For the finale, we left the high school in Utah and moved to a theater in Los Angeles. The show opened with the 12 finalists performing “We’re All In This Together”. Host Nick Lachey informed us that the final decision would be made by “High School Musical” mastermind, Kenny Ortega. Kenny stated that winning would take heart, imagination, a generous spirit and a willingness to do the work. Ashley Tisdale was also on hand to offer words of encouragement telling the kids to “follow your dreams ’cause anything can happen. It’s happened for me so just keep going no matter what.” She then disappeared, never to be seen again.
The first elimination performance was a group number consisting of songs from the first two HSM movies. Nick stated that it was about working as a team and they would be judged on their individual performances and on how they worked together. Kenny, with input from the show’s “faculty”, would decide which three were going forward and which one would go to chorus.
The songs in the medley were, “Breaking Free”, “Work This Out”, “You Are The Music In Me” and “We’re All In This Together”. Isaiah Smith did a lot of dancing in the number and his voiced seemed to get stronger the more he moved. I thought he finished extremely well. Stan Carrizosa was strong in the beginning, but seemed to get out of breath as the number went on and I thought it sounded like he was straining a bit. Christina Brown had some trouble supporting the notes in her lower register and both she and Tierney Chamberlain seemed to be suffering from nerves in the opening of the song. Their voices sounded shaky. Tierney did get stronger and more comfortable as the number went on. I thought Isaiah was the strongest and my vote for the one going to chorus would have been Christina. After offering some enthusiastic, but generic, compliments to the final four, Kenny and the staff did vote to move Christina to the chorus. Through tears she thanked the ”faculty” for the experience saying she’s grown as a performer and a person. The other chorus kids ran up and enveloped her in a group hug.
The show cut away to a scene of the chorus back at the high school. They were given the task of deciding who in the chorus had grown the most. That person would be given a special role in the finale. At first they all campaigned for themselves but then Anthony Acito and James Wolpert said that they’d vote for Ether Saure. Ether would have received my vote too because he developed as a performer but didn’t try to turn into a different person. As the “shy” one, I felt that the “faculty” tried too much to change his basic nature and I’m glad he was able to stay true to himself while still being open to their advice. Anyway, those votes were followed by Bailey Purvis’ tearful (bless her heart - Bailey always cries) statement that she found the prize ironic because what she learned from the experience is that she doesn’t always have to be the lead. She voted for Anthony. At that point, they all seemed to jump on the Anthony bandwagon, including Shayna Goldstein. Anthony had taken an early dislike to Shayna but she gave him credit for giving her a second chance and thought his willingness to do that indicated he’d really grown. As the chosen one, Anthony got to be featured in the chorus’ performance of Alphaville’s (or more recently, Youth Group’s) “Forever Young”. He must have received a lot of coaching on this number because it was, by far, the best he’s sounded. His voice was relaxed and he wasn’t pushing to try and stylize the song. In fact, it was so polished that I couldn’t help but think he was lip syncing. Since I wasn’t sure, I suppose that means, even if he was, he did it well.
The next elimination round found the three remaining contestants performing solo numbers. Stan did Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”. He sounded very good but I found his movements to be overdone. They seemed calculated rather than a natural part of the performance. He did win major points from me for the end of the song. He finished singing to a very pretty brunette in the front row who ended up in tears. Just when Nick and the rest of us thought it was the return of “Stan the Ladies Man”, he informed us, “that’s my sister.” It was very sweet. “Faculty” member Jen Malenke said that Stan owned the stage and proved that he could be a front man. Kenny said that Stan was clearly having the time of his life.
Next up was Tierney who sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It’s not a song choice I would have recommended for her. She looked absolutely stunning in her red dress, but I found her voice to be unsteady during the song. My best guess is that it was nerves again. There were numerous times when I felt she was pushing too much to try and compensate. She would have been better off with a more up-tempo song. ”Faculty” member Montre Burton declared the performance “amazing” but added that he could still see a bit of a confidence issue and she needs to let that go because she’s got it all. Kenny stated that Tierney has the dynamics to be a major star.
Isaiah performed Tim McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” which I found to be a pretty bold song choice for someone so young. I thought he did a wonderful job with it. He was the energetic and enthusiastic Isaiah we’ve come to know, but he did show an understanding of what he was singing about. I thought it was the best performance we’ve seen from him. “Faculty” member Tiana Brown said that Isaiah rose to the occasion and just needed to stay confident. Kenny told Isaiah, “for sure, there’s a light waiting for you on Broadway someday”.
I felt that, once again, Isaiah was the strongest but Kenny moved Tierney and Stan along and sent Isaiah to the chorus. I literally yelled “NO” at the TV screen. I was not at all surprised that they wanted the final two to be boy/girl but I really do not think Stan should have been given that final spot over Isaiah. For his part, Isaiah remained classy and upbeat and said this had been the best experience of his life and he knows there’s a career for him.
We had a brief intermission with Nick Lachey performing “It’s All In My Head” with the kids joining in at the end of the song.
The final round found Tierney and Stan performing a duet to a song from ”High School Musical 3″ called “Just Getting Started”. They both actually did quite well and I thought it was the best Tierney sounded this episode. ”Faculty” member Regina Williams praised their chemistry and Kenny stated that he wanted to work with both of them. At this point my heart wanted Tierney to win, but it seemed a foregone conclusion that it would be Stan …………… and indeed it was. Stan Carrizosa will be the lead of the music video that plays during the end credits for HSM3, will get two digital singles with Disney records and a contract with ABC.
Stan is definitely a talented kid, with a lot going for him, but of the 12 show finalists, I think Tierney Chamberlain, James Wolpert and Isaiah Smith are the ones we will be seeing again. I thought Tierney and James were the standouts from the beginning and Isaiah really impressed me in the final couple of episodes. I’ll be watching for their names in the future.
The finale and all previous episodes can be seen at ABC’s website here:
This episode is subtitled “Other People’s Shoes”, but really should have been called “Stan, the Ladies Man.” Young Mr. Stan Carrizosa (pictured above) had the HSM girls all in a tizzy!
