Disney dreams & CHICAGO!!

Hee hee, guess what I did? I've spent the last 48 hours in Chicago! I'm so sneaky. Truth be told, I can't believe I did this. I think my head is still spinning and might be for a few days. This kind of spontaneity is not in my nature. I may need some time to recover.

So how did this happen? Well, two weeks ago Saturday I mentioned to Jacob that the Disney cruise line was having auditions in Chicago. Okay, wait. Maybe I should back it up.

Two years ago in October while I was performing in Cats, I went down to Phoenix and auditioned for the Disney cruise line. It had always been a dream of mine to work for Disney but I'd never even auditioned, so I decided I was at the top of my game and there was no time like the present. The audition went very well, but I never got a call.

Back to two weeks ago. So Jacob has an Uncle in Chicago who's invited us to come visit and I have a very good friend from college, Samantha, who lives there too. Jacob was for it, and all of a sudden we were like, hey I could do this. The next day I bought the plane tickets.

It was definitely a whirlwind getting ready for this. I managed to squeeze in a new headshot photo shoot, a couple of homemade dance classes (every studio was on summer break), and a voice lesson before going, in addition to seeking the help and advice of my friends who've auditioned and worked for Disney.

So Wednesday night I arrived in Chicago. A big city (I love those) that I have never been to. Samantha was so sweet to pick me up from the airport. She took me to my hotel, printed out maps and directions for me on the "L," and stayed the night with me so she could take me to the station at the crack of dawn the next morning.

At the crack of dawn the next morning, I took the "L" all by myself and without incident to the Lou Conte Dance Studio, home of the Hubbard Street Dance company, where the auditions were held. Auditions were at 10 AM, I was there at 8:36 and there was already a line. Apparently there were other auditions happening in the studio that day as well.



I was #17, and they took us in groups of 8. The guy running the auditions was the vocal casting director for the Disney Magic cruise ship and he said that if he was interested in you, you'd know right away because he'd ask you to sing something else, or something from the show, or to come back that afternoon for a call back. Cool. Just tell it to me straight.

So I went in and sang "You've Got Possibilities," which no one has ever heard of, and he asked me to sing something else, a ballad. I sang "You'll never walk alone" from Carousel. Then he handed me music for the parts of Ariel, Snow White, and the Blue Fairy (Sweet!) and told me to come back at 2:10. It was 10:30 AM. I'm pretty sure no stage audition has ever been that fast in the history of the world.

What the heck do I do for 3 1/2 hours in a city that I'm totally unfamiliar with where there's nothing I can see but industrial buildings? Walgreens! Guaranteed good shopping and air conditioning, I could go for that.





So at 2:00 I'm back and I see a very small stack of headshots for callbacks. There is one gentleman before me and at 2:10 I go in. I sing "Someday my prince will come," "When you wish upon a star," and "Once upon a dream" (he changed his mind about Ariel and gave me Aurora instead.) He had me do these vocal exercises too that went up to an A. Then he taught me a simple dance combo (and I do mean simple: box step, chasse ball change, 3-step turn, kick ball change, and a pirouette. Done.) He gave me some direction then had me do it all again on video tape. He said he and his casting partner running the auditions elsewhere would be casting the show together. He also asked me how my husband feels about me leaving him for 6 months. He gave me a yellow form where I fill out all my contact information, availability date, yadda yadda. Then he shakes my hand and says, "We'll see what happens."

The Phoenix audition in 2006 was a little different. They were casting for both ships, and we danced first at 10AM and then we could stay to sing at 1 PM, which of course I did. I was cut from the dancing but they had me sing for the blue fairy, got it on tape, took my picture, gave me the yellow form, all that stuff.

So what does all this mean? It means I have no idea. But I do know that I have auditioned for Disney twice and they have been interested in me twice. One of these days, they will succumb.

And what was the other audition happening in the next room at the same studio? Oh, just singing auditions for the Broadway and Touring productions of Mary Poppins! 2 for 1 are you kidding me? So sure enough, I get on the list 10 minutes before they're no longer taking names and by 3:15 I've auditioned for Broadway and a national tour. Last month I watched the show from the balcony, and this month I auditioned for it. What a glorious fluke!

Needless to say it was a pretty freakin' awesome day. What luck. Is there any question at this point as to whether it was worth it, regardless if it immediately results in a job?! I have been pinching myself all day reflecting on how perfectly everything worked out. I am so glad I went--that is such an understatement. I still cannot believe my luck.

And the best part about it being in Chicago was that I got to spend the rest of the day with my friends, William, Samantha and little Zara. By the way, that is a Picasso sculpture in the background, not a big red thing. We all headed for some Jamba juice which we enjoyed in the park, Millenium park. This is a must for big cities to have really cool, fancy parks.
Also a must is to have large, inexplicable, and very photogenic attractions like this in the park to ensure maximum tourist attention/photo opportunities.

A giant silver bean! That's us in the lower left. For real, it's huge. There was also this enormous, beautiful outdoor amphitheater, and a giant fountain that had projections of people's faces and water squirting out of their mouths. Okay, you gotta see it, but there were kids running around in it with their bathing suits on! Right in the middle of this big city.

Of course we did some window shopping: New York and Co., Nordstrom Rack, the historic Marshall Field's turned Macy's store that has like, 18 floors. And here's the Chicago skyline from the "L" on our way back. That big, tall building in the middle would be the Sears tower. I saw two Chicago sunsets while I was there and they were both beautiful!

And what would Chicago be without a stuffed, deep dish pizza? I love cheese, but I have never seen so much of it on one plate in my life. It was truly a wonder. And I loved every bite.

I can't believe what we packed into one day. I can't wait to go again, and of course with Jacob this time. Jacob's been working so hard on his shoot this week, and Thursday whenever I called if he couldn't answer he'd have someone else on set pick it up. He wanted to hear all the details. He even made me a detailed and color-coded itinerary he titled, "Operation Rock Disney." Samantha thought it was the cutest thing, as did I.

Well, it's back to reality, but with a whole new collection of exciting memories to spice it up. What a thrill!