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Premierewatch: 'High School Musical: Get in the Picture'
High School Musical: Get in the Picture is Disney's latest marketing strategy, aimed at promoting the upcoming High School Musical 3 movie. The prize? A role in a music video that will appear during the end credits of said movie. THE END CREDITS, people. That's big stu ff. And, like most talent show competitions, we begin with several rounds of auditions.
Our host Nick Lachey and six "faculty members," who will serve as teachers and as judges, join us at Disney World for the first open casting call. The first audition is disappointingly hideous. I say "disappointingly" not because I don't really dig the whole "mock people with overinflated egos on national television" thing, but because I really, really hate listening to bad singing. Really. Thus, I'm not going to recap every sad nervous kid who blows the high note. Sorry. I'll try and hit the highlights of the better ones...
I also have to jump in and say that they way they label contestants is hilarious. Like, normally they would say "Jim Smith, 21, Texas" Or "Sally Brown, 19, Bus Driver," but on this show they say things like "Matthew Scott, 21, Member of 7 Clubs in High School."
Besides the open calls, faculty members headed out to surprise kids nominated by friends and family with on-the-spot auditions for places in the semi-finals. One standout is Domingo ("Born in Santiago, Chile"), who wins me over by singing a song from Aladdin. (Yes, I love Disney songs. Shut up.) At the same audition, the faculty member notices another girl, Tierney ("Captain of the Drill Team"), who snags another spot in the semi-finals. I really loved Lauren ("Self-Proclaimed 'Girl Next Door'"), who seems legitimately cool and also gets a semi-final spot.
An open caller, John ("Likes to be the Class Clown"), is totally adorable and makes it to the next round despite slightly amateur vocals. You know, I gotta say...the surprise auditions are way more interesting than this open call business. I wish they had done it all that way. Speaking of, out in Amish Country, the adorable James ("Writes in his Journal Every Day") is "rock[ing] us so hard" with his band's rendition of My Sharona. He glides right through to the next round.
Anthony ("MC's His High School Assemblies") isn't the greatest singer in the world, but has an amazing personality and spirit, especially in the face of a life filled with tough times. And boy, for a chubby kid to get in front of his whole high school and dance around and get everyone pumped up - that's amazing. Love him, and he's through to the semi's! Back in the open calls (boooring!), I'm starting to get sick of "A Whole New World." And it's bumming me out. Aly ("Studied Dance for 13 Years") dances a little hip hop for us. God, I'm SO spoiled by So You Think You Can Dance. Anyway, she totally blows the singing part and doesn't make it through.
Brooke ("Varsity Cheerleading Captain") wins my heart forever by singing the Jeffersons theme song. AMAZING. She's into the semi-finals and is totally my new favorite. And okay, wait. Back on the road, a faculty member rejects a guy for an inconsistent performance, which is totally fair. But he says that he wants someone who can deliver for two and a half hours. Um, does he mean "two and a half minutes"? Because this is an audition for a music video, dude. A music video.
Briana ("Home Schooled Her Entire Life"), is smart, funny, and extremely talented. Are all the dumb, untalented home schooled kids locked in a cellar somewhere? I feel like you only ever hear about the crazy awesome ones. She passes through to the semi-finals easily, and the adorable Estefania ("Born in Peru") makes it through after a little suspense. Out in Louisiana, Bailey ("Has a 4.4 GPA") has one of the best voices we've heard all night, and is apparently a bit of a diva.
We end the night on a total downer, with a montage of people who didn't make it on to the next round. Um, interesting editorial choice. Next week: More auditions!
What do you think about the road trip surprise audition process? How many of you were forced to watch this by your children? (Or, how many of you forced your parents to watch this?)
LIZ: I agree that I liked the parts where the "faculty" went to schools for the surprise auditions. I did not care for the open call auditions, since they were too much like the first few weeks of American Idol. Speaking of AI, I kept imagining Simon Cowell telling the bad singers: "That was a trainwreck!" ,"That was a waste of my time!", "What the HELL was that?". I'm glad that the faculty seem to be more gracious when they hear some of the terrible singers. :-)
I know it's only the first episode, but I think Nick Lachey needs to be more enthusiastic. I think Ryan Seacrest shows more involvement and spirit when he goes to the open auditions. I'll keep watching the show because I am interested in finding out who will be chosen for the HSM3 video.
This so is soo stupid. Just a giant ad for disney's own movie.
The World | Jul 21, 2008 12:18:54 PM | #i like the audition thing and i hope to see who gets the lead role
sarah | Jul 25, 2008 6:47:48 PM | #
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