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Wantagh native advances on 'Idol'

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Could the next “American Idol” be from Wantagh? Adam Ezegelian, a 2011 graduate of Wantagh High School, has made it through auditions and the first round of cuts, and will now compete on the singing reality show known for launching the careers of several pop singers.

The 21-year-old with the big, black curly hair is a senior at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, where he is a toy design major but is taking the semester off to pursue his dream in Hollywood. “I definitely want to see how far I can go,” he said. “Singing has always been a passion of mine.”

Ezegelian and his family were vacationing at Walt Disney World last summer. He decided to test his talents at the American Idol Experience at Hollywood Studios. Five times a day, willing singers from among the park’s guests would perform for a crowd, and Ezegalian won his show over two other contestants. Each winner assembled that night for a final show, and he again placed first, earning a ticket to skip the line for an “American Idol” audition near his home.

When one came up late last year in Brooklyn, he went. “They liked what they heard, and they sent me to Hollywood,” he said. Ezegelian picked the same song for his audition that got him to the top at Disney, “Born to be Wild,” by Steppenwolf.

Nerves have not been a factor so far for Ezegelian, who has performed in musical theater since middle school. In his senior year, he played Lefou in “Beauty and the Beast,” which included his own musical number. He said that waiting so long for a big role on the high school stage actually prepared him well for Hollywood. “That’s how the industry is,” he said, “you’re going to get a lot of no’s before you get that first yes.”

Ezegelian played the trumpet in middle school and high school, and also was in the vocal jazz ensemble. Being on stage in front of a big crowd comes naturally to him, he said. Even so, he was a bit reluctant at first to sing at Disney. “My mom was like, why don’t you just do it?” he said. “She’s always pushing me, whether it’s gentle encouragement or a lot of nagging, it gets the job done.”

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