Auditions for Fifth Season of 'Stonewall Sensation' Singing Competition Set for Feb. 17

The Stonewall Inn, located at 53 Christopher Street in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village, is thrilled to announce the fifth season of Stonewall Sensation, a singing competition in the spirit of TV's "American Idol."

Auditions will be held in front of a live audience on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010. At the end of the show on February 17th, the top fifteen contestants, who will determined by the judges and audience enthusiasm, will be announced and invited to participate in the competition.

Each week contestants will be asked to sing songs from various musical genres. Additionally, each week one contestant will be eliminated unitl the winner finally is determined on Wednesday, May 26th. The winner receives a cash prize of $1000, a fully produced show at The Stonewall Inn, and a free photo shoot. Those people auditioning on February 17th are asked to prepare a one-minute excerpt of a song of his or her choice, which will be sung in front of the audience and the judges a cappella. During the actual competition, however, singers will be accompanied live onstage by a piano.

Bistro, MAC, and Nightlife Award Winner Brandon Cutrell will host Stonewall Sensation Season Five. The judges who will sit on the panel each week for Season Five are Time Out New York's Theatre Critic Adam Feldman, POPPI KRAMER from NBC's "The Biggest Loser," and Miss Fire Island Ariel Sinclair. Each week also feature a guest celebrity judge. Doors will open at 9pm and auditions will begin at 10pm. No one under 21 will be admitted or permitted to audition. Sign up for auditions will begin at 9pm on Wednesday, February 17th. For more inforation, please contact The Stonewall Inn at 212-488-2705.

Brandon Cutrell is a Nightlife Award, Bistro Award and two-time MAC Award winner. New York credits: Broadway By The Year at Town Hall, The 2nd Annual Broadway Unplugged at Town Hall, Pippin (with Ben Vereen and Rosie O'Donnell), La Gioconda at TheatreSource, David Friedman's King Island Christmas, and Liz Swados' Waiting For Lefty. National: Theatre of the Stars, Goodspeed Musicals, the Human Race Theatre and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. For nearly two years, Brandon was the original host of the MAC Award nominated show, Mostly Sondheim. In December of 2005, Brandon made his debut in the world-famous Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. In June of 2006, Brandon made his solo debut at Feinstein's, New York's legendary nightclub on Park Avenue. Currently, Brandon can be seen every Friday night at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street as the host of The After Party, a weekly open-mic, musical theatre soiree. Brandon's self-titled cd is available on iTunes and www.BrandonCutrell.com.

The Stonewall Inn, the historic Christopher Street landmark of gay liberation, is the birthplace of the famous "Stonewall Riots". During the last weekend of June of 1969, police and Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agents entered a gay bar--The Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street, in New York City. Allegedly there to look for violations of the alcohol control laws, they made homophobic comments and then, after checking identification, threw the patrons out of the bar, one by one. Instead of quietly leaving, as the patrons had done for years, hustlers, drag queens, students and other patrons held their ground and fought back. Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it to barricade the door. The agents and police were trapped inside and, thus, wrecked the place and called in reinforcements. NYPD vehicles raced to the scene with lights glaring and sirens blaring. The crowd grew. Someone set a fire. More people came. For three days, people protested. For the first time in American history, after innumerable years of oppression, the chant, Gay Power, rang out.