Community Corner
IDOL TIME: Sisters Give American Idol a Shot
But after a seven-hour wait for a 30-second chance, they left without a golden ticket to the next round.
Two Webster Groves sisters got up before dawn Tuesday just to sit and wait seven hours for a 30-second shot at American Idol fame.
But the answer was a gentle “no, not this time” for each of the girls once they finally got to the audition booth inside the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis.
“There was a person in a banana costume and she got in, which was kind of annoying,” said Hannah Lieb, 16, who along with her 20-year-old sister Jessica were among the reported 10,000 people hoping to impress the preliminary judges.
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Hannah, who will be a junior at this year, sang just a snippet of “Feeling Good,” popularized by, among others, Nina Simone. Jessica, who attends sang “My Funny Valentine,” a standard for Frank Sinatra.
But after arriving in downtown St. Louis about 5 a.m. and sitting on the pavement outside Scottrade Center for a couple of hours, they still had to while away several more hours inside the venue.
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They passed the time texting and scanning the crowd for friends – they saw several from l, where Hannah went to school last year – and for comic relief. The crowd didn't disappoint. Besides the girl in the banana costume, there was someone wearing a gorilla costume and a guy wearing bright pink tights.
Once it was their turn to show off, each girl was directed into separate curtained booths where they had just seconds to make a good impression in front of two anonymous judges. Meanwhile, singers in a dozen or so neighboring booths did the same, sometimes quite loudly.
“One thing I’m really happy about is I didn’t mess up,” Hannah said. “I know I tried my hardest.”
Auditioners who were bumped up to the next round were sent through one door; the rest – like Hannah and Jessica – were sent out the other.
“The walk of shame,” Hannah joked. She took it in stride, though. Both she and her sister are accustomed to auditions and performing – in fact, both are appearing in Bye Bye Birdie July 7-9 at the in Kirkwood Park and had to rush home for rehearsal.
The judges did tell them each to come back and try again another year. But Hannah said she and her sister probably wouldn’t be back – the process was too exhausting for the tiniest of chances to make it through to Hollywood.
“It’s hard to find a song that you can show off with in 30 to 45 seconds,” she said.