DeGarmo, Leung, Henry, Torres and More Will Join Creel in Godspell Revival
“American Idol” finalist Diana DeGarmo, In the Heights’ Joshua Henry, Rent’s Telly Leung, The Wedding Singer’s David Josefsberg and more will join the previously announced Gavin Creel (Tony nominee for Thoroughly Modern Millie) for the upcoming Broadway revival of Godspell.
Creel (as Jesus) and DeGarmo, who made her Broadway debut in Hairspray, will co-star in the eagerly awaited production of the Stephen Schwartz/John-Michael Tebelak musical, which will begin previews Sept. 29 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre with an official opening scheduled for Oct. 23.
Kellie Pickler’s Second Album
Almost two years since the release of her debut album, Small Town Girl, which has sold nearly 800,000 copies, Kellie Pickler is set to release her self-titled, sophomore album on September 30.
“I’m so excited and proud of the new album,” said Pickler. “I’ve learned so much since the first album, like the fact that Budapest is the capital of Hungary,” she laughed. “The material on the new album is part small town girl, but also a reflection of the experiences I’ve had over the last two years. I’ve matured, some, seen a lot more of the world, and naming the album Kellie Pickler says, ‘this album is me, this is who I am and where I am,’” she continued.
American Idol and the Tri-State
Idol fever swept the region today.
Thousands of hopeful singers descended upon Louisville for American Idol season 8 auditions.
And, some Tri-staters made the trek for their chance to be the next Kelly Clarkson, David Cook or Carrie Underwood.
Jamie McDaniel starts the day singing with her sister.
But, soon she’ll have to do it alone in front of the American Idol producers.
A chance she drove a long way from Hartford, Kent., to have.
“Actually, we left around midnight last night, got here around two this morning,” she said. “And we’ve been up ever since.”
That’s a long day.
More Idol Headlines After the JUMP…
‘Idol’ hopefuls suggest show improvements
Bob Evans, 23, who came all the way from Grand Rapids, Mich., to audition today at Freedom Hall, believes bringing back arguably the most awkward contestant ever would rock the ratings.
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“I want to sing a ‘She Bangs’ duet with William Hung,” he said Saturday, while waiting in line to register.
Evans also was confident that simply casting himself and his friend, 28-year-old Mike Maslowski of Nashville, Tenn., would solve the ratings dilemma.
Dreams are dashed, delivered at ‘Idol’ auditions
There was no need to ask Allie Hesh how her “American Idol” audition turned out yesterday.
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Her tears told the story.
Allie, 17, stood behind Freedom Hall just outside what the “American Idol” crew called the “non-winners door,” which was 50 feet and a few shattered dreams away from the “winners door.”
Her mascara was a mess.
“I thought I did my best, and that’s all you can ask for,” said Allie, of Campbellsville, Ky., her cheeks wet. “I’ll probably try again.”
‘Idol’ auditions: Your turn to shine
American Idol may be on vacation, but the show hasn’t gone away. This week, the show’s producers set up shop at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale to look for the next potential Brooke White or Jordin Sparks. This marks the first time that the show has come to the Valley searching for talent. To help prepare any budding stars in the making, our American Idol experts, Randy Cordova and Suzanne Condie Lambert, have provided some tips. Suzanne looks at what to do if you want to appear on TV; Randy examines what to do if you want to stayon TV beyond the first episode.
Jordin Sparks offers advice on how to ace tryout
Glendale, the site of Friday’s auditions for American Idol, produced ‘07 Idol winner turned Billboard Top 10 recording artist Jordin Sparks.
She recently offered some advice to those hoping to make it in front of show judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell.
Keep in mind that Sparks herself had to try out twice, first in Los Angeles and again in Seattle, before finally making it to the second round.
Jesse McCartney and Jordin Sparks To Co-Headline Summer Tour
As the hottest young stars of summer 2008, Jesse McCartney and 19 Entertainment/Jive Records recording artist Jordin Sparks will share the stage in a co-headlining tour “Jesse & Jordin Live.”
Both artists already share platinum-selling status and hit songs, with Jesse’s “Leavin’” and Jordin’s “Tattoo” and “No Air, ” her duet with pop star Chris Brown. The North American tour will visit 16 major cities, kicking off in Sacramento, CA on August 5.
