American Idol finalists Caleb Lee Hutchinson and Maddie Poppe in the season finale.
After a monumental return to television in 2018, American Idol Live! 2018 comes to the Alberta Bair Theater stage, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30, and features this season’s talented Top 7 finalists: Cade Foehner, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Catie Turner, Gabby Barrett, Jurnee, Maddie Poppe and Michael J. Woodard with special guest, Season 8 winner Kris Allen.
The tour comes on the heals of the show’s much-awaited return to television in 2018 after a two-year hiatus (and a network change from Fox to ABC). It offers the unique opportunity to see artists up close and personal, including this year’s newly crowned Idol, and brings the popular television competition directly to its most ardent fans.
Joining the tour at ABT is Forever in Your Mind, a boy band formed in 2013 and heard on Disney Radio. The trio recently performed the National Anthem at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
According to Variety magazine, the tour will be the first since 2015 and the first under Disney’s watch. The show features Idol season 8 winner Kris Allen as host.
Guiding the 2018 edition will be Jared Paul, a veteran manager whose clients include New Kids on the Block, Sabrina Carpenter and Lea Michele and whose company, Faculty, has produced several touring productions, including “Glee,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “America’s Got Talent.”
American Idol first premiered on Fox in 2002. Its first 15 seasons on television attracted more than 40 million live viewers at one point, who tuned in every week to watch the show transform everyday Americans – albeit with incredible vocal gifts – from obscurity to stardom. Winners Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, and finalists Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry are just a few of the show’s contestants who skyrocketed to fame to become household names after appearing on the show.
VIP packages ($275) and tickets ($57, $45 and $35) are available on the ABT website and by phone 406-256-6052.
The season continues in September with two legendary founders of The Rascals – Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish, Sept. 7; the Little River Band, dubbed “the best singing band in the world,” Sept. 26; and “Love Letters,” A.R. Gurney’s poignant play based on a lifelong correspondence between childhood friends, Sept. 28.