We opened in homeroom with both Bailey Purvis and Shayna Goldstein informing everyone that they had dreamt about Stan the night before. Briana Vega commented (in a separate interview segment) about how Shayna cries all the time because she misses her boyfriend and yet, is constantly all over Stan. Yes, it’s fun high school drama.
As for the actual title of the episode, host Nick Lachey informed the kids that this week’s theme was learning to walk in someone else’s shoes. The five remaining in the competition (Stan, James Wolpert, Isaiah Smith, Tierney Chamberlain and Christina Brown) met with Nick and “faculty” member Rob Adler for the main exercise. They were shown a bunch of costumes that represented musical types. Each were assigned an outfit by the other four and had to perform “A Whole New World” in the musical style that went with the outfit. Of course, the goal of the group was to assign a look that was the opposite of each person’s actual personality.
Tierney Chamberlain – At first, Tierney thought they would have a hard time finding something opposite of her because she’s into so many different styles. They gave her ‘rock and roll’ because she doesn’t seem particularly rebellious and they must have been right. Tierney said she was intimidated by the outfit. In the performance, though, she was fantastic. Her look, moves and sound were perfect and she said she felt “cool” just wearing the clothes. For his part, Stan thought Tierney “tore it up” and said he was “not gonna lie. She looked great.”
Isaiah Smith - Rob asked the kids to pick the opposite of “the preppy, hip hop kid” for Isaiah and they went with ‘folk’. The end result was hilarious. It looked to me like Isaiah was doing a parody of John Denver but Tierney described him as Kermit the Frog doing “The Rainbow Connection”. I thought he was great.
Christina Brown – Christina tried to sell them on ‘Reggae’ being her opposite but no one bought it. They gave her ‘disco’. She was less than thrilled but commented that, once she had on the clothes and make-up, she felt “foxy”. I think this performance was the most personality we’ve ever seen from Christina.
James Wolpert – Oh James. The group immediately gave him ‘hip hop’ and it was pretty much a disaster. As James himself put it, “I am the absolute epitome of hip hop …….. if all other good hip hop artists died.” Isaiah tried to help him and thought that James just needed another hour of practice. Isaiah was being kind. I really like James and his offbeat sense of humor. He’s been reminding me of someone and I finally realized who it was - he’s like a very young Matthew Perry.
Stan Carrizosa – They gave him ‘goth’ because it’s the opposite of ‘jock’. Initially Stan disliked the entire premise of this challenge. He didn’t think he’d learn anything. He just thought he’d end up making a fool of himself. On the plus side, he had plenty of opportunities to flirt with Tierney as she helped him pull his look together. He came out in a faux-mohawk, black clothes and black eye make-up and Tierney thought he looked “scary.” After the performance, Stan commented that wearing the outfit made him feel sad. Someone in the audience, who had long, dark hair and was dressed all in black, countered that the look made him feel cool and happy. Ummm. He probably is happy but he didn’t seem all that ’goth’ to me. He seemed more like a happy character from a Seth Rogan movie – if you know what I mean.
Anyway, in the end all five were filled with love and understanding for their fellow man. Meanwhile, back at school, “faculty” member Tiana Brown was teaching the chorus kids about modern dance. This proved to be quite challenging for the self described “big guys”, T. J. Wilkins and Anthony Acito. As T.J. put it, it was “like watching Shaq and Chris Farley do modern dance.” T.J. was feeling pretty good about being in the chorus, and about the education he was receiving, despite Anthony’s best efforts to bring him down. To be fair, that wasn’t really Anthony’s goal, but he was feeling a bit sorry for himself and was flashing back to being the outsider he was as a freshman in high school. It was sad when he said that he felt like he blew his chance to make his family, and specifically his dad, proud of him.
The big performance for the week was an 80’s flashback that was directed by Rob Adler and Jen Malenke. It was set at an 80’s prom. Initially Stan was not into it – until he found out he was going to be paired up as a couple with Tierney. In the coaching, Jen told them that the judges needed to see emotion from them and Rob warned that any phoniness would show up on camera. Jen told Tierney that she wanted to see her really fall in love and really fight. Jen also coached James to display more confidence and told him that he needed to trust that what he was doing was good. Rob’s final words of advice was that, no matter what happens, they are not going to die on stage so they might as well just put it all out there.
During the course of rehearsals, the kids all ended up back in the common room and Tierney decided to pull Stan aside for some serious talk. Stan figured he was in for some “girl drama.” Basically Tierney told Stan (and later Shayna) that she was getting put off by how Stan flirted with her when they were alone, but then flirted with Shayna whenever Shayna came around. Tierney doesn’t like being made to look stupid. Stan moans about Tierney making it all so difficult but, frankly, I think he’s reveling in being the center of this little triangle.
Leading up to the performance we learned that Isaiah was feeling intimidated by the Sting song he was given because he couldn’t sing that high. He shared with James that he was definitely humbled by this whole experience. He thought he’d be the best and it turned out everyone else was just as good or better.
Overall, the number was much better than the TV show theme medley they did last week. The songs were: Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero”, Pat Benatar’s “We Belong”, The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”, Madness’ “It Must Be Love”, Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl”, and Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”. I thought Christina was the stand out. She was playing the rocker chick role and I thought it was her best performance so far. Isaiah shouldn’t have been worried about his song because it didn’t sound to me like he had any trouble with the high notes. As much as it pains me to say it, Tierney and James were the weakest. Tierney has a lot going for her, but she really needs to work on her acting. James is a strong singer and actor but, sometimes when he sings, he just doesn’t know how to merge the two and he ends up looking awkward. Tiana, on the other hand, said that everyone did well but James was her favorite this time. She said that he’s not the best dancer, but he makes up for it with confidence. Jen expressed disappointment with Stan’s performance. He flubbed some lines in his song and Jen thought that outside stuff with Tierney might be making him lose focus. Rob wanted to see more from Tierney and commented that her acting was all on the surface.
