Justin Guarini unexpectedly missed the chance to star in the massive Broadway hit The Lion King while on American Idol in 2002 – but now he feels hakuna matata about this decision.
44-year-old Season 1 runner-up decided to stick to the potential shot as a superstar in a then little-known reality show competition, although after “a few years” of auditions he was offered a job within the cult Broadway musical, recently said Yahoo! Entertainment.
Guarini took second place season one winner Kelly Clarkson who’s now the host of her eponymous talk showafter which encountered quite a few profession setbacks in the next years, including an unsuccessful debut album and the bombshell 2003 film “From Justin to Kelly”, which also starred Clarkson.
“Oh, just say it: my album was a flop. The film I made afterwards was an absolute flop,” said Guarini. “It was really painful. For instance, I remember it was something that just crushed me because I’ve all the time wanted a record deal. I’ve all the time desired to be a recording artist.”
Now, nonetheless, he has handled how the industry works.
“I’m using a 20-year perspective to see, oh my god, this business is de facto cyclical,” he said.
Not that Guarini’s early decision-making process was easy.
“I took masterclasses, which is sort of a step before you get on the stage,” he said of his shooting at his goal, which might eventually appear in The Lion King. “Everybody on the corporate board was like, ‘Look, we would like you, but we just do not have room for you at once. Just hold on, hold on.
Guarini waited, but meanwhile he landed a spot on “a show that nobody’s ever heard of called American Idol,” recalls the Georgian as he wins the “golden ticket” to Hollywood.
“I remember sitting within the automobile and it was about every week before I needed to go to LA – a spot I’d never been to before. I get a call they usually say, “Hey, we finally got the part for you.” we would like you. How soon are you able to start?
Although Guarini knew he “could possibly be cut off” from the competition, he felt he needed to make a life-changing decision as he had already moved as much as the highest 30 on the show.
“I checked out the stage. I saw the American Idol logo, the smoke, the lights, the rostrum where the judges sit, and I just began cryhe said. And that little voice said to me, ‘Go together with it.’
He stood on the platform of the Pasadena Civic Center and wondered the way it could possibly be the identical scene where Michael Jackson performed at one point.
“So lots of my heroes have been on this stage. I do not know why, but just to have go along with it”, The “Dr. Pepper” promoting icon he said.
Despite the rejection of The Lion King for American Idol twenty years ago, Guarini still appeared on Broadway in American Idiot – roughly a decade after his debut on the competition reality show.
“The nod to the story is that 10 years later, after my season on American Idol ended, I opened my first Broadway show in Latest York, and that night we had our opening party on the hotel within the boardroom where I auditioned for the primary time. to “American Idol,” he told Yahoo! Entertainment.
“I feel so lucky to be a part of the Broadway community because there has never been a community that I was an element of that was more accepting, more loving,” he added. “They do not care where you come from – so long as you show up, do your job, be nice and tell a story, they love you.
“And I love them for that too.”