<p>I thought it would be fun to describe your (or your child's) most interesting (or exasperating) audition experience. Ours is not related to the particular audition itself and in no way would I expect anyone to talk negatively about any particular school. This past weekend was just a challenge in so many ways but looking back it is rather funny. </p>
<p>My daughter was auditioning for two schools this weekend, a long road trip if you will, for her, me and my husband. We left amidst the throes of Chicago traffic because of work conflicts. We rushed out of the house 10 minutes after I arrived home from work, got into the car and sat in rush-hour traffic forever. Stopped at Subway about 3 hours into our journey; delighted to say that Subway's prices are much more reasonable the further you get away from the city/suburbs but unfortunately the service slows down by the same measure. After waiting 30 minutes just to get our food from Subway, we jumped back in the car to eat and drive, finally arriving to our hotel at 11:15 PM. My daughter goes to unpack her clothes and I notice that her blazer (the cornerstone of her audition outfit) is not in any of the suitcases. It seems neither of us packed it. Now I've read CC long enough to know that all students should have a back-up outfit, however, darling D never reads CC! Therefore we trek off to Wal-Mart at 11:30 PM to find an outfit for her 8:30 AM audition. Luck or karma is with us and within 30 minutes, we've found a jacket, skirt, nylons and shoes (under $50!) and we go back to the hotel. We all fall asleep (me not so much) and wake the next morning. Daughter has very little voice, can barely swallow and is completely congested. We get to her first school and she goes to her audition where she sings her song selections. Those for whom she is auditioning ask if she is sick (not a good sign) and next ask if she is a mezzo-soprano to which she answers yes (she is a first soprano who now sounds like an alto on a bad day!) She finishes the audition and we leave to go to the next audition. Get to our next hotel and find out she left her favorite sweats and T-shirt and husband left his jacket at the previous hotel (three hours away and in the complete opposite direction from home). Dinner with a friend, sleep, wake-up. Daughter's voice is now even worse. Go to next audition - dance audition goes well, monologue goes well. Lets them know she is sick but will do her best. Sings her two songs, they ask if she has anything demonstrating belt range. She has nothing with her (why oh why, doesn't she listen to her mother or read CC about always having extra songs available). She sings acapella to demonstrate belt range. Audition over. We drive home (through 2 1/2 hours of rain) and have never been happier to hit our own beds! </p>
<p>I look forward to hearing some other stories. Bring them on.</p>
<p>Totally disregarding Walmart as a corporation, and small business in smalltown America etc, etc...isn't it remarkibale that at 11:30 at night you could find an entire outfit suitable for auditions for under $50.00?
I am so sorry about your daughter's illness, but the fact that you can tell the tale and demonstrate a sense of humor about it shows that your daughter has a strong team in her corner. That kind of attitude will help her through all kinds of disappointments. And who knows, maybe the audtions went better than she thinks!
Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>Well, this isn't really anything that went wrong, but basically crazy scheduling on my part:) I ended up auditioning at 4 schools within 1 week, in 3 different states. SUNY Buffalo(NY) on a Friday, Point Park(PA) Saturday, Carnegie Mellon Sunday, and the next Thursday we left for Michigan for that Friday. It was kind of fun because by the last one I wasn't even nervous anymore from doing so many like that. I kind of got confused as to where I was when I woke up each day though. And I missed my bed:)
Funny thing though- at our hotel in Michigan, which was listed as having a 'school of music rate', they acted clueless when we asked how to get to the school, saying they didn't know. There were about 4 other people auditioning there with me at that hotel too, so it's not like it was that remote, but noone at the hotel could give us directions. Eventually I think some guy overheard my dad asking someone for the millionth time and then we were ok after that:)</p>
<p>Travel experiences - Nothing too bad has happened on an audition trip, but I've learned from various travel to always do carryon luggage if at all possible. We've had too many complications with luggage - either a connecting flight doesn't work and the airline puts you up in a hotel overnight but won't let you retrieve your luggage, or due to flight problems at the last minute, you can sometimes be rerouted to a different airline or different flight, but your luggage can't make the flight that you have made and has to be delivered to your hotel a day or two later. This happened twice over the past couple of years when we were traveling to visit colleges. </p>
<p>Going to NYC there was a problem in Chicago catching a flight to LaGuardia (I'll never spell that one correctly), but we could make a flight to Newark. Thank goodness we were dressed appropriately on that flight to look okay for college visits the next morning. Luggage arrived late afternoon. </p>
