Tonight's episode of
High School Musical: Summer Session focused on the West Coast auditions. Contestants traveled from all across the country to get to California, coming from everywhere from Idaho to Washington state. First to hit the microphone tonight is Hripsime Bagdasaryan (say that five times fast) who sings "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. She'll need a little more training before she's ready for
High School Musical 3. Soccer star Ben Ashley, who says he's only been singing for a few days, chooses "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. A few days isn't enough for the talent scout and she tells him it's the end of the road for him. Olivia Bonilla doesn't find any more luck with her rendition of "Angel" by Sarah MacLachlan. it's going to be tough to impress these judges!
The judges head all over the western half of the United States in search of talent for this season of
High School Musical: Get In The Picture. The first stop for scout Regina Williams is Hawaii, where a guitar playing singer named Christina Brown has been nominated by her father. Regina decides to put her through after hearing her sing "Colors of the Wind" from the Disney movie,
Pocahontas. In Texas, scout Chris Prinzo scops out Sean Maddox and Kelli Schultz have been nominated by their theater director and are known as Austin's own Ryan and Sharpay. He thinks that both of them are worth of heading to the semi-finals and delivers the good news in front of their cast. In North Dakota, scout Jen Malenke checks out Cash Johnson but decides to pass, feeling that he just wasn't ready.
Back in California, a contestant finally gets through to the semi-finals. Jen Malenke decides to put through athlete Stan Carrisoza. With the talent pool being so small at the open call, the scouts head back out on the road again. Chris puts through Madison, a talented singer, after hearing her sing a song from
Dreamgirls. Regina sends Christy, a free spirited girl with a big voice, on to the semi-finals after hearing her sing on the beach. Jen finds talent in Ethan, a high school student who has never been to Disney Land.
At the open call, the judges finally start putting people through after finding talented singers that they felt were worth of moving on. Then, it was back on the road. Regina decided to pass on Zach in Utah, feeling that he didn't connect enough to his song. She finds better luck in California with Ally, who was playing Sharpay in her high school production of
High School Musical. At the open call, Jen puts through Blair, a smooth talking 16 year old with a nice voice. She then heads to Alaska, where she passes on Clairen, a jazz singer, because she didn't feel she was the type that they were looking for.
In Colorado, Chris puts through Shayna after hearing her sing Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Record On" while playing guitar. Jen gives the green light to small town girl Maddy, after hearing her sing at open mic night. At the open call, Regina puts through a talented singer named Andrew after hearing his rendition of Edwin McCain's "I'll Be". The final contestants to make it through are Lauren Diaz and TJ Wilkins.
- Gina Scarpa, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of ABC)