Death of a Choir Girl.

Death of a Choir Girl.


You probably don’t know me. Anya Zina Surey. Of course not. Well, I was the next brightest shining star to grace the stage. Stood stage left behind Miss Sunshine State, complete pageant trash, and Holly Marie Callahan, the mayor’s daughter, in the chorus line of the off Broadway production of ‘Starlight Melodies’. You know all us choir girls waiting to make it big. Trusting the wrong people and getting the boot first from the production. It must come as no surprise when I tell you that I was murdered. Sure all the same fallen angel stories make it hard to believe. But I tell you this… It was murder.

The same old stories float behind a production of any play. Who is sleeping with the director, the casting director, the producer, and so on down the line? Which girl has the reputation for being the most difficult? Miss Sunshine, the story is she used to be a man, at least that’s what I heard, and actually she’s still a man on the outside too. Just don’t tell her that. And Miss Holly Marie, well she’s isn’t a pretty girl per se, but Daddy’s notoriety can get you into anything except the front row. She’s behind the manly beauty queen. It’s really cat eat cat here in the chorus line. The blondes share a dressing room, and the not so natural blondes share another, brunettes and red heads are in the same corner and all the other half breeds like me and Miss Sunshine have to stick up for ourselves in the last dressing room.

Sticking up for yourself is exactly what you have to do around these ladies. Every last one of them is after your spot, including the new comers who are waiting in line for a break. The last row players never seem to last more than a week with the broken leg flu going around if you catch my drift? Again are you really questioning my murder? The last girl that fell off the stage didn’t ever make it back to the performing arts. She broke both legs in the fall and bruised her hip. In all likelihood dancer #33 standing behind her in the routine was fed up and gave a push. Oh girls will be girls. Well except for Miss Sunshine over there. She is another type of creature all together. Not quite interested in the lead, but not at peace to remain in the back row. Darling would never have hurt a fly, but to see her attitude in action with the other girls that was something else. Missy Sunshine took another girl by the hair and dragged her through the backstage corridor merely for threatening to cut her off in the show. Missy didn’t kill me. I honestly have to bet that she would have defended me to the wolves.

The end remains the same, I’m dead and one of the girls is to blame. My line in the choir had me center stage for nearly a minute and a half, which to the other girls was more limelight that they were seeing. In the life of a choir girl, that’s a spot worth sabotaging for. That moment of shining light can make or break a career. The last thing I can remember is the broken glass of my gold compact reflecting my flawless eye back at me. How did it happen? Same as always I was alone preparing in my corner of the dressing room. My makeup was nearly complete when I heard someone in the room and so I turned. Before I could get a visual look at anything, the corner of a hand mirror caught my cheek and I was immediately down on the ground face first. Attacker continued to beat my body unconscious with the hand mirror and singeing my face with the hot iron until there was no breath left.

As the coroner examines my body the girls seem all too quiet. Except for one, this mousy little child with the voice of bird squawking, who was disparaging me considerably. How dare this infant with her tantrum? Missy Sunshine being the bold woman that she was interrupts the child and sends the rest of the group a cold stare. The death of a showgirl shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the girl herself. Funny thing is that I don’t remember looking all that bad when I died. My makeup was quite fabulous and aside from the burn marks on my face, the overall ensemble looked magnificent. Too bad, the stage wouldn’t be the same without me.




This one was for fun. The idea came to me last night. Seemed like a lot fun. So I gave it a try. Tonight, I'm watching Milk (again!) and missing San Francisco so much. Also, I'm thinking about some other projects that have been on the back burner thanks to this 'writing' endeavor. ??? Anyhow, four more to come this next week. Thankfully two are nearly complete. enjoy? kisses. m.