<p>Going to Buffalo airport (cheapest route from here) to visit Ithaca and Syracuse, a flight out of Atlanta to Buffalo was canceled, but we could make a flight to Rochester, which was where our first night hotel was scheduled. That trip, my son was dressed in a not too nice t-shirt, so we made a run to Target at 8 AM (wasn't open that night when we got there). He got a nice shirt at Target that he wore quite a bit afterwards. Your run to Walmart reminded me of this! We rushed on to Ithaca and barely made our appointment at 10. The luggage caught up with us at our Syracuse hotel that night.</p>
<p>We have taken carryon luggage only for all audition trips.</p>
<p>my night before the audition was interesting. my mom and i had just gotten into nyc from indiana, a long day, i had school, then left to get on a plane. i had been sick the entire week, and was just starting to get my singing voice back. so we get to the hotel, a nice little hotel in soho, and we check in. so we take the elevator to our room...and find out that there is one bed for me and my mom to share. needless to say, my mom wasnt happy. so she goes downstairs, tells the front desk that there is no way shes sharing a bed with her son, especially on the night before his audition. they have no more rooms, so my mom, out of love, slept on the floor with blankets and pillows. while in the lobby, she met a young man who was auditioning the next day in my group, and also the following week with me at michigan. i wake up my voice is better, but not all the way there. but miracously, when i get into the room, i am totally warmed up and set. i also made the decision not to accept another studio besides cap 21 like a half hour before i went in. so all in all a crazy weekend, and i met soozievt's d by chance. i didnt know it was her, until soozie contacted me saying that her daughter talked to a boy in the afternoon auditions and she wondered if it was me. it was, and next year i'll be chillin wih her. isnt it amazing the kind of connections we all make here?</p>
<p>OK, this was a story from last year. We were all set to drive to Ohio to audition for a school in that state. We needed to get up very early to get there by late afternoon. I stayed up late to pack so my D could get a good night's sleep. In the morning, I carefully open up the back of the station wagon and drape the audition clothes over the suitcases so they won't wrinkle (the clothes, that is).</p>
<p>Well, we live far out in the country. After carefully putting in the audition clothes, I slipped back into the house to drink a quiet cup of tea before waking the D and getting on the road. As we opened the house door to walk out on the porch and get in the car, we are hit with the overpowering stench of a skunk. A skunk has sprayed the car, with the door open, and the audition clothes!!!!!!!</p>
<p>There was no time to lose, so after a few choice words for the skunk ( I think my D said "this is why I want to live in the city, mom" while I said something far worse), we drove off. We drove a couple of hundred miles with the windows open, just praying it would all air out by the time we got to Ohio. And it did. </p>
<p>Funny thing was, though, the rest of the weekend was like that. Including the audition. I guess our karma was really bad that weekend.</p>
<p>Your skunk story is just hilarious. I've heard lots of "bad" audition stories, but yours takes the cake! I'm amazed everything aired out. Sorry you had such bad karma that weekend.</p>
<p>Your story reminds me of my D's FSU audition. We got to Tallahassee the night before D's audition in January 2004. She is a light sleeper. At home, she usually sleeps with her bedroom door closed because my husband's snoring bothers her. In the middle of the night at the hotel, I heard her crying quietly in her bed. I was still awake because I was too keyed up to sleep. D was upset because she couldn't go to sleep and was worried that she'd therefore not be at her best for her audition. She said she couldn't go to sleep because her dad was snoring. He wasn't. Our conversation woke my husband. He decided to go sleep in our car so that he wouldn't disturb D. Thankfully, the temperature was in the 50's that night. D's audition the next day went well and she was accepted.</p>
<p>chrism - Love your story - reminds me of a wedding my husband went to during college in a small town in Louisiana. They were unpacking things to take into the church and left the groom's cake on the back steps. They came out to find a pig had gotten into the cake to eat it!</p>
<p>We had about an hour before we needed to leave for the airport for D's first audition. Somehow, my husband knocked a temporary crown off, and, of course, the dentist's office is closed on Friday afternoons. A frantic call to the answering service, a trip to the pharmacy (where DH decided he had to read the information on all the different temporary cement packages) and a little oral "surgery", and we made our flight.</p>
<p>Then, like dancersmom, I heard D crying around midnight - and this kid doesn't cry. There were apparently train tracks somewhere nearby with trains running and blowing their horns most of the night, plus the occasional siren on the downtown streets. The alarm early the next morning was most unwelcome!</p>