While waiting for the results, we learned that Stan was fully aware of his mistakes, but was hoping the fact that he stayed in character would make up for it. As it turns out, Christina also messed up. She explained that she was concentrating so much on the dancing at the end that she forgot a solo. When Nick returned, he informed the group that the judges had voted Isaiah as having the best performance. Once again, the winner had to read off a list of who was staying in the competition. I’ve always felt bad when they have to do this but poor Isaiah’s face fell as soon as he looked at the list and saw whose name wasn’t there. The others still in the running are Christina, Tierney and Stan which means James is headed to the chorus. His response was, “alright, cool.” James said that he did gain confidence from the experience and that it’s upped his belief in himself. My opinion is that we haven’t heard the last of James. I think this kid truly does have potential.
Next week is the finale as Christina, Tierney, Stan and Isaiah perform for HSM director Kenny Ortega who will make the final casting decision. My money is still on Tierney, but Isaiah is closing in on her.
This episode isn’t up yet at ABC’s website, but it will be here once it’s posted:
The show opened with Bailey Purvis and Shayna Goldstein bemoaning their move to the chorus. Bailey sat in homeroom not interacting with anyone while Shayna expressed her feelings to her is-he-or-isn’t-he “showmance”, Stan Carrizosa. Shayna said she felt even more awkward about going to the chorus because of Anthony. As you’ll recall, last episode Anthony Acito was outspoken about how he felt Shayna was there for the wrong reasons and always wanted to be in the spotlight. She knew that her getting eliminated from the competition was exactly what Anthony wanted. When host Nick Lachey came into the room he asked if everyone was getting along better and that lead to Anthony making an apology. He said that he took some things that people said too literally and it blew up in his face. Shayna accepted it and it seemed that this little drama was over.
Nick informed them that this week’s theme was first impressions. I have to say, that seems like an odd theme for the 9th episode! Anyway, “faculty” member Chris Prinzo lead an exercise that had the kids auditioning for three different jobs – children’s party entertainer, delivering singing telegrams and sign spinning. They brought in three guest judges (professionals in each of the fields) to hold the auditions. It was a fun segment to watch and it didn’t look like anyone did all that well. The children’s party and the sign spinning were particularly disastrous. They did seem to all get into the singing telegram job, despite the costumes, which included a penguin, a chicken and a pirate. James Wolpert was enthralled with his banana costume and gave a couple of hilarious speeches about how he embodied the being of the banana. He’s got a surprisingly dry sense of humor for a teenager. The children’s party judge said she would have hired Isaiah Smith and both the singing telegram and sign spinner judges would have hired Stan. For his part, James expressed shock that his banana performance lost out to a guy in a chicken suit.
Meanwhile, at chorus rehearsal, we found “faculty” member Rob Adler leading the group in an elaborate breathing exercise that one of the kids described as lasting for 45 minutes. That might have been an exaggeration because surely someone would have hyperventilated in that time.
Back in the school common room, we learned that Bailey is enjoying her newfound friendship with Tierney Chamberlain because they have so much in common – including enjoying a bit of gossip about the budding Shayna/Stan relationship. Shayna was still professing love for her boyfriend back home and at one point referred to Stan as being like her brother. As expected, Stan was less than thrilled with that description. This segment ended with Shayna making a weepy phone call to the boyfriend. Considering how mellow he was about having a sobbing girlfriend on the other end of the phone, I got the impression this wasn’t the first time he’s had to deal with it.
The next day, in homeroom, the kids got a visit from the one and only, High School Musical mega-star: Zac Efron. Bailey just about passed out. Actually, all the girls were pretty gaga over “Troy”. Isaiah stated that it made him realize how much he idolizes Zac and how he hopes to be able to have the same effect on rooms full of females in the future. The best reaction, though, came from Stan who said, “I don’t know why I was so pumped to see him……but I felt like a girl.”
Nick informed the group that this week’s performance would be classic TV show themes and the chorus kids would be taking part. The theme songs were from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “One Day at a Time”, “Cheers” and “The Greatest American Hero”. None of the kids had any clue about these shows or songs. They are very, very young – and clearly never watch cable. Tiana Brown and Montre Burton directed the segment which took place at a TV museum. James had the lead as a security guard and the others were wax figures of famous television characters that come to life after hours. The chorus members were additional characters that sang backup vocals. During rehearsal, Tiana and Montre gave some direct feedback to the six on what they needed to improve. Isaiah was told that he had all the tools to succeed but needed to control them better. Hopefully they gave him some specifics because that advice alone doesn’t seem all that helpful. Christina Brown was told that she sometimes gets lost vocally and they can’t tell what she’s singing. James needs to minimize his hand gestures. T.J. Wilkins needs to prove he can carry a show. Stan needs to work on his dancing and Tierney needs to “come out of her shell.”
The performance began with chorus member Ether Saure doing a pretty good impression of Rod Serling hosting ”The Twilight Zone.” As it turns out, that was my favorite part of the whole thing. This was the weakest number the show has had so far. The set up and the rearranging of the theme songs just didn’t work for me. I thought James handled his role quite well and I was very impressed with Stan. It’s the best I’ve heard his voice sound. Isaiah also sounded very good, but T.J. was off. He didn’t seem comfortable. Tierney held her own, but wasn’t as strong as I expected, and Christina seemed to just disappear. As for the judges, Rob commented that Isaiah “stepped it up by stepping it down” and thought it was a generous performance. Tiana was disappointed that Tierney was still in her shell.
While waiting for Nick to return with the results, we learned that for the first time, Tierney thinks she might be the one to go and that Christina felt she hadn’t performed at the top of her game. In fact, the performer the judges chose as best this week was Christina. I don’t get it. I went back and watched the number again to try and see what I’d missed but I still couldn’t find anything remarkable, or even notable, about Christina’s performance.
