Chicago Unifieds -- Debrief

College Majors Musical Theater Major
1

So, just leaving Chicago Unifieds and I thought I would start a discussion thread with what worked and what did not:

Here is what worked:

  1. It was great to stay at the Palmer House. I highly recommend the double room with two bathrooms. The room was huge and having the extra bathroom and closet area was nice to have so my D and I had our own space.
  2. We had breakfast vouchers that came with our room. We got downstairs at 6:30 a.m. when they opened and had a nice breakfast. Then, D would go back upstairs to warmup and stretch out before her auditions.
  3. We enjoyed Pizano's for deep dish -- two blocks away. Ask for the Chach -- he is a energetic, charming guy who is an institution!
  4. Do-Rite donuts -- worth the walk in the 5 degree temps.
  5. Grand Lux Cafe -- nice sit down place and good food.
  6. Second City on our last night -- saw about ten other kids/parents there. Great way to blow off some of the tension of the week.

Here’s what didn’t work:

  1. Only one thing -- if I had it to do over again, I would try to book later times in the morning for my D's auditons. It was hard to feel that she was in her full voice that early in the morning.

There’s our debrief. It was what you made of it. A little tense energy in the building, but overall, an enjoyable experience. Best wishes to next year’s crew!

2

How did I not know about Pizano’s two blocks away. We walked and I mean, WALKED quite a ways to two different deep dish places! Oh well,who knows when I’ll ever be back there. Great debrief! Those breakfast vouchers were everything for us last year!

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Great thread @Divamamacita‌ !

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We stayed at the Hampton, even though almost the exact same price. Very glad we did. I would have stayed in the room too much if in PHH. I found a comfortable spot to camp and got a ton of good information. And the time crunch between auditions and dance calls meant you needed to bring a bag downstairs anyway. Loved PHH and loved getting away from it too.

Did anyone else here go to the Millikin audition Sunday in the blizzard? Whew. That was something

5

Great idea for a post - invaluable information for next year’s parents! I wasn’t on CC until the end of D’s audition year, so missed out on things like this. Y’all will need to remember to bump this when they start asking about “Unifieds 2016” :wink: to help them out. Hope all of your kids had a wonderful time in Chicago.

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By the way, those of you who attended the Chicago Unifieds this year survived the 5th-worst blizzard in Chicago history - the first of Chicago’s season - so that alone will be something to tell you grandchildren!

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Love this thread. I want to start by saying that after months of stress, organizing, stress, scheduling, checking that everything was done, and did I mention stress, our time at the Chicago Unifieds was FUN. Most important thing that went right: all the organizational work on my part and prep work on my D part, was taken care of, we were ready, and we fully enjoyed the experience.
What else worked:

  1. Definitely staying at the Palmer House. We were on the executive level, don’t think it was that much more $, but the complimentary breakfast was priceless. D could get what she wanted and take it back to the room, and I could enjoy a quiet cup of coffee, staying out of her way while she was getting ready. And the complimentary hors d’oeuvres in the evenings were our dinners most nights when D was just too exhausted to go out. It was also nice for D to be able to get away from the craziness of the lobby when she had a little bit of time between auditions to decompress.
  2. Walk ins. D and I strategized on selecting schools she was interested in but felt she just couldn’t fit into her audition schedule. She ended up doing 4 walk-ins, and is applying to 3 of these schools, got a very positive vibe from them. I walked around and scheduled her walkins while she was auditioning for schools that required long blocks of her time.
  3. Bringing a humidifier, steamer, and nasal spray. Chicago winter air is DRY. We’ve never experienced that, keeping the humidifier going in the room continuously definitely helped.
  4. Will second the Do-Rite donut recommendation. We have a long tradition of getting dessert after auditions are done. Last audition was this morning before our flight home, the donuts were the perfect treat.
  5. Flying in early. No way to predict the weather, but arriving on Saturday morning gave us a cushion in case of flight delays
    All in all, it was a great experience. We can honestly say that although finding parents and students behaving badly is entertaining, we didn’t come across any of them. We met truly wonderful people throughout the audition experience.
    I don’t think we would have done anything differently. Unless, of course, D doesn’t get into any of the schools she’s auditioned for. Then we would probably do a few things differently, lol.
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We pretty much always plan to arrive in Chicago at least a day before we have to be there. Even in the summer O’Hare is unpredictable and the hotels are relatively cheap (compared to NYC anyway). I’m so happy you all went to Do-Rite!

