The pressure is on in tonight's episode of High School Musical: Summer Session.  After making it through the preliminary audition round or being chosen by talent scouts in their hometowns, 34 lucky teens and young adults have made it to the Eastern semi-final round.  Anthony Acito tries to put everyone's nerves to rest by pumping up the crowd.  Isiah Smith has a hard time keeping his eye on the prize and checks out the pretty females who have made it to the semi-finals.  Choreographer and faculty member Tiana Brown teaches the semi-finalists a combination that they'll need to perform in front of some of the judges.  Jessalyn Bertone worried that her dance ability would be the thing that got her sent home but only time would tell.

After performing the dance combination, the 34 semi-finalists would have to perform a song for the judges from one of the High School Musical movies.  Only 10 would move on from here.  The judges did not give feedback, they only thanked them and sent them on their way.  Briana Vega thought she blew it when she completely blanked in front of the faculty members.  Tierney Chamberlain established herself as a frontrunner in the semi-final round with a standout performance of "What I've Been Looking For".

After talking it over, the faculty members gather the semi-finalists together and split them into groups to go out onto stage.  As they stand there, waiting in agony to find out what their fate would be, they finally learn who will move on and who is going home.  The 10 that were called the the stage first are the ones who move on.  The 24 who were left behind in the green room are eliminated in one swift move.  Some of the semi-finalists to move on are Anthony, John, Isiah, Tierney, and Briana.   

Tiana Brown pairs up the 10 finalists to perform duets at Epcot Center after only one day of rehearsal.  Some partners have immediate chemistry and some partners make their other half nervous.  Tierney and James connect and rock a version of Natalie Imbruglia's "Torn".  Bailey and John put aside their creative differences and do well with The Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way".  They may not have had chemistry but Anthony and Jessalyn sounded good on Cobie Caillat's "Bubbly".  Despite being very different people, Briana and Tony connected on "Leave The Pieces" by The Wreckers.  Last up was Sierra and Isiah singing "Change The World" by Eric Clapton and it was obvious that they came to win.

The 10 finalists are sent back to their hotel rooms where Nick Lachey delivers the good news to the 6 who will move on to the show.  Those 6 are: Anthony, Bailey, James, Tierney, Briana, and Isiah.  Next week, the 6 from the Western half of the United States will be selected and the final 12 will head to Utah to compete for a spot in High School Musical 3.


- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)