As the winner, Christina got to read the list of who’s staying. The first names read were Isaiah, Tierney and Stan. That left T.J. and James. Nick then informed them that the judges decided to only eliminate one person this week. The person staying was James meaning T.J. was headed to the chorus. T.J. handled the news well and remarked that everyone else seemed more upset about it than him.
Stay tuned next week as the “showmance” takes a turn when Stan begins flirting with Tierney! When this show started I had Shayna pegged as the quiet one. I never would have guessed that she’d consistently be the center of all the drama!
This, and all previous episodes, can be viewed at ABC’s website here:
This week finds the kids having to handle the theme of “roll with the punches” but perhaps a better description would have been ”roll with the drama.” Oh and what drama we had!
First up, though, was the learning exercise for the 8 remaining in the competition. They were given the challenge of doing a karaoke version of “Get’cha Head in the Game” – in 4 languages. They were told that the lyrics would flip between English, Turkish, Hindi and Spanish. They all pretty much freaked out at the thought of it. To help them along, the show brought in stars from international versions of “High School Musical.” Kenan Dogulu from Turkey, Fahad Ahmad from Pakistan and Berto Ornelas from Mexico sang the song in their native language for the kids and then did a little bit of helping during the exercise itself. It ended up being quite a bit of fun and, despite their initial nerves, I thought they all did well. Of course, that’s probably because I couldn’t tell how badly they mangled all the languages!
Afterward, the kids all congregated back in the common room and the Anthony/Shayna conflict continued. Last week, when Anthony first expressed his dislike of Shayna’s attitude, I wasn’t getting it. I didn’t think we’d seen Shayna hogging the spotlight or making everything all about her. This time around we got to listen in on a conversation she had with Isaiah during which she stated that she’s been training for years and didn’t really come there to “learn.” Basically she felt that she already knew more that the others and thought it was unfair to compare her to someone just starting out like Anthony. Oh Shayna. I’ve watched a lot of reality TV and this comment doesn’t bode well for your future on the show. Meanwhile across the room we had Anthony chatting with Briana and Bailey. Now when we heard Anthony state that he doesn’t think Shayna has been investing in the exercises or in making new friends, it makes much more sense. Briana expressed her full agreement with Anthony.
Coincidently (not), in “homeroom” the next day, host Nick Lachey asked the kids how everyone was getting along. After Bailey professed her love for everyone, Nick asked specifically if there were any conflicts. After getting Anthony’s permission, T.J. brought up Anthony’s problem with Shayna. Anthony went ahead and called her out on wanting to be the center of attention. Shayna was shocked and wondered why no one had told her about this before. In Shayna’s defense, doing this in front of everyone was not the best way to get the conflict out in the open. She seemed to handle it ok ……… at this point.
Nick informed the eight that their performance this week would be as a group and they would be doing a dramatic and comedic number. The songs assigned were “Welcome to My Life” by Simple Plan and “It’s All Been Done” from The Barenaked Ladies. Faculty members Regina Williams and Chris Prinzo directed. The story was of two ”cliques” brought together when two members make a connection. To get ready, Regina and Chris lead the group in an exercise that had them paired off as couples. At first they stood apart from each other. They had to give a compliment to the other person that would lure them in (take a step towards them). Then, when they were face to face, the girl had to back away as if hurt by the boy and then he had to use one word to try and gain forgiveness. It was an interesting exercise but the only part I really remember was James’ apology to Bailey. He stepped over to her, took her hand and then used the other hand to caress her face while he said, “please.” Bailey melted as did just about every female watching this show. James is smooth!
Meanwhile, back in the common room, Shayna was feeling bad because she hates it when people don’t like her. The other kids suggested she just talk it out with Anthony. When the chorus kids returned, Anthony did come over and suggested that they go off and hash it out. Shayna refused and had a weepy meltdown. Some of the other kids actually got up and left to try and force the conversation but Shayna wasn’t having any of it. The general consensus was that Shayna was over-reacting. I’m sure she’d dislike my evaluation more. I think she was being a teenage girl.
In the performance, Stan and Christina had the lead roles as the two who bring the groups together, but everyone got to be featured. At one point, during the Barenaked Ladies song, Tierney made a move that made me laugh out loud. I thought Christina had a lot of intensity, especially when she was playing angry, and it was the best performance I’ve seen so far from T.J. His acting and singing were very strong. Bailey looked like she was really trying to get all the emotions but it didn’t seem natural. Shayna seemed rather disengaged from the whole number. She was doing what she was supposed to do but there wasn’t any passion behind it. Vocally, they all sounded very good so, for me, this was more about the acting.
As for faculty member comments, Jen Malenke thought T.J. brought a lot of his personal experience to the role. Tiana Brown thought Bailey had a great voice but wasn’t committed to her character. On the other hand, she thought Christina and Isaiah were very committed. Regina didn’t think Stan stepped up to his leading man role. The best comment, though, came from Montre Burton. He noticed that sometimes James looks a little possessed on stage and “it’s not a good look.” I have to say, as much as I like James, Montre was right. Maybe he should practice for a while in front of a mirror. Montre also commented that he felt Shayna had let him down because she was holding back.
My choices for who should have been sent to chorus were Bailey and Shayna but this was the toughest week yet to make that call. While waiting for the decision, we learned that James was feeling that it was going to be his turn to go to chorus. And, of course, Bailey cried.
When Nick returned with the list, we learned that the judges’ choice for the best performance was Tierney Chamberlain. Considering she’s the one who got me to laugh, I can’t disagree. Although, I would have been fine if the choice had been Christina or T.J. Again, the winner’s “reward” was to deliver the good, and bad, news about who was staying in the competition. Moving forward will be Christina Brown, Isaiah Smith, T.J. Wilkins, Stan Carrizosa, James Wolpert and Tierney. Going to the chorus will be Bailey Purvis and Shayna Goldstein. Poor Bailey just sobbed at the news. Tierney immediately went over to comfort her and was then joined by James and Christina. Tierney was very endearing through the closing song because she never let go of Bailey. Bailey is the one who, in an earlier episode, said that she didn’t need friends because she was focused on performing. Well, Bailey, it looks like you did actually make a friend here and hopefully you’re seeing how much that helps when things don’t go your way. It seemed from her interview segment that Bailey was going to the chorus with a positive attitude saying that it will make her a better person. Shayna held up much better and we got a nice shot of her being comforted by her potential “showmance” Stan.
