‘American Idol’ auditions draw hundreds
be the American idol,” said Melissa Elfar, a producer on the show. “Rain or shine, what we love about this show and the people who want to be a part of it is, they show up. This is our seventh out of nine stops on the East Coast bus tour. We also have a West Coast bus tour running simultaneously.”
It was a rainy, windswept morning that greeted wouldbe idols as they formed a massive line along the Penn Avenue sidewalk before 5 a.m. Unlike previous “American Idol” auditions here in 2015 and 2011, the weather was lousy, but hope seemed to trump that as they waited and waited.
Allison Riley, 16, of Forrest Hills; Stephanie Nolan, 27, of Latrobe; and Arica Zabatsky, 19, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, were part of a mellow group who passed some of the hours singing. With Allison on ukulele, about eight young women sang Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours.”
They were met with applause from many nearby, then launched into “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You.”
Lawrence White, 21, of Braddock said he works in security in Bakery Square. He was going to give Michael Jackson’s “The Man in the Mirror” a shot when it was his turn. Joe Verbosky, 21, of Youngstown, Ohio, who uses the stage name of “Joey V,” is a crooner.
Dressed in a dark threepiece suit and tie, he was going to try to wow the judges with a dose of Sinatra. While many bundled against the morning chill, others came dressed to impress. Lorenzo Rulli, 21, of McKees Rocks had on flashy boots and dark pants adorned with dangerous-looking shards of mirror-bright material.
Murrysville twins Colton and Trent Edwards, who recently reached the quarterfinals of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” with a song-anddance “Mirror Image” act, auditioned. Wearing matching black pants and embellished white T-shirts, they performed separately; neither made the cut.
Karina Vanity, 19, of State College, Pa., didn’t make the cut, either, but stood out with deep turquoise hair, cat ears, sunglasses and black platform boots with spiky stiletto heels.
Those getting the “Golden Tickets” were rare. The show’s producers declined to say how many have moved on to the next audition rounds from earlier cities, but by noon Sunday there could not have been more than 10.
Each was wildly applauded as he or she was escorted to a winners circle tent that looked just like the other tents, except larger.
Usually, singers were dismissed. It was up to security detail’s Christine Meadows to collect their blue paper wristbands.
“I feel so bad,” she said, traveling back and forth along the line with a large pair of scissors. “I try to tell them they all sounded good. But my opinion doesn’t count.”