CBS "My Broadway Debut"

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>CBS' The Early Show is conducting a week-long American Idol style talent competition entitled, “My Broadway Debut”. Five universities with musical theatre programs were chosen to audition students for the segment. The schools selected were Florida State University, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, the University of Arizona, and Wagner College. Bernard Telsey Casting went to each school and selected two students from an audition and interview process. The ten students are flying to New York at the end of the month and will rehearse with seasoned Broadway performers from five current productions: Rent, Chicago, The Wedding Singer, Hairspray, and Avenue Q. The students will perform live during the week of May 29. At the end of the week viewers will get to vote for their favorite male and their favorite female student. The two winners will receive contracts for a one-day walk-on role in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”.</p>

<p>The schedule for the week is as follows:</p>

<p>Monday, May 29th (RENT)
Boy (Mark)- Florida State University - "What You Own"
Girl (Maureen) - Michigan - "Take Me or Leave Me"</p>

<p>Tuesday, May 30th (CHICAGO)
Girl (Velma) - Arizona - "All That Jazz"
Boy (Billy Flynn) - Northwestern - "All I Care About is Love" or
"Razzle Dazzle"</p>

<p>Wednesday, May 31st (THE WEDDING SINGER)
Boy (Robbie Hart) - Arizona - "Somebody Kill Me"
Girl (Julia) - Northwestern - "Dumpster Song"</p>

<p>Thursday, June 1st (HAIRSPRAY)
Girl (Tracy) - Wagner - "Good Morning Baltimore" or "Can't Stop
the Beat"
Boy (Seaweed) - Michigan- "Run and Tell That"</p>

<p>Friday, June 2nd (AVENUE Q)
Boy (Princeton) - Florida State University- "Purpose"
Girl (Lucy) - Wagner - "Fine, Fine Line"</p>

<p>Voting begins at 9:00 A.M. EDT after Friday's show and ends at midnight. Winners will be revealed on Monday, June 5th and will perform a song from "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" before heading off for their Broadway debut and behind-the-scenes feature, which will air in advance of the Tony Awards. It sounds like it should be fun. Prepare to get up early or set your VCRs :)</p>

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<p>Oh how fun. Finally an IDOL for the MT crowd!!</p>

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<p>I know both of the Michigan students, and both are FIERCE - so tune in and vote!!! :) (I'm sure the others are great too - I just don't know them. ;) )</p>

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<p>Want to bet that any one of those kids will be so much better than the "Idol" performers have been?! What a shame that this kind of show can't be shown at night and connected with the TONY Awards somehow!</p>

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<p>This should be fun to watch! </p>

<p>Lulu'sMomma, many of the kids who have been on AI have been MT kids, including Katharine McPhee who is in the final two this year!</p>

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<p>This sounds like so much fun!!!! What a cool idea >> I'll be watching :)</p>

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<p>Wow what fun! How early is the early show, lol? And until what time?</p>

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<p>What great exposure for the students, the programs and the field. Hope I can catch one or more shows!</p>

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<p>What time is the early show on? Do you have any info about what time this goes on? Thanks!!</p>

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<p>In the Cincinnati market the Early Show runs from 8:00 to 9:00 A.M. Check your local TV listings.</p>

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<p>And Cincinnati is in the Eastern time zone.</p>

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<p>The girl from UM went to my high school, she was a few years ahead of me. I was so happy to see her on the list!</p>

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<p>where did you see the list</p>

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<p>Following is a list of the ten finalists:</p>

<p>Justin Bowen - Florida State University – Hometown: Lynchburg, Va.
Cortney Wolfson – University of Michigan – Hometown: Monticello, Ind.
Kate FitzGibbons – University of Arizona - Hometown: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Sean Carroll – Northwestern University – Hometown: Sugar Land, Tex.
Kyle Harris – University of Arizona – Hometown: Irvine, Calif.
Katherine Palardy – Northwestern University – Hometown: Beverly, Mass.
Amanda Snarski – Wagner College – Hometown: Upper Darby, Penn.
Andrew Arrington – University of Michigan- Hometown: Ann Arbor, Mich.
Junior Mendez – Florida State University- Hometown: Weston, Fla.
Brianna Horne – Wagner College – Hometown: Magnolia, N.J.</p>

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<p>Yay for Irvine...that's just down the street a bit. Does anyone know if she went to OCHSA?</p>

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<p>Thanks for the information! I watched an occasional episode when the show first started but the "Pop Wailing" was too much for me to stand, so I gave up(I really don't watch TV anyway, so I'm not an expert!), but I'll tune in this next week to watch on your say-so! Do you know what school she attends, if any?</p>

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<p>Katharine is a BoCo grad. :) Some other AI alumni who have been in Broadway shows and tours:</p>

<p>Constantine Maroulis - Rent
Frenchie Davis - Rent
Vanessa Olivierez - Hairspray
Diana de Garmo - Hairspray
Tamyra Gray - Bombay Dreams
Jennifer Hudson - Hair benefit concert and DreamGirls movie
Amy Adams - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Josh Strickland - Tarzan</p>

<p>Those are the ones who come to mind right now.</p>

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<p>Did Katharine graduate from BoCo or just attend there for awhile? She seems too young to have graduated. She did mention on one show that she trained there. I also heard that she did BTP 2 summers ago.</p>

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<p>Ericsmom, you're right, she didn't graduate, although it's not because she's too young! If she'd stayed, she would have graduated this week. A family friend, who is a BoCo grad and was also on AI, was the one who told me that Katharine had graduated but I just googled and it appears that he was wrong. She left to pursue other opportunities and it appears to have worked for her! :)</p>

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<p>Kyle Harris went to... umm woodbridge, in Irvine... </p>

<p>I did Guys and Dolls with him (he was Nathan... he was fantastic)... He is such a nice guy! Congrats to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>