So, now we’re at six. I’m still thinking it will come down to James or Tierney but the eliminations are going to keep getting more difficult.
This episode (and all the previous ones) are available at ABC’s website here:
Ten remain in the competition, but all 12 gathered in “home room” to begin the episode. Host Nick Lachey informed the group that this week’s theme would be “connection”. Briana & Christie (the two sent to the chorus last week) were sent to chorus rehearsal while the other’s headed off to a park for this week’s exercise.
I was curious as to what being sent to the chorus would really mean on this show and we got a good look at it this week. All the kids still interact with each other during down time and the “faculty” continues to work with those eliminated from the competition. Rob Adler was the faculty member working with Briana and Christie this week and he stated that the show wasn’t really about winning or losing. It was about each person bettering themselves. I love this Disneyfication of the typical reality show concept. All but one of these kids is going to “lose” the competition, but they are all going to get valuable training (and television exposure) out of the deal so it’s a summer well spent.
Meanwhile, once the rest of the group reached the park, Montre Burton informed them that their task would be to 1) get a hug from a stranger 2) get a stranger to look up in the sky and 3) get a stranger to give them some food – all without ever saying a word. Ok, I can tell you right now – I would have had a lot of trouble with this one. As it turned out, the kids didn’t. I suppose it’s easier to get people to do things through pantomime when there are TV cameras following you around. The only one who didn’t quite get into the spirit of the game was Ether. One of the rules was that they had to interact with as many people as possible and Ether just stayed with a few people and kind of looked like he was doing charades.
At the end of the day all the kids returned to the school common room (including the chorus kids) to hang out together. This was when we learned of the new “drama” within the school. Anthony got irritated with Shayna because she wanted to sit in a corner with James and learn a new song on the guitar instead of talking with the whole group. This was odd because we could see that James and Ether were initially sitting together, playing their guitars, and Shayna basically just joined them. It would seem that Anthony’s beef should have been with all three but his focus was just Shayna. Hmmmmm. A little jealousy perhaps? According to next week’s promo, we shall soon see.
Anyway, back to the point of the show: The next day our 10 remaining contestants found out that their challenge was a duet in which they had to connect with their partner and with the audience.
Anthony Acito & T.J. Wilkins: Anthony and T.J. were assigned Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Wanna Be”. Faculty members Chris Prinzo and Regina Williams were the directors for the number. They seemed to work together very well in rehearsals but Anthony threw T.J. for a loop when he went off about Shayna. T.J. said he’s not seeing what Anthony’s seeing. The performance itself was lopsided. T.J. out sang Anthony – but not on purpose. This song highlighted the weaknesses with Anthony’s voice. The acting seemed off as well. Chris stated that he thought the connection between the two was forced and that he had concerns about Anthony in particular.
Shayna Goldstein & Stan Carrizosa: (Pictured above) They got Blake Shelton’s “Austin”. They both seemed extremely happy to be paired and the show didn’t let up on the “showmance” teases. We got an interview segment of Stan stating that he thought he’d have no problem connecting with Shayna. Montre and Tiana Brown directed the segment and their direction, plus the song itself, made Shayna dissolve into tears. She was really missing her boyfriend and the theme of the song got to her. I thought the performance itself played to both of their strengths. Judge Jen Malenke agreed that they connected well with each other but she thought the audience was being left out. I didn’t see that, but we aren’t seeing the performances the way the judges are. We get the benefit of close-ups.
Ether Saure & Tierney Chamberlain: They were given Yellowcard’s “One Year Six Months.” I have to say, I’m enjoying the song selections this show is using. So far it’s a good mix and each week they’ve had one song that I’ve never heard before. This was my mystery song this week. Their segment was directed by Rob and Regina. In her interview segment Tierney had some concerns about this week’s challenge because she does sometimes have trouble sharing her emotions. Plus, she wasn’t so sure how well she would connect to Ether because she sees him as a buddy which made the romance part weird. For his part Ether didn’t seem to think there would be a problem and he adorably babbled on in his interview about how talented and pretty Tierney is. Ether is just too cute for words. Unfortunately, the performance didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. They sounded great but Ether lacked energy and only seemed to convey one emotion – sadness. Montre said he felt like Tierney was letting her emotions flow in the performance but that Ether was just not letting himself be free.
Bailey Purvis & James Wolpert: They got Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Heart” and, upon hearing the news, James did not look happy. Bailey immediately jumped to the conclusion that James’ reaction was because he didn’t want to work with her. He tried to reassure her that his problem was with the song. I lean towards believing him on this one because my first reaction was that this was going to be a very hard song for a male voice – especially in a duet. Chris and Tiana directed the number and I thought it ended up being the best of the night. Tiana thought that their connection was spotty but I wasn’t seeing that.
Isaiah Smith & Christina Brown – They were assigned Augustana’s “Boston”. Both Isaiah and Christina had concerns about their connection because they didn’t know each other very well. Jen and Regina directed the segment and I thought Isaiah and Christina did quite well acting-wise. Isaiah especially was very committed to his character but I thought vocally he was off in the beginning. When he had to sing quietly his voice lost intensity and he sounded off pitch. On the other hand, Regina’s comment on the performance was that she thought Christina’s vocals were off at the end.
The judges’ choice for the best performance was Isaiah. Like last week, the reward for being best was that you had to announce who was staying. For such an overall nice show I don’t get why they are doing the eliminations this way. Nick Lachey is a big boy. He can deliver the news himself.
My choice for who should go this week was Anthony and (I hate to say it) Ether. Indeed, once the list was read, Anthony and Ether were the ones sent to chorus. The show ended with all the kids hugging and singing together.
