Three First-Years Advance to Finals in ‘Harvard Idol’

Aspiring singers, dedicated fans and a “Simon” were all featured in Saturday night’s “Harvard Idol”—a takeoff on the hit Fox television show “American Idol.”

In an event organized by the Prefect Program for first-years, the audience in Science Center B chose Joshua M. Brener ’07, Kieran H. Shanahan ’07 and Amy M. Zelcer ’07 from a field of 10 contestants to move on to next week’s final round, in which the Harvard Idol will be selected.

Each of the finalists was given two to three minutes to sing along to instrumental covers that ranged from Zelcer’s rendition of the old jazz standard “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home to,” to the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s hit “Under the Bridge,” sung by Justin V. Rodriguez ’07.

A few hundred first-years braved the snow to see the spectacle, and several performers had their own cheering sections.

Rodriguez’s fans, who color-coordinated their red outfits, sat in the first row waving bright pink signs during his song. Supporters of Brener held up a banner reading “Jewish orgasmic sexy hunk” during his performance of Frank Sinatra’s “Almost Like Being in Love.”

The event was hosted by prefects John M. Barkett ’04 and Maura E. Boyce ’05, both of whom helped to plan the contest.

Boyce, who Barkett described as “one of the biggest American Idol fans I’ve ever met,” said she was “really impressed” by the students who tried out.

“Most of them are not in a cappella groups, so I think it’s kind of nice—the untapped resources,” she said of the 10 finalists.

In the spirit of the real “American Idol,” the three judges—Aliaa Remtilla ’05, Zachary D. Raynor ’05 and Daniel J. Zaccagnino ’05—commented on the contestants’ singing, dress and song choice in front of the crowd.

Remtilla, a VES concentrator, said before the show that she would be looking for the performers’ “unification of style—having their song match their singing style and how their style of singing matches their dress.”

Describing herself as a “Simon fan”—referring to the Fox show’s most merciless judge—Remtilla added that “I don’t think I have it in me to be mean.” But it was Raynor’s remarks that struck contestants and onlookers as Simonesque, and during the show one audience member even shouted “You suck Simon!” during one of his critiques.

“Okay, okay, if I’m going to be really honest with you, I was bored,” he told Chelsey J. Forbess ’07, who performed Celine Dion’s “Power of Love.”

His negative remarks were booed by the audience, and when he did actually give positive feedback to the contestants, the crowd applauded.

Remtilla played the Paula Abdul to Raynor’s Simon-like criticism of Forbess.

“I had goosebumps while you were singing. I thought it was amazing,” she said.

Besides Raynor’s criticism, several contestants also grappled with difficulties such as low microphone volume that made it difficult for them to project to the audience.

“I was upset with the sound system,” a headband and sweatshirt-clad Alexandra S. Epstein ’07 said of roommate first-year Kara E. Furman’s performance of Whitney Houston’s “Queen of the Night.” “I thought it was unfair to her.”

Selected by audience vote, the three finalists were notified last night of their success. Today, an e-mail will be sent out to the Class of 2007 announcing the results.

Brener, Shanahan and Zelcer will perform again this coming Saturday in the Science Center, and the winner—who will also selected by the audience at the conclusion of the event—will have the chance to record three free tracks with Veritas Records.

“I think the best thing one can do is to let the audience know you’re having fun,” Shanahan said of the upcoming show.

Shanahan, who said she plays the French horn in Harvard’s wind ensemble and is also involved with dance, added that she is looking to audition for musicals next spring and to go into the performing arts for a couple of years after graduation.

Barkett said he came up with the idea for a first-year “Idol” last summer, and along with co-host Boyce—with whom he serves as a “Director of Fun” for the Prefect Program—organized the contest with other prefects, “The Committee of Fun.”

Barkett said that when he discussed the idea with Boyce, they “thought it’d be exciting—people would remember it and enjoy participating and being in public.”

The prefects judged about 25 potential first-year contestants during a three-day audition in November, selecting the 10 who competed on Saturday. The 10 first-years were interviewed on camera, and clips were shown to the audience before each finalist performed last Saturday.

Assistant Dean of Freshmen James N. Mancall, who also helped oversee the event’s planning, said that although he had never seen the TV version of American Idol, he thought that bringing it to Harvard was a “great idea.”

“The prefects and I have been working for a while now to create more late night events for the freshmen,” Mancall said. “The prefects worked really hard to put this together. They deserve the credit for this, and I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.”