretically, Ranboo could audition, go to the UK for the month of July, then fly back to New York if he got the part.
However, if the show does well, the run could last for a long time. Years, even. And though Ranboo would probably leave the cast eventually, it would be pretty cool to be part of the musical for at least one whole year!
He’s not sure what his excuse to Tubbo would be, though (and let’s not even think about what he would have to tell his followers). He and Tubbo have been planning this trip as if Ranboo is going to be staying in the UK for several months. He doesn’t want to say he’ll be able to stay for that long, only to have to abruptly end their plans early, but he also doesn’t want to say that he’ll have to leave at the end of July, because he might not even get a part in the musical.
He could just tell Tubbo and the others about-
No.
He shouldn’t.
He likes things the way they are.
He doesn’t need this to change how everybody sees him.
He auditions for the role of Adam “Holster” Birkholtz. Holster is a defenseman on the hockey team, best friends with Justin “Ransom” Oluransi. He’s also one of Bitty’s friends, being one year above him in school.
At the end of the month, Ranboo flies to the UK. He still hasn’t told anyone that he might have to leave in July. He also hasn’t figured out what he’s going to do about streaming if he ends up having shows every night.
He doesn’t worry about it too much, though. He doesn’t even know if he’s going to get the part.
(Ignore the fact that he got called back twice and the director “really likes” him, or whatever).