The entire episode can be viewed at ABC’s website here:
The show opened with the kids gathered in a classroom while host Nick Lachey informed them that they will be facing a series of challenges on the show and this week’s is called “letting go.” The challenge began with a field trip to a local Kmart (the brightest and cleanest Kmart you’ve ever seen) and was lead by Nick and judge Jen Malenke. The kids all had to run around the store, singing “We’re All in this Together”, while only they heard the music. The goal was to “let go” of fear – specifically the fear of looking ridiculous. Bailey and Anthony appeared to have no problem with this at all. Eventually they all seemed to relax and enjoy themselves, including Ether who Jen had some concerns about. The only one that Nick and Jen mentioned as being a little hesitant was Christina.
We were set up for a possible “showmance” between Stan and the girl he described as “uniquely hot”, Shayna. She did seem to pour cold water on the romance, though, when she announced that she’s had a boyfriend for the past 11 months.
Nick Lachey presented the group with another gift. They all received Verizon phones that will have their challenge song downloaded on it each week. For this week’s challenge, the group was split into trios and told that two cast members would be sent to the chorus after the performances:
Bailey Purvis/Anthony Acito/Christie Brooke: They got Ben Folds’ “There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You” which neither they nor I had ever heard before. Faculty members Tiana Brown and Rob Adler directed the performance and set it up so that Bailey was the stand-offish one who would eventually be won over by Anthony & Christie. It was perfect casting for Bailey and she pulled it off very well. In the rehearsal footage we saw that Bailey was concerned about Anthony’s voice because she feared it might bring her down. While Bailey was underestimating the “faculty’s” ability to judge the contestants separately, she did have a point about Anthony. His voice was definitely his weak spot. He had plenty of personality and exuberance, but vocally he was weak and occasionally just a little off pitch. Jen Malenke expressed concern that Anthony might think that he doesn’t need vocal training because he’s riding on his personality. Judge Montre Burton seemed more concerned with Christie having over-sold the song. I didn’t really see that much difference in Christie’s level compared to Anthony’s. The reality for me was that the number belonged to Bailey.
Isaiah Smith/Stan Carrizosa/Tierney Chamberlain - (Pictured above) They were assigned Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten” and I thought it was the best number of the night. This segment was directed by Regina Williams and Chris Prinzo and was set up as Isaiah & Stan encouraging Tierney to break out of her shell. In the rehearsal footage we learned that Stan was intimidated by his lack of experience particularly when it came to singing harmony. Tierney felt like she and Isaiah had an immediate “click” because they were at the same place vocally. Listening to the final result, you would have no idea that Stan was insecure about the harmonies. He sang them out strong and was right on the money. Regina said that she felt Stan was still holding back a bit. I didn’t particularly see that, but it’s possible that he wasn’t quite as effervescent as the other two because he was concentrating more.
Ether Saure/James Wolpert/Shayna Goldstein - They got the Jason Mraz song “The Remedy” and it was by far the most difficult song of the night. I’m going to give all three of them a lot of credit for pulling it off as well as they did. Regina Brown and Montre Burton directed the number which they set up as James playing cupid to Ether and Shayna. Ether was concerned that he wasn’t stepping up like he should by letting Shayna and James initially call the shots. In rehearsal, we saw Montre really pushing Ether to open up. The final performance took advantage of Ether’s personality by showing him as the shy pursuer of Shayna’s affections. James continued to show great consistency – he always looks confident and in control. Montre was thrilled with the progress he saw from Ether while Rob Adler said he still wanted to see more from him. Specifically he said that he hears a leading voice, but isn’t seeing a leading man. Frankly, I thought Ether was great.
Briana Vega/Christina Brown/T.J. Wilkins - This team got Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”. It was directed by Jen Malenke and Tiana Brown. The set up was that Briana and Christina were angels helping T.J. to find his way. Christina expressed concern about she and Briana looking like background to T.J. and it was a valid point. The number really did belong to T.J. and he did a nice job with it. For his part, T.J. was worried that he was sensing tension between the girls and was afraid that would pull the number apart. In the end, it was Briana who looked rather uncomfortable through the number. It was like she just wasn’t that confident about what her role was supposed to be. Jen said that they gave Briana notes about coming out of her shell during rehearsal but she just couldn’t do it.
While the kids were waiting for the final results we got a voice over from Shayna saying that she and Bailey were the ones crying during this time – but for very different reasons. She said she was crying because she was living her dream. She felt Bailey was crying because she was afraid of going to the chorus – that she’s living for the final prize. Shayna doesn’t think that’s what they are there for. They are there to grow as people no matter where they end up. I thought this indicated a lot of maturity for a teenager and it will be interesting to see how well Shayna remembers this as the pressure increases.
Nick Lachey came in with the list of who would be staying in competition, but first he announced who the judges thought had done the best job for the week. Their choice was Tierney. I adore Tierney and still think she’s one of the front runners but, for this specific challenge, I would have given the award to Ether. Even though he still has a ways to go, I thought he showed the most growth. Nick then gave Tierney the unenviable job of reading the list off. That seemed rather unfair. Her reward for being “best” was to basically deliver the bad news to the ones who were going to the chorus? Nick should have done it himself.
After watching all the numbers, I would have sent Anthony and Briana to the chorus. Briana sang fine but gave the weakest acting performance. Anthony had no problem with the acting, but he was the weakest singer. The judges agreed about Briana, but their other choice was Christie because they felt she wasn’t controlling her energy. I disagree with that call. For my money Christie had a strong enough voice that she should have been given another chance.
I’m curious as to what “going to the chorus” will mean. Do the girls participate in future training but not in the performances? I guess we’ll find out next Monday.
If you missed it, the entire 6th episode can be viewed at ABC’s website here:
This episode felt a bit like filler. It was mainly a chance to get to know the contestants better before the competition really begins. Instead of the typical reality show eliminations, this show will move the kids who don’t win into the “chorus”. I’m not sure what moving into the “chorus” means, but it sounds like all the kids will continue to participate in the show.
