Diana DeGarmo News

On Wednesday, AMERICAN IDOL revealed the remaining 17 semifinalists in the season's top 24 contenders. (Spoiler Warning: Do not read ahead if you don't want to know yet who the top 24 are.)

Omaha's Broadway dreams will come true this summer when Omaha Performing Arts partners with THE BROADWAY DREAMS FOUNDATION (BDF) to present their acclaimed Summer Performing Arts Intensive at the Holland Performing Arts Center (13th & Douglas Streets) Monday, July 19 through Sunday, July 25, 2010.

Yesterday, February 16, Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, and HAIR director Diane Paulus proudly introduced the new Tribe of America's favorite Tribal Love-Rock Musical to the press. The new Tribe will debut on Tuesday, March 9, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, as the current cast takes the production to the West End, opening April 14 at London's Gilegud Theatre.

In an 'American Idol' first, seven of the Top 24 contestants were revealed on tonight's episode. After featuring snippets of many contestants' performances, 'Idol' split the hopefuls into three groups, sending one-third of the contestants home before the final judging. Then, each remaining contestant sat down with the judges to learn whether they would be singing in front of America or ending their journey in Hollywood. Some performances worked, others fell surprisingly flat, but the big news from tonight's 'Idol' is who made it through Hollywood.

Here is the audition of Todrick Hall, who was seen on Broadway opposite Fantasia Barrino in The Color Purple. Hall has also appeared in 'High School Musical 2' and in a 'Beauty and the Beast' production at Disney World. He has also appeared on Disney cruise ships as well as writing, choreographing and directing his own original production called 'Oz, the Musical.'

Here is the audition of Todrick Hall, who was seen on Broadway opposite Fantasia Barrino in The Color Purple. Hall has also appeared in 'High School Musical 2' and in a 'Beauty and the Beast' production at Disney World. He has also appeared on Disney cruise ships as well as writing, choreographing and directing his own original production called 'Oz, the Musical.'

For the first time in the history of AMERICAN IDOL, the first 7 contenders of the top 24 have been announced, reports TVGuide.com.

Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, has announced the Broadway cast of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. The new Tribe will debut on Tuesday, March 9, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. BroadwayWorld was on hand as the new hippies met the press today.

Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, has announced the Broadway cast of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. The new Tribe will debut on Tuesday, March 9, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street, NYC). The cast performed 'Let The Sun Shine In' for the press.

Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, has announced the Broadway cast of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. The new 'Tribe' will debut on Tuesday, March 9, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street, NYC).

Tonight episode of 'American Idol' brought the always-entertaining group auditions. The remaining contestants form groups of three to five people, choose from a select list of songs, and choreograph the number to perform in front of the judges. Group auditions always provide for an excellent episode, as it is the only time in the show when contestants are forced to depend on others in their performance.

The first round of Hollywood auditions on 'American Idol' brought the welcome addition of Ellen DeGeneres to the judging panel. Ellen replaced Paula Abdul, after Paula was not hired back for 'Idol's' ninth season. Ellen was a refreshing change to panel, being brutally honest to the contestants, as well as providing several amusing comments about the performances.

As HAIR readies for its Broadway makeover and London premiere, rumors are beginning to swirl as to which current cast members will be settling in across the pond and which new faces will be gracing the Broadway production. The newest reports out suggest that American Idol alumni Ace Young (season 5's seventh runner up) and Diana DeGarmo (season 3 runner up) are among the new picks for the Broadway replacement cast. No official announcement has been made by the production, although it is expected that casting announcements for London and New York are imminent, as the new Broadway performers go into rehearsal in the coming weeks.

The Reprise Theatre Company's production of CAROUSEL will close on February 7, 2010.

'Idol' closed out its fourth week of auditions with a 'Best of the Rest' episode, containing singers from each of the seven audition cities. In typical 'Idol' fashion, some of the singers were quite talented, while others were simply pitiful. Very few standouts were seen in this last episode; however, one of the more interesting stories to take place thus far on 'Idol' was featured.

David Elzer, Peter Schneider and Crooning Crabcakes, LLC are thrilled to announce that their Ovation and LADCC nominated, critically-acclaimed (LA Times CRITICS' CHOICE, Backstage CRITIC'S PICK, LA WEEKLY GO!) smash-hit world premiere production of LIFE COULD BE A DREAM, written and directed by Roger Bean (The Marvelous Wonderettes) with choreography by Lee Martino (Reprise On Your Toes, On The Town) and musical direction by Michael Paternostro (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Thrill Me) is EXTENDING AGAIN through Sunday, April 25 at the Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

The 'American Idol' auditions made their last stop tonight, visiting Denver, the home to one of the biggest rock stars to come from 'Idol,' Daughtry. Since season five when Daughtry appeared on the show, the number of auditions to be the next 'American Idol' more than doubled, bringing the total number of contestants in Denver to over 9,000. Guest judge Victoria Beckham was back on the judging panel, bookending the auditions after joining the show on its first stop in Boston.

'American Idol' made its way back to the location of its season one winner, visiting the city of Dallas and home of pop superstar Kelly Clarkson. The guest judges joining 'Idol' in the state of Texas were teen heartthrob Joe Jonas and television and Broadway star and Tony Award host Neil Patrick Harris. Dallas brought some excellent singers into the mix and some will definitely make a splash in Hollywood.

The fifth stop on the audition tour of 'American Idol' landed in 'Idol's' own backyard, Los Angeles. Joining Simon, Randy, and Kara were two young pop stars themselves, Avril Lavigne on the first day and Katy Perry on the second day. Lavigne was rarely seen on screen and did not seem to add much to the judging panel; Perry, however, was one of the few guest judges to truly understand the competition. Instead of joining Kara as the 'feel-good-judge' and sending people to Hollywood if they came in with a good story, Perry only voted 'Yes' to singers who she felt would actually have the chance to win the competition. A welcome change to the judging panel, Katy was more reminiscent of Simon and made her decision based purely on talent.

The 2009-2010 season of Reprise Theatre Company continues with Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Carousel,' January 26 to February 7 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. Alexandra Silber stars as Julie Jordan, direct from her critically acclaimed portrayal of Julie Jordan in 'Carousel' at the Savoy Theatre in London's West End (TMA Award - Best Actress).