When in Rome

I have been wanting to post for the longest time about an unexpected and amazing opportunity Jonathan was able to partake in with his choir, Voci Perigolose (VP). In June, VP took part in the Casting for Italia's Got Talent! The director wanted to keep things hush-hush until a final verdict was given three and a half months later in the end of September. However, by then things were crazy around here and I never got around to sharing this bit of news until now.

IGT Casting Roma - 8 June 2019
photo credit: Italia's Got Talent
Jonathan, Raluca, Franco, Laura and Armando

Recruiters from IGT pursued them as potential contestants, and really how could they say "no" to the opportunity? Since their previous international competition in Verona back in March, the choir has been cut down to a core of five singers. They are a talented and stronger vocal group now and they sound way better in this smaller ensemble.

The choir rented a van and drove the 7 hours down to Rome on June 8. Jonathan was one of the two primary drivers since it was an automatic and everyone else was hesitant to drive it. haha They arrived late evening and dropped their things off at the airbnb and then changed into their Steampunk apparel in order to sing and entertain in downtown Rome. I was a bit jealous as Jonathan would text me photos throughout the night from the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and other places that hold a special place in my heart. There is nothing quite like summer nights in Rome.

Vittorio Emanuele II Monument
Piazza Venezia

Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

They got back around 2am and still had paperwork to complete for the next day's auditions. I think they ended up getting just 2 hours of sleep before having to be at the venue at 7:30am.

The crazy thing was that they got a text message from an IGT staff member the night before that told them not to wait in line with the others but to come to a side door and then call him directly from there. First thing they had them do was shoot footage for a commercial, silent movie and other random things. Then they sent them back to wait for their audition. But then another person would come and get them to do something else. At one point they just came out to them and asked for Jonathan's steampunk Bible. He carries a pistol in one hand and a Bible in the other to outfit his American steampunk preacher persona! Who knows what they did with his Bible, but a half hour later they brought it back.

Inside the convention center waiting to be called

Talent act? Not quite sure but there were lots of colorful and interesting characters to keep them entertained throughout their wait.

VP finally completed their official audition around 4:30 in the afternoon. A preliminary judge followed them out of the audition room and said "Thank you for existing!" He gave them some additional tips and wished them genuine luck in hoping to see them in the first official round of competition.

Audition time...finally!

After that they were told to not leave. Then someone else came around and started asking what they do for their occupations. Upon hearing that Jonathan is an evangelical pastor, and after the girl picked her jaw up off the ground, she said "You have to come with me!" Jonathan was then interviewed on camera and had the opportunity to give glory to God through his responses. He doesn't often get flustered or stage fright, but he did admit that the lights and cameras and having to respond in the future tense as if they just aired their performance on TV etc. was a bit intimidating and fluster worthy. Speaking on camera in Italian would be enough to send me running. They also interviewed Laura and clearly were devoting much attention to certain people or groups that were auditioning.

Jonathan was astounded by the organization, the staging that goes into a production like IGT and how clearly there were talent acts preselected for featuring.

Finally, as the IGT team was well under way tearing down and cleaning up, they were released to leave around 7:30pm.  It was a long, hot and tiring day...but it was so worth it! They had a blast with the experience making wonderful memories together  and really bonding tighter as a group. A definite 2019 highlight for Jonathan and Voci Perigolose.

They got on the road to drive home very late in order to get back for people to head to work on Monday morning. They actually pulled in to Caselle around 5am!

And then they had to wait until the end of September for news about a call back for the official TV auditions that were filmed in three different cities in September/October. Sadly, they were not called back but who knows they might still be featured on the preliminary shows or recap of the casting auditions. The show will be nationally aired in the winter of 2020.

They did get quite the publicity feature on the IGT website and Instagram feed after their Rome audition.

Staged photo shoot of contestants waiting in line for registration

Where's Jonathan? Hint: look for the pistol and Bible

Where's Jonathan?

Eye catching color and costumes make good publicity photos