To open this episode, acting coach Rob Adler lead the kids in an exercise about first impressions. Each one had to stand in front of the group and have the others give opinions about them based on their looks. First up was James Wolpert who the others tagged as artsy, intelligent, laid-back and calm and collected. James agreed with the artsy-go-with-the-flow, but said that some of the “calm and collected” part was an act.
Briana Vega got descriptions like “rocker”, intimidating and sassy. Briana sort of agreed with the “sassy attitude” tag, but made a point of saying that she isn’t always like that. Interestingly, Ether, the self-professed shy one, pegged Briana as also being shy.
Stan Carrizosa- Stan heard terms like “jock”, popular and smooth with the girls. He enjoyed it because he likes to use the athlete persona to set people up to be surprised by his singing.
Christie Brooke – Blonde, bubbly Christie was getting words like energetic and cheerleader until Isaiah’s turn. He called her a “dumb blonde.” That got quite a few gasps from the group. For her part, Christie seemed to handle it well and said that she knew that’s what they were all thinking; he’s just the one who actually said it. It certainly sounded like Christie was used to people making that assumption about her.
Isaiah Smith – Isaiah got tagged with sporty, “player”, flirt and ego. He denied the ladies’ man persona – but rather half-heartedly.
Ether Saure – Ether was described by the group as timid, awkward, shy and nerdy. The poor guy heard nerdy a lot and I think it bothered him a bit. It seems to be a label he’s trying to break away from.
Christina Brown – Christina got a lot of flattering comments about how attractive she is ……. except from Bailey. Bailey described her as quiet and sensitive and someone she’d want to protect. Christina disagreed with that because she feels she is strong.
Tierney Chamberlain – Tierney had to be feeling good after her turn because she basically just heard about how hot she is.
T. J. Wilkins – T.J. got to hear that he is both intimidating AND a mama’s boy. He scored points with me by freely talking about how much he appreciated everything his mother has done for him.
Bailey Purvis – Bailey heard confident, intimidating, popular and stand-offish. As it turns out, Bailey doesn’t see herself as popular and said that no one at her high school really talks to her. She said she was fine with not having any friends because it allows her to concentrate her energy towards her ambitions. Oh Bailey. I think we have just seen what your learning arc through this process should be.
Anthony Acito – Anthony was tagged as a “teddy bear”, genuine and jolly. Tierney said that her first impression was of a large kid who lacked self-confidence and probably would talk about himself in a negative way. Anthony said that was an accurate description of who he was when he was a freshman. He feels he’s come a long way since then.
Shayna Goldstein – Shayna was described as a “laid-back, hippy girl” and “uniquely hot.” She rather seemed to enjoy those descriptions!
The kids each got a gift bag with a portable DVD player, a camcorder and a lot of HSM licensed items. They also found out that they were headed out on a field trip to the “High School Musical 3″ set. Once there, they got to meet Kenny Ortega – the man behind the HSM phenomena. His advice to the group was to watch old movies and to make sure they have a dynamic range of knowledge, experience and education. He pointed out that while HSM is a modern concept, it is also a throwback to the days of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. They also met HSM cast members Luke Grabeel, Olesya Rulin and Kaycee Stroh. It was interesting to learn that Kaycee was a local dance teacher who got discovered bringing her students to the HSM auditions. Kenny said he met her and created a part specifically for her.
Kenny Ortega then decided to hold an impromptu singing audition using the HSM song “You Are the Music in Me”. Host Nick Lachey informed us in a voice over that, though the kids don’t know it yet, Kenny will be judging the finale and ultimately deciding who will be in his movie. As a group they sounded pretty good and someone threw in some harmony every now and then. For me, the standouts were Stan (shown above, singing to Kenny), Ether, James and Christie. All four of them seemed very secure and comfortable with the song. The only one who really struggled was Briana who messed up the lyrics. This is starting to become a pattern for her because she also had trouble with the lyrics in her semi-finals audition. She acknowledged in the interview segment that this is starting to play on her mind and making her doubt herself. That’s a tough cycle to break but, since she recognizes it, hopefully she’ll figure it out.
Next up, Kenny surprised the group by making them part of the background cast for a “High School Musical 3″ scene. They got costumes, hair and make-up and seemed to all genuinely have a great time with it.
Once back at the “academy” (which is actually a Utah high school), the group was lead through a dancing exercise routine by faculty member Regina Williams. Everyone seemed to be enjoying it except Ether and Anthony who readily admitted that this was not their thing. Regina gave them all some advice about not being afraid to make mistakes and acting on what the coaches tell them.
This episode ended with Shayna playing the piano while the whole group sang Elton John’s ”Tiny Dancer.” It was a great scene to end the show with, even though I know that it could not possibly have been as impromptu as it appeared. The odds of all these kids knowing the words to “Tiny Dancer” are slim to none.
You can watch the entire episode at ABC’s website here:
Episode 4 finds us at Disneyland with the 30 contestants from the West Coast auditions. In the semi-finals, they participated in dancing and singing auditions which lead to the cut to just 10 finalists. Again, the show didn’t present enough of the semi-finals for us to be able to tell who should or should not have moved on. Many of the 30 came and went without the show ever telling us their names. Only a few stood out for me:
Madison Greer: When Madison auditioned last episode, she was in a full-blown production number. I was curious about how she would come across when all the bells and whistles were gone. As it turned out, she still sounded great.
Shayna Goldstein: Shayna’s initial audition was held in her at-home recording studio so I had a question of how she would come across in a larger setting. It looked like she had no problem at all.
Blair Perkins: I really wanted to hear Blair again to see if he acted on any of the advice that judge Jen Malenke had given him. Unfortunately we only got about 5 seconds of Blair singing in the semi-finals, but it did sound to me like his voice was stronger.
T. J. Wilkins: T. J. was fretting about having messed up some words at the beginning of the song, but he kept going so he hoped the judges wouldn’t hold it against him. Considering that he did, in fact, make it on as a finalist, I would have preferred that the show let us see how he handled the mistake. Everyone messes up at some point; the key is what happens next. I’m enjoying this show, but I’m having trouble understanding the thought process behind some of the editing.