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D also attended NYC Unifieds, so here is a bit of a comparison along with what worked for us in Chicago and some general observations:

–Both were fun, and D felt energized by the auditions at both. As I indicated in another thread, NY Unifieds had a couple of “interesting” stories, but both locations had many, many more positive experiences than not. In fact, neither of us witnessed any obnoxious behavior at Chicago.

–Palmer House was much more spread out than Pearl Studios, so, even though there were more auditioners and schools, it felt more spacious–some floors more than others. Of course, both locations had off-site auditions, as well. It was interesting and memorable to walk to two in the blizzard in Chicago! We have a great pic of D walking to one; with all of her outer wear, only her nose is showing, and it’s blustery all around her! She couldn’t even see; I literally guided her around, lol! It was raining during our trek to a couple studios one day in NYC, so we borrowed an umbrella from the hotel for the day. An umbrella would be a good thing to pack just in case, along with gloves, scarves, hats, leggings, and boots. (Thank God she had everything but the umbrella.)

–NY hotel suggestion: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel-Times Square South. It’s a very short 2-3 minute walk to Pearl Studios. Customer service was superb. The doorman, Sal, seriously provided the absolutely best, genuine customer service we’ve ever had; the rest of the staff was excellent, too. Breakfast was expensive, but at least it was on-site. Rooms were the typical size for NYC, but we didn’t spend much time in them.

–If you want to catch a show in NY, make sure you either stay an extra night or schedule one day to start slightly later than usual so sleep is had. We were able to see Gentleman’s Guide, which we loved, and D slept in a little bit the next morning.

–Chicago hotel suggestion: Palmer House, double bathroom (spacious room plus the 2 bathrooms), executive floor. As stated above, the free breakfasts on the executive floor (which always included eggs, pancakes or waffles, oatmeal, cereal, muffins, fruit) were convenient, and we also ate their complimentary hor d’hoeurves as dinner at least 3 times. (The waiter there said they can’t call them dinner because they don’t want to set up that expectation, but they really are dinners.) Plus, there are complimentary snacks, including non-alcoholic drinks (and a bar to buy alcoholic ones) available throughout the day. It was so nice to have the calm, quiet atmosphere of the lounge area on that floor in addition to the spacious hotel room. If you can, get the 23rd instead of the 22nd floor because that is where the lounge is; it’s so convenient and still peaceful. The main lobby was fun the couple times we went there, but we were grateful for that retreat upstairs. My D was also grateful for the jacuzzi and pool. The jacuzzi especially was a daily unwinding and fun ritual for her, so we were glad we had brought bathing suits!

–Don’t leave Palmer House without trying one of their famous, scrumptious brownies! (D would disagree with this because she doesn’t like nuts.)

–We also packed a humidifier and personal steamer for both locations. The humidifier ran continuously, and D used the steamer a couple times. D also liked her Singer Spray. Make sure you also have whatever you use to prevent and heal colds and/or sore throats. We packed more than she’d need even a cold/sore throat started and were able to share with another auditioner who started to get a sore throat.

–We drove in early, as well, thank God (Friday). Give yourself plenty of traveling space in case of the inclement weather that is common at this time of year. Plus, even though D had walked around the hotel on a previous trip, it was nice to get there before many more auditioners were there so she could explore the hotel and get more of a feel for it without the nervous energy of many other auditioners around.

–D loved doing walk-ins at both Unifieds and ended up doing 3 total, plus an additional dance call. So, in Chicago, she did 6 scheduled auditions, 2 walk-ins, and 1 additional dance call in 5 days. She had energy for at least another, even, but decided against it.

–D was able to do both Unifieds because she is homeschooled and could rest between them. However, she did meet people who took off of school between the two so they could regroup peacefullu

–It was fun to meet some great new people and to run into others we have met on the audition road and the couple people from our home town that were there! Best of luck to them all and to everyone reading this who is or will be auditioning!

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Unfieds Chicago was an amazing experience. Much of what I would recommend has already been mentioned:

Arrive early - always. Travel in January/February is unpredictable. We drove - but still arrived a day early.

Stay at Palmer House. The hotel is HUGE - so much room. When we had a free hour, to just go upstairs and take a break from everything was priceless.

Executive floor - LOVED it! First, we had our own elevator. Our elevator wait times were much, much shorter than the regular elevator. No, it didn’t go to every floor, but it did stop at 7 & 4 - we took steps from there. Also, the free breakfast, “dinner” and snacks - hot chocolate was amazing, kids loved having unlimited access (plus to the water bottles when needed). Also, it provided a space for the kids to gather. One evening we ordered pizza in - and had pizza party on the 23rd floor. It was great.

Must bring humidifier and personal steamer. Agree it is VERY dry. Our humidifier ran constantly.

If you happen to forget any piece of dance attire (such as ballet shoes), there is a dance store, Motion Unlimited is just 1 block from Palmer House at 218 Wabash. THIS was a lifesaver! Grated, they did not open in the blizzard Sunday, but I was able to grab emergency shoes quickly Monday while D waited in line for an audition.

COACHES! We use a few of them. MTCA had an opening meeting Sunday night to explain how the week would work, walk ins, etc. They also had a suite there where kids (or parents) could go after auditions or while waiting and just hang out. They were always available to answer questions, or help give the kids a confidence boost when things don’t go as planned. PLUS…the coaches has morning warmups for the kids. Yes, it was vocal warmups, but most importantly - just the reminder to breath, believe in themselves and be confident that they were prepared. This was SO helpful to my D. She was going into a panic before an audition a day after one of the MTCA coaches left (we stayed until Thursday night) - we texted him, and he was able to walk her through the same relaxation exercises. This was priceless to me. LOVE MTCA for the support they gave the kids not only through this entire process so far, but particularly while in Chicago. BTW…MTCA didn’t charge us ANYTHING for this! Private coaching was available for a price if you wanted it, but all of this was available to all of their kids for no extra cost to the families.

Parents - even though your kids are auditioning - YOU are busy these entire days too. I sat with my D outside of auditions, held stuff for her, got the drinks, got the snacks. Her job was to audition, my job was there to support her. Granted, there were MANY other parents doing this too, I loved getting the chance to talk with them. Every parent and student we met at Unifieds was wonderful.

Be prepared…even the schools get tired. Although many of the programs had AMAZING people helping with auditions (BoCo, CMU, Ball State in particular) at other locations they actually lost tempers and were very short with the kids. This broke my heart. Every one of these kids has worked so hard, took so much courage to do this. Shame on these schools for not making sure they had a positive person representing them at Unifieds.

Unifieds 2015 will be a beloved memory of this process, even with all the craziness and exhaustion we all felt.

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Well, for those who haven’t gone through this process are reading these thinking ‘Unifieds doesn’t sound very affordable’, let me lend the perspective of the frugal dad. (i.e. cheap bast@rd)

Train from Pittsburgh - $54/pp (came in sunday morning right during the storm even though planes were diverted) You can even get a private room with beds for an upcharge. We played cards, went over schedules & plans, talked a lot; we bonded… it was really nice.

Congress Plaza Hotel - 3 blocks away. easily walkable. 4-night stay total bill $276 incl taxes/fees. Perfectly acceptable 3-star hotel as long as your singing-diva is only a diva on stage.

Places to eat: Artists Café at Roosevelt Univ. (open early - closes late) Hummus veggie wraps & gelato pancakes. and very affordable.

Evenings: With our extra money we went up to the Sears Tower viewing deck with some friends; standing in the all glass alcove the protrudes away from the building; looking down at your feet and seeing 103 floors straight down! …very cool. .
Also went to the Den Theatre that was putting on a Gilbert & Sullivan comedic opera HMS Pinafore; you had the choice of sitting in the audience or on stage (theatre in the round) and they’d move you and use you like a prop; It was hilarious! Kids had a blast.

Total # of Auditions completed in Chicago = 12 (18 actual events incl. dance calls)
Total cost of trip = Just over $600 (not. incl. school application fees paid ahead of time)

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Oh, I forgot about the executive elevators! Those were so nice to hop on and off.

The elevator situation as a whole wasn’t as difficult to navigate as I had heard. Yes, you have to pay attention, but it wasn’t bad! We had to get off one floor and take the stairs to the fifth floor once, since the elevator didn’t go to it, and, another time, we had to go up a half flight of stairs to another section of rooms, but it was fine. You really get to know your way around pretty easily. As I said earlier, it was beneficial to get there a couple days before to get an idea of the place. Plus, it helped that my D likes to get to auditions extra early.

All of the adjucators my D had seemed positive, nice, and even sometimes fun. We did hear a story of one group of rude adjucators, but D didn’t audition there. At one audition, though, the adjucators were taking their time interviewing auditioners and/or making adjustments to their pieces (D knows this because the waiting auditioners could hear everything), but then, one auditioner before my D, another faculty member went into the room and told the adjucators to speed things up because they were running behind. So, the rest of the auditioners in her group were just in and out with no dialogue or adjustments. D and I wonder how much that affects their ability to make connections and have a positive outcome, but, as with everything else, you can only do what you have control over and not fret about the rest.

