Crews, along with Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel and new celebrity judges Gabrielle Union and Julianne Hough will kick off Season 14 right here in Pasadena.
“We love Pasadena and we’re going to be right there inside the Pasadena Civic Auditorium,” said America’s Got Talent supervising digital producer Adam Davis. “The show taping is separate from the open calls we just had in Pasadena.”
Davis said there is no better opportunity to see AGT than here in Pasadena..
“This is where people who live in the area or who read about this and want to come to Pasadena for an evening or a weekend can come, have dinner and then see the show,” Davis said.
“Pasadena is where Season 14 begins,” he said. “What you see on TV this summer starts right here. I promise you it will be one of the most epic nights or days of your life if you come to see the show.”
Pasadena is the favorite spot of the crew, who just finished the first season of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions,” which was hosted by Crews and also filmed in Pasadena.
“It was Simon’s dream to gather all the top talent from all the ‘America’s Got Talent’ around the world,” Davis said. “The best in the world came to Pasadena and we filmed that here as well. It just completed it’s 7-episode first-season run on NBC last week.”
While Davis wouldn’t reveal any names of possible contestants from the area, he said there’s a strong connection to Pasadena because it’s where host Crews lives.
“We’re coming back and looking for new talent who have never been seen before,” Davis said. “We might have found some of those faces to compete in front of the celebrity judges at our open call in Pasadena or at our many stops across the nation, or from the videos to compete for the million-dollar prize or a show in Las Vegas.”
As for the top contestants, after winning the show, the next stop is usually Las Vegas, Davis said.
“I just got back from Las Vegas and I was amazed to see all the names that I know have come from ‘America’s Got Talent’ who have their own shows in Las Vegas,” Davis said.
Last year’s winner Shin Lin, has a show at The Mirage, magician Mat Franco who has his own theatre at the Linq Hotel, Pip the Magic Dragon is at The Flamingo, first season winner ventriloquist Terry Fator is at the Mirage, and Cakeface also has a Las Vegas show.
In his seven years on the show, Davis said he’s had his share of phenomenal talent but also the oddballs.
“It was a family that walked into one of my audition rooms at an open call, threw whoopie cushions on the floor and just fell on them,” Davis said. “One season we kicked off with a chicken playing a piano.”
The oldest contestant was Dorothy the 89-year-old stripper.
But there are the success stories.
“You have the Shin Lims of the magic world, or Grace VanderWaal on the same label as Adele. These are people who come to AGT with a dream and leave as superstars.”
“We’re not just for singers, we don’t just showcase a voice, we showcase talent,” Davis said.
For tickets: http://on-camera-audiences.com/shows/Americas_Got_Talent
Link to story: http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/pasadena-resident-terry-crews-hosts-americas-got-talent-season-14-show-tapings-start-at-civic-center/
