MANILA, Philippines ? The premiere two-hour audition telecast of the 2010 season of ?American Idol? on QTV last Tuesday was an interesting and instructive viewing experience that indicated that this year?s tilt could be one of the popular talent search?s better editions.
Why have we come to this admittedly tentative conclusion? Because of the high level of singing talent discovered just on the audition?s first two days in Boston, with 32 young singing standouts given the tilt?s prized yellow ticket to the semifinals in Hollywood.
The big disappointment was the absence of new celebrity judge, Ellen Degeneres, who is joining the show a bit later. But, her absence was only momentarily noted because Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara Dioguardi and guest judge, Victoria Beckham, were all present and accounted for, expertly separating the musical grain from the discordant chaff.
Insightful critiques
Beckham was particularly impressive, because she held her own and came up with insightful critiques that were a judicious combination of objectivity and empathy.
The other jurors were sometimes less sympathetic, coming up with scathing put-downs like ?My advice to you is, stop singing forever??prompting an aggrieved contestant to retort, ?I?m terrible? How dare you!?
Happily, the surly retorts were more the exception than the rule. Even more welcome was the fact that only a few weirdos and human gargoyles were on hand, trying to distract from their total lack of talent with crazy costumes, demented antics, and such.
It was also noticeable that, this year, the show is paying less freaky attention to the nontalents among the auditionees, with longer portions devoted to the 30-plus outstanding singers whom the Boston leg of the auditions has discovered.
One of them, Katie Stevens, was only 16, but already had musical stardom written all over her. Another comely auditionee named Leah similarly blew the judges away, as did a Nigerian emigre named Bosa, who was one of the few ethnic talents who came through with flying colors.
He was also one of the few male talents who made it, prompting the judges to wonder what the heck was going on.
The most ?dramatic? survival story was Joshua?s: At 28, he was running out of time to be included in the competition, so he had to give it his best shot. His singing was impressive, but the jurors found him too bland to come across as an exciting singer, so he first had to prove to them that he was ambitious and competitive, on top of being talented.
Similarly dramatic was the story of another male auditionee, who was stricken with cancer seven years ago, but fought successfully to lick the grave illness. When he sang, he impressed the judges not just with his beautiful voice, but also with the depth of his feeling.
Other standouts included Ashley Rodriguez, and a male auditionee, Benjamin, who looked like he could be Fil-Am.
Other auditions will be held in different parts of the States, with guest judges, Katy Perry, Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, Joe Jonas, Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris helping put the auditionees through their musical paces.