<p>By far, this is my favorite thread! I'm getting such enjoyment out of reading all these stories. It puts into perspective that even if you think you're prepared in every sense, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can still go wrong. You just need to try to take is as it comes (which, with a group of dramatic kids is nearly impossible, until afterwards - and then the stories are even funnier). Last year, I dropped my son off at a friend's house each time my D and I flew out for auditions. We all eventually realized that if we were going to an audition, that meant there would be a snow storm back at home while we were gone. We were delayed on every trip coming back. Thank goodness we always got her TO the auditions, we simply could never get back on time to retrieve my son. This year (she's auditioning again for a few schools), there was a snowstorm the night before her audition at Point Park. Her first and second flight were cancelled, but she was able to get to Pittsburgh, jump in a cab and show up just on time. Everything worked out fine and she was accepted. If we were voting, though, I'd still have to go for the skunk story!</p>
<p>Things were going swimmingly the day before my audition for NYU. We got to the Pearson airport with a lot time to spare so I could just sit, relax, have some Diet Coke(my weakness). It was all good until I glanced outside. Behold, a dark shadow had appeared snow was now falling lightly. But the plane boarded and so I thought we would be fancy-free. Somehow from airmiles or something I got a seat in first class, in the very first row, whcih was so cool! We waited. And waited. After a solid hour and a half, we're informed that this flight has been cancelled due to the weather. </p>
<p>I won't go into the details of the general unhelpfulness of many(not all, but MANY) of the employees of AirCanada, but we ended booking 3 flights to various airports, all of which were delated and then cancelled. Finally we went to American Airlines, where there was the last flight of New York that night about to board. We raced over to that terminal(seriously, running, I felt like we were in Home Alone 2) and got the tickets, etc. Flight was delayed some more. We boarded, but it was still being delayed to take off. Oh, and at this point we had the last 2 tickets, which were in the very last row of coach. So I went from the very front of the plane to the very back, I found some humor in that. </p>
<p>Plane took off, YES! I figured that nothing could stop us now. Of course the weather was still awful so it took a huge long time, and then when we had landed we had to sit there for another hour because it was too dangerous to set the wing up in that weather? Or something? I have no idea I was just thanking my lucky stars we were finally in New York. We got to the hotel at about 3:30am and of COURSE they couldn't find our room reservations. Seriously, at this point I would have slept right on the floor in the lobby but we ended up getting a room. </p>
<p>LUCKILY my audition wasn't till 10am the next morning. So I got to sleep in a little bit and have a nice breakfast. And then my audition went really well, I had so much fun and it was a great experience. And I got in, going to CAP21 next year with chrisnoo!! Sorry for this mammoth post, just thought it was humorous that it took us 12 and a half hours to get from Toronto to New York, which is an hour and a half flight. :D:D</p>
<p>Lynn...OMG, did I miss this along the way??? Your D is accepted into Point Park??? If so, I am SO happy for her!!! Perservance, yay! She deserves it! Update that acceptance list, mom! I don't know where else she is trying to get in but things sound real positive in terms of outlook!
Susan</p>
<p>This thread is brilliant :D I love the skunk story! (I can imagine my mum going a bit hysterical in that situation though)</p>
<p>Mine's not quite as good as that (though that's probably a good thing).
Myself and a few others from my school were auditioning for a one year drama course about a year and a half ago for which we had to apply through our school. Forms were all filled in and we assumed we'd hear in due course about auditions and interviews etc. One Friday afternoon, I was sitting in my class, and got a message to report to our depute rector's office (like deputy principal). I got there along with a few other drama types and got called in. Our dear dear <em>cough</em> depute rector told us our interview/audition for the course had been sorted out, and we had to turn up at a theatre in our local city.....the next afternoon. Cue four very hysterical actors going berserk and yelling "Why didn't you tell us sooner?!!!". The answer came: "Oh I didn't want you to have time to panic".
Having less than 24 hours to prepare monologues, interview answers, and audition outfits doesn't cause us to panic of course. </p>
<p>I've never been so thankful that I have a great memory for lines, and can still recite chunks of plays years after I did them. I decided on a monologue from a show I'd really got into about a year before this. Then promptly found I'd lost the script...Luckily my best friend was also auditioning and had the script...then I find he's doing another monologue from the same play! </p>
<p>Got to the theatre, and had to fill in more forms. Was rather happy to find out myself and my best friend were the only auditionees that afternoon not doing Shakespeare. The audition itself was being held in a rehearsal area. Said rehearsal area doubles as an art gallery when it's not being used, but since auditions were on it had been cordoned off. My interview went well, got on to big dramatic audition piece. Right in the middle of it, a couple of women came up the stairs and started looking at the artwork (when will people learn to obey signs). Needless to say, that was an interesting distraction in the middle of a monologue. </p>
<p>It did all work out in the end though and I got in :D
Moral from that story - always have monologues to hand. I obsess over having several in my head nowadays. You can never be too careful :D</p>