Jen got the job of conveying the results to the semi-finalists and, much like Rob Adler in episode 2, she toyed with them a bit before giving the good news. The finalists were Stan Carrizosa, Shayna Goldstein, Ether Saure, Christina Brown, Madison Greer, Britney Christian, Christie Brooke, T. J. Wilkins, Sean Maddox and Lauren Diaz. That means that the “BFFs” we met last episode, Sean and Kelli Schultz, have now been separated. Kelli was brave about it, but I still felt bad for her.
Jen also got the job of informing the kids who didn’t make it and she seemed to have a tough time with it. She made a point of telling them not to give up because they wouldn’t have made it as far as they did if they didn’t have something special. I was particularly disappointed that Blair didn’t make it any further. It would have been fun to watch him develop.
As with the East Coast Finalists, this group was split into pairs and given one day to prepare a duet. The partners were Stan & Christine, T. J. & Shayna, Sean & Britney, Ether & Lauren and Madison & Christie. In the rehearsal footage we saw that: The Stan & Christine and Sean & Britney partnerships had some tension. T. J. was just adorable as he talked about this being the first time he’s done a duet with a girl. Ether bemoaned being an introvert and how it was hard for him not to be the quiet kid. Madison & Christie seemed to effortlessly get straight to work.
The pairs got to perform in front of the judges, and an audience, at Disney’s California Adventure:
T. J. & Shayna: They performed Keith Urban’s “You’ll Think of Me” and it didn’t really pull together. Their voices didn’t mesh and I thought T. J. looked uncomfortable through the whole thing.
Ether & Lauren (pictured above): They did “Hold My Hand” by Hootie and the Blowfish. They have compatible vocal styles and blended together very well.
Madison & Christie: They were assigned the Go-Go’s “Vacation” which meant I was going to be a tough judge of the performance. I am a huge fan of Belinda Carlisle and the girls so I noticed every change these two made. Trying to be objective, I thought they struggled a bit when they were singing solo but they did much better when they hit the harmonies at the chorus.
Sean & Britney: These two couldn’t be more different. They were given Eve 6’s “Inside Out”. Britney is comfortable with having a rocker-chick persona, but Sean is much more Broadway. They should have tried to find a way to compromise, but they went with the rock style and poor Sean just looked awkward through the whole thing.
Stan & Christine: They performed Michael Buble’s “Everything” and did a great acting job with the number. They made an adorable couple. I thought Stan’s vocals started out weak (it sounded like nerves) but it improved as he went along.
My choice for the cuts would have been T. J., Sean, Stan and Britney. Knowing that they started off with more girls than boys, though, I figured it would be mainly girls cut – and it was. The judges also thought Britney and Sean should go, but instead of T. J. and Stan, they opted to cut Lauren and Madison. While I agreed with the judges that Madison’s performance in the duet was her weakest, I think she showed the most potential of any of the girls in this round. I’m sorry she’s gone.
All in all, I think Tierney Chamberlain and James Wolpert from the East Coast auditions are still the two to beat, but I’ve become a big Ether fan too!
You can catch all the episodes at ABC’s website here:
We’ve returned to the initial auditions and this time it’s for the West Coast contestants. The three “faculty” members handling this round are Dance and Vocal coach Chris Prinzo, Vocal Coach Jen Malenke (pictured above) and Dance Instructor Regina Williams. Just like with the East Coast judges, these three were gentle with the contestants and gave solid constructive criticism. This was particularly true of Jen Malenke. Her coaching was right on the money and she had advice for all the kids, the ones she took a pass on and the ones she sent to the semi-finals. I really hope they all listen to her. I read in her bio at the ABC website that Jen is a high school musical director and you could see the experience she has with teenagers.
The set up for these auditions was exactly the same as in episode one, with a mix of cattle call style and field auditions. Some of the standouts from this round were:
Sean Maddox & Kelli Schultz – 18. This pair of best friends auditioned together and, luckily, both were moved on to the semi-finals. This kind of situation always makes me nervous because there’s a good chance that one will go further than the other and that always ends in tears. They have very compatible voices so they do work well as a duo.
Stan Carrizosa – 17. Stan did a nice job on “Tracks of My Tears” and you could see the makings of a solid performer. Jen gave him my favorite piece of advice of the entire episode when she told him that he needed to watch the riffing. Every time Stan came to a sustained note, he jazzed it up. As Jen said, “It’s like Christmas. If you had Christmas every day, it wouldn’t be special.”
Madison Greer – 16. I was surprised by what a mature stage presence this 16 year old had. She was a field audition, so she had the advantage of giving a real performance, but even so, she had a lot of polish.
Ether Saure – 18. This kid was just plain fun because his voice and style were so unexpected. He looked in the interview portion like he might be rather quiet and shy, but he was anything but shy when he sang with his band. Ether, you did all of us former band geeks proud!
Blair Perkins – 16. Blair was another kid that Jen sent to the semi-finals who I hope really listened to what she said. Blair has a thousand watt smile and personality to spare. He also has a voice that is very raw. Jen told him that she thought he was relying a bit too much on his charm. His delivery is there, he just needs to put more focus on the vocals. In his favor, Blair’s response to Jen’s comment was to ask what advice she could give him for the next time he auditioned. That desire to improve bodes well for this young man.
Shayna Goldstein - 17. Shayna sang Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Put Your Records On” and sounded fantastic. She has a wonderful light, effortless quality to her vocals. It will be interesting to see how she matches up with some of the more high-powered voices in the competition.
The western semi-finals and finals air tonight. In the meantime, this episode can be viewed at ABC’s website here:
As I noted in my recap of “High School Musical – Get In The Picture” episode 2, I would have posted Tierney Chamberlain and James Wolpert’s version of “Torn” if ABC had put it on their website. While ABC didn’t come through, some lovely person on YouTube did! I’m very impressed with these two kids. Check it out below:
