Sean
“Diddy” Combs and MTV announced open call auditions for the mogul’s
fourth season of Making the Band yesterday (Jan. 16), which will search
for the newest superstar boy band.Starting
today (Jan 17.), music industry hopefuls will be able to audition in Los Angeles
for the first round of cuts. Open
call auditions will also be held in Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago, Detroit, Houston
and New York.For
the first-time since the show’s creation, fans who are not able to attend
one of the open calls in select cities will be able to upload performance videos
until January 27th. Viewers
will be given the opportunity to vote for their favorite online candidates, and
the top three will be selected to perform live in front of Diddy on February 6.The
last season of Making The Band 3 ranked #1 in its time period among P12-34
versus cable competition and reached over 63 million total viewers in premieres
and repeats. During
season 3, Diddy created the successful girl group Danity Kane, whose album debuted
at number one on the Billboard charts. Danity
Kane is scheduled to go on tour with Christina Aguilera.In
related news, Diddy and fellow Broadway cast members of Lorainne Hansberry’s
1959 play A Raisin in the Sun will appear in the made-for-TV movie version
airing on ABC next spring.Combs
and his Broadway cast members will perform in the TV-movie adaptation opposite
original Broadway cast member Bill Nunn, as well as alongside stage veterans Ron
Cephas Jones, Sean Patrick Thomas and John Stamos.The
2004 Broadway revival was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Revival
of a Play. Both
Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald took home honors for their work. Notable actors
such as Sanaa Lathan also appeared alongside Diddy in the play.The
televised play was originally scheduled to air in spring 2007.
