It was a battle between the Judges of operatic proportions as Auditions for Season 20 of America’s Got Talent drew to a close. A massive paint fight on the AGT stage spilled out into the audience and the Judges’ table, and it all began with a singer named Avalon Penrose.
Penrose was an opera singer during her childhood, but had to quit when she developed stage fright and panic attacks, she explained. Now, as an adult, she wants to “try and find my voice again,” she said. “Being able to perform in front of a crowd and maybe be an inspiration to other kids who maybe think that they can’t do it, I want you to know that you can.”
All about Avalon Penrose’s messy opera Act
“Take a beat, we have an amazing audience, feed off their energy, we’ll do this together,” Simon Cowell advised her. Dressed in a red evening gown, she seemed like more or less a typical vocalist, and as she began to sing, her delivery was that of a professional. Until a few lines in, when assistants arrived to set up a fan and begin pelting her with confetti and paint. As she hit the final high note, Penrose got both a shaving cream pie to the face and a buzzer from Mel B.
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Turns out, she was being sincerely silly. When the Judges questioned the truth of the story she’d told them, Penrose admitted, “That is exactly my story, that’s why I do this because it’s the only way I feel like I can actually do it.” Making fun of herself takes the pressure off, allowing her to sing.
Sofía Vergara pointed out that with such a strong voice, she shouldn’t need a gimmick, and asked where the Act would go from there, prompting Penrose to offer another song… with Cowell playing the part of the mess-maker.
The Judges have a paint fight on the AGT stage
Cowell and Howie Mandel eagerly hopped on stage and pelted Penrose with balloons filled with paint as she sang, taking their jobs very seriously.
“Look at Simon’s face!” remarked Mel B., much more amused now that she understood the Act. With Penrose suitably dirtied up, Mandel turned his paint blaster toward the audience, allowing Cowell to sneak up behind him and hit him with a shaving cream pie to the face.
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When the song finished, Penrose got in on the action, scooping up paint balloons, and after Host Terry Crews took off the gold shoes he didn’t want to ruin, he joined the melee as well. Vergara hid under the Judges’ desk, but Mel B. somehow found herself a super soaker filled with paint and turned it on everyone within sight.
Penrose got four Yeses, and with the stage a mess, Auditions were officially over!