‘Idol’ Mandisa’s message shines
An outreach concert in Pelican Rapids Saturday included some big names and brought community members in attendance to their feet.
In its second year, At the River is a worship concert hosted by Trinity Lutheran Church in Pelican Rapids. It was first organized last year by members of the church’s outreach group, along with worship leader Linda Grefsrud, who had long dreamed of bringing the Christian ensemble “Salvador” to Pelican Rapids. The result of their efforts was a free outdoor concert that brought about 1,000 people to Trinity’s parking lot one night last summer.
Life on the road
Taking his music wherever he goes, rock idol Chris Daughtry says that touring has had its ups and downs.
Two years of constantly touring North America has run down rocker Chris Daughtry a little. “I love touring but I believe that we have to do everything in moderation. It’s definitely not healthy to be touring for so long without a break.
“It is fun to be out on the road, you know. And to open for Bon Jovi … extremely awesome. It was an honour. We even got to hang out a couple of times and he was very complimentary about us and our music. It was great.”
Daughtry to rock 1 Utama
Fans can expect a good, fun, rock show by Daughtry at “Traffic Jam” this Saturday. SHUIB TAIB spoke to its bassist, Josh Paul, to find out more.
WHEN former American Idol (season five) fourth place finisher Chris Daughtry was kicked out of the show, many were shocked. But they still believed that it would be a matter of time before he would resurface.
True enough, as his platinum-selling eponymous album released in Nov 2006 reached the number one spot for two non-consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, outselling Idol winner Taylor Hicks’s debut effort.
The rock band from North Carolina was also named the number one selling album of 2007 by Billboard.
50 CENT + UNDERWOOD PLAY ASTRONAUTS IN NEW AD
50 CENT and CARRIE UNDERWOOD have teamed up with U.S. sports stars DAVID ORTIZ and BRIAN URLACHER to play trainee astronauts in a new energy drink ad. The odd group portray rookies who are far more developed than their teachers in the new Vitamin Water ad campaign. Rapper 50 Cent, who was a part-owner of the brand before Coca Cola bought Vitamin Water last year (07), knocks out a boxer in a sparring session, while Underwood raises a laugh when she refuses to resuscitate a passed out Russian instructor.
This week’s reviews:
Ace Young: * 1/2 — Trumped by treacle
What does a guy do when he looks like an arena rock star but sounds like Justin Timberlake? On his debut album, American Idol alum Young cranks out a few treacly power ballads to accompany R&B-flavored tunes that nod, weakly, to Michael Jackson and Prince. The disc reaches its nadir on Where Will You Go, a plea to a pregnant girlfriend played out against a darkly burping synth. “Anywhere but here” would be my answer. — Elysa Gardner
Jessica Simpson Gets Booed. We Guess Country Fans Aren’t All Bad
The 28-year-old singer made her country music debut on Saturday at the Country Thunder USA Festival in Randall, Wis. Sadly, audience members weren’t exactly telling her to “Come On Over”: Access Hollywood reports that the crowd booed loudly as Simpson took the stage after American Idol’s Kellie Pickler. It has to hurt to be treated with less respect than Kellie “I thought Europe was a country” Pickler, one of the few people in the world who makes Simpson look like a Rhodes Scholar.
Kherington Payne shocked and sad about ‘So You Think’ ouster
Kherington Payne was ready for the worst-case scenario during last Thursday night’s live So You Think You Can Dance results show, however it still didn’t soften the blow of being eliminated.
“It’s always going to be a shock, but you always have to prepare yourself for the worst,” she told reporters during a Friday conference call. “That’s what I did so it wouldn’t be that much of a shock. But it’s always a shock and it’s still sad.”
Gev Manoukian: ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ cut very unexpected
“It was a shock for me. It was very unexpected,” he told reporters during a Friday conference call.
“But I felt I was somewhat ready for it, and I felt like I wanted to show America what I was capable of throughout the competition, especially with that last solo I did. I felt that went really good. I wasn’t devastated or anything. For me, just getting to Top 10 was such a big accomplishment for myself. I’m just very glad and blessed I did it.”