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I also forgot to mention that one of the reasons D was able to do both NY Unifieds (besides homeschooling) is that we did light sightseeing in NY and none in Chicago, where we’d been many times. Blowing off steam in Chicago was accomplished with the jacuzzi I mentioned, just chilling, and TV. Two light sightseeing trips in a row for Unifieds would have been too much, at least for my D.

@pghmusician‌, I hear you about frugality! We accomplished this by my husband being able to visit clients and do business in Chicago, so our trip was paid for. That was so nice! This whole process is incredibly expensive. So many people we met were at the point that they’d say things like, “What’s another $50? We’ve stopped keeping track–I don’t even want to know anymore how much we’ve spent!” One girl’s Christmas gift was her applications and audition fees paid for, which I thought was a great idea. My own D has paid for many of her fees, including some lessons, with her very part time job, which was a great help.

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@myloves‌ we hear you about the faculty having to speed up - one of my S’s schools that is notorious for long auditions was running an hour behind, and while extremely nice to my S, it was an in and out kind of audition for everyone before and after. I do think if D/S’s audition pieces show them as a person, they may see a lot without the need to ask extra questions.

As far as navigating Chicago:

  1. S and I went every morning to this place on State St called B&B…a 30 foot walk from the hotel, and always empty. There may have been a couple MT families and 1-2 faculty but it is so much quieter than Corner Bakery (also - for the amount of work your child is doing, they NEED protein to endure all of the auditions.

  2. Some things S and I brought: we requested a mini fridge, then went to Target (a block away) the first day and stocked up on some meat, veggies, fruits, and nuts for in between auditions when energy was low. We also brought a humidifier and hot water heater - since Starbucks is a zoo every morning, we made our own tea before leaving the room.

  3. AUDITORS ARE EVERYWHERE - the best example I can give is, oh, the day S and I rode next to CMU faculty alone in an elevator, on our way to dinner where we were seated next to the head of CCM!!! I suggest being careful, and think of other things to talk about…what to do this summer, projects around the house, TV shows…

  4. HEADPHONES: S and I believe Unifieds, and these auditions, are part audition, part mind game. There are a lot of people trying to get in your head, and if you can tune it out, the best way is to listen to music outside the audition room. Kids around are going to say things you don’t want to hear - for ex, we were across a very tiny hall from a boy who decided to tell everyone that he’d been accepted to every school and that some schools even were flying him out to visit for free - great if it’s true, but not something S needs to hear about before going into the room. And, for the kids who tell everyone their top schools, it’s good to have a distraction.

  5. Have FUN!!! S and I get along well and are able to make each other laugh, and that is so important. Take a step back when you’re in the room and realize what you’re doing - while this is a passion, your’e also being judged by strangers several times a day, and they can say some pretty odd stuff. Laugh it off, watch some TV, check in with friends at home, and remember why you’re doing this: to go have a blast at a training program somewhere across the country.

BAL to all this and next year!!!

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What an awesome experience it was for us too! Daughter and her classmate were so grateful to get to observe the process and see the layout of the hotel a year ahead of their auditions. Students and parents alike were very friendly to us all! We were told that it appeared much less crowded this year than last and we will most definitely choose to attend Chicago Unifieds in 2016. Can’t wait to hear where some of the very talented kids we met end up!

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^^Less crowded this year? I know there was a thread about this at some point (the Glee factor) but do any of you think there are fewer auditioners this year, overall?

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People said the weather was a factor; some auditioners never made it or only made it in for one day. In fact, I felt really bad for a couple people I witnessed running around trying to get walk-ins anywhere because they only had a day. They did get auditions, though, and the school’s they had already scheduled in advance were mostly flexible. A couple (or a few) colleges had to cancel, too.

18

This was my first and only, but it was not nearly the madhouse I expected. D had four auditions scheduled. Got plenty of walk ins, and could have scheduled more if she wanted to. And everyone was so nice, friendly. D made a pile of new friends. The kids certainly weren’t cookie cutter, either.

Any idea about the actual numbers? I’m no good at judging those things.

19

I wasn’t around last year, so I would not know for certain if it was less crowded. I know several schools my S auditioned for in Chicago this year had long wait lists( 40+), but that was before the blizzard. I did overhear from one admin that it seemed a lot of people usually cancel on Wednesday for some reason. I guess to head home early??

20

Oh, the weather, of course! That makes way more sense. NY Unifieds seemed pretty crowded but it’s only on 3 floors of 2 buildings (plus Ripley and Ithaca at NOLA Studios).