First Person: My ‘American Idol’ Experience, by Norman Gentle
The 15th and final bittersweet season of American Idol is underway, and all season long, Yahoo Music’s Reality Rocks is inviting alumni from the series to share their stories. This week’s essay is by one of the series’ all-time zaniest and most memorable contestants, Season 8′s Nick Mitchell, aka Norman Gentle, who explains the inspiration for his kitschy character and offers tips for aspiring talent show auditioners.
(photo: Fox)
Picture it: Sicily, 1922. Just kidding. More like New Jersey, 2008-2009. Imagine a sea of thousands of teenage to mid-twentysomething girls plugging one ear and waving their hands to a Christina Aguilera riff, or guys doing the *NSYNC “Bye Bye Bye” dance.
This was real! Crazy! We sat in that arena from 6 a.m. until we were called to audition. (Which could go until 8 .p.m. Anyone auditioning for any of these shows – America’s Got Talent, The Voice whatever – please bring a book, or bring an iPad loaded with 10 hours’ worth of movies. Save your voice, save your sanity, and find a nice corner to sit in while you wait for your turn to sing.)
So we watched all these amazing singers – some not, but for the most part, pretty great singers – sing their hearts out on the basketball court of an arena to a producer or two. And there were about 15 people singing at once, separated by a voting curtain! It was intimidating, it was crazy, it was the American Idol auditions. Oh, and did I mention Stage mom’? Yes, stage moms! Dance Moms/Gypsy Mama Rose/Toddlers and Tiaras types, carrying around résumés of their offspring, trying to make things happen.
I had a friend that dared to me to go, who is the bomb.com singer. She can harmonize anything; she can hit a high C; she is an amazing singer. She did not get through. As the day progressed, another woman sang so amazingly and had so much power and control that she got a STANDING OVATION. People heard her from the 300 sections – the nosebleeds – from the basketball court. She sang a Dreamgirls song and rocked that arena like Beyoncé at the Super Bowl and…wait for it… she did not get through. The particular producer that saw her must have not been feeling her. The stadium was feeling her! How could the producer not be feeling her? Maybe he/she had not had lunch and was having a hangry moment. It was beyond discouraging.
To be honest, after that moment, I wanted to leave. It made me think if she couldn’t get through, then what the heck am I doing here? This is the same old story at every audition. If you ever get the chance to live in New York City and audition for the musical theater scene, you will feel this way. A casting director I once met told me it is never about how good you are, it is about “are you right for the part?” Are you what the casting director/producer envisioned for this part? She told me to keep on trying, and hopefully one day everything will add up. The time in your life, the part, the age range, the talent, the casting director, and then whammoooo! You got the part!
Character work has been my dream since… um, ever?! I love escaping into a character: a sad cabaret performer, a girl on rollerskates that sings Wilson Phillips, a crooner from Hoboken who idolizes Frank Sinatra but runs a pool hall. Characters gave me freedom, to act and be any way the character was supposed to be. For this particular Idol audition, I knew a character that would be perfect: a man that just ran away from home to become a star in the Big Apple – leaving his family, his family business of syrup-making and distribution, and a lovely wife behind – to follow his dreams. His dream is to sing Patti Labelle and Whitney Houston songs to the world, and acquire mass hysteria and fame. American Idol was the perfect platform for this. Norman Gentle was born in the 1980s, but American Idol gave him what made him feel alive the most: fame and adoration (and backlash, which he was oblivious too). He is still working on a comeback. Last I heard from him, he was in a studio apartment off the Las Vegas Strip, trying to get Celine Dion to let him open for her.
THE TOP 10 THINGS YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF BEFORE AUDITIONING FOR A SINGING REALITY TELEVISION SHOW:
1) Be prepared for constant Mariah Carey/ Christina Aguilera vocal runs (possibly with hand movements and plugging one’s ear). We are talking hundreds at a time.
2) Get ready for boy-band choreography constantly being practiced in your own area of refuge.
3) Hunger. The wait can be as long as 12-14 hours, and concession stands are not open. Bring food. Bring water. Bring the patience of a shaman.
4) Get your intimidation shields up. There will a lot of résumé-boasting, YouTube video-sharing… I do not want to say bragging, but, yes, serious nonstop bragging. These tactics can be blocked with headphones.
5) This is a positive one. Possible friendships can be made. It is a long day and there is a chance of bonding.
6) Be prepared to get asked personal questions on camera. If it makes you uncomfortable and you say it, they will use it. This is still reality television. Even though the camera is hypnotizing, be prepared to button your lip if you do not want Aunt Betty and Uncle Freddy knowing your business.
7) You most likely will meet judges a month to two months after this initial audition. The first day is just for producers.
8) Keep your song selection to yourself, and pick the money part of your song. The meat. They are ready for some good tunes – hit the bridge, who needs the chorus?
9) Have a good backstory, because that is what they are looking for. It is a television show first.
10) Have fun! Performing in a room at a local karaoke bar in your hometown is no different from performing for 20 million people. You are still performing. Entertain the people in the room and yourself.