‘Nashville Star’ kicks off the covers
It’s original song night on Nashville Star! Hooray for no awkward covers! They’re performing at the Grand Ole Opry! I really should stop using so many exclamation points!
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I don’t know what Diana will play in “Godspell” (my recollection from seeing the show in the 70s is that Jesus is the lead and the rest is pretty much of an ensemble) but Gavin Creel is totally wonderful, with the most gorgeous voice. In a cast he’s leading, Diana is in very good company, so good for her.
Gosh. I’m so hooked on Season 7 Idol crack that I can’t even get excited about next season. If I’m still feeling this way in January, I’m going to need some serious help.
Anyone catch the ESPY awards Sunday night?
David Cook’s, TOML played during the introduction of the Best Moments Award.
Just as the individual athlete nominees were shown with their Best Moments flashing on the screen, TOML played softly in the background to highlight the achievement. It was just devine!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FepTCQ_4zE
Justin Timberlake hosted the show and was hilarious, poking fun of all the athletes. I caught the replay last night and could not stop laughing.
Justin really pulled out all the stops with his silly antics. Who knew he was such a great comedian?
New Release date for Taylors “Early Works” CD. It is now set for Aug. 12 (originally Aug.19) and Amazon.com has SOLD OUT of their “EW” pre-orders, but pre-orders are still available on Target.com, Barnes&Noble.Com ..ect.
This is a great interview with Kristy , Chikeze, David A., MJ. There is a lot of info in here. http://dwaynesteward.blogspot.com/2008/07/interviews-with-american-idols.html
This from Kristy kinda irritated me though…..
Q: Really? Already? How did you have the time to record an album?
A: (Giggles) Every day that I had off I recorded. I think it was like four days total, yeah in four or five days total I got my album done. So, now we’re just picking what sounds we want, mastering, mixing, photo shoots, we just did a photo shoot on my day off in Portland.
It’s like at least pretend you worked hard on it and poured your soul into it.
GwendolynD , I hear ya!
Seriously? Seriously? Ehhhhhhhh….
I’m so excited.
Heading out the door to go to my very first AI Pop Tart tour concert this evening. Baxter are you going to being doing a review or posting pics from this evening?
Makes you want to go out and buy it huh? She of all of them needs to prove that she is more than a manufactured Barbie doll. She seems a nice person but her vocals never impressed me on the show but I can be won over by heart and hard work. This isn’t doing it..
Amazon.com has SOLD OUT of their “EW” pre-orders
I would love to know how many cds Amazon had that they sold out of but I’m guessing it wasn’t a whole lot.
I bought two the first day possible as I’m sure a lot of the hardcore Taylor fans did. I would love to think it was a gazillion because it would make me so happy but the realist in me believes that without any promo the odds of that are slim.
But I will say that everybody needs to give it a listen. Taylor really shines on this music.
She’s probably just recorded whatever songs were intended for her cd that she never released. She was probably already half way done before she ever even stepped on the idol stage. LOL
Probably about 100. j/k :)
I LOVED the ESPYs segment with TOML. Thank you so much for the link, Colleen! Beautiful, and they even managed to omit the magic rainbow line! Hooray!
In other news, from the article linked above, it’s appearant that Michael Johns is not being signed by a major label:
that’s an interesting quote from Michael not wanting to sign with a label. I haven’t followed him too closely but thought there were a lot of signs he had something in the works.
awww. Well, I prefer he do it on his own. He seems to have a good handle on the business and knows what he wants so better he have the control. It’s cool he’s writing.
After seeing him live I was compelled to download his pre-idol CD from iTunes. So far I like it a lot. And I can’t wait to see him perform again.
I’m happy that Diana DeGarmo is once again doing Broadway. That girl can blow! I think she may have a new country album coming out in the future too.
I’m sure that Amazon had more than 100 copies of Taylor’s EW album. Possibly, even 102. LOL
Glad to hear that MJ is going to do his own album. I think Jason and Carly may follow suit. That seems to be the new wave for artists, and, not a bad way to go.
Yeah, she’s not helping herself at all. I can’t say that I ever planned to buy her CD, but nope…she certainly isn’t swaying me now…!
hmmm… Maybe Kristy is so good that she can lay down tracks in one take.