The good news for the contestants on tonight's AMERICAN IDOL is that they made it through the audition round - but the bad news is that more than 300 other contestants did too, and the judges warn at the start of the show that half of them will be headed home over the next two days of auditions.
Tonight about 150 of the singers will all be tackling an a capella song of their choice, and first up is 23-year-old Johnny Keyser, who impressed the judges with his original audition. They'll get no feedback this time around, and Johnny is immediately followed by 22-year-old Heejun Han in a group of ten. Both make it to the next round.
The next group of ten contains Elise Testone, 28; Baylie Brown, 21; and Hallie Day, 24. All three pass with flying colors - along with the rest of their group, which is happy tidings for the ladies but not for the rest of the contestants.
25-year-old Jen Hirsh and 23-year-old Lauren Gray were the only two previously featured out of those in the next group. They're both put through as well.
19-year-olds Heather Youmans and Candice Russell next get cut, along with a slew of others - but Phil Phillips, 21 (who auditioned with his acoustic guitar version of "Thriller") and Reed Grimm, 26, will be seen in the next round.
The next day of auditions kicks off with Jim Carrey's daughter, Jane, who along with four others in her group will be sent home, but blues rocker Adam Brock will be sticking around in Hollywood.
The next group features 17-year-old David Leathers, along with 16-year-old (and six-feet-tall) Shannon Magrane and 26-year-old Jessica Phillips, who's been helping her boyfriend after his stroke; they all get the green light.
Putting the finishing touches on the first day of auditions are Jeremy Rosado, 19, along with Symone Black, 16. The day ends with a bang, though - literally - as Symone faints clean off the front of the stage. IDOL ends the episode without letting us know what happened, but it'd be a bit heartless of the show to end on a cliffhanger note if Symone wasn't okay, so we'll find out tomrorow whether or not she made it into the next round or had to head home.
Emmy Award-winning AMERICAN IDOL is created and executive produced by Simon Fuller, Founder, 19 Entertainment, a division of CKX, Inc.; and executive-produced by Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.; Ken Warwick, Executive Producer, FremantleMedia North America, Inc.; and Nigel Lythgoe, President, Big Red 2 Entertainment.
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