ou just never know what’s going to
happen when an unlikely competitor
steps up to the microphone on
NBC’s America’s Got Talent.
For example, in 2017, during the show’s
emerged from the wings toting a ventrilo-
clad in a pink tutu.
They both looked adorable. But for judge
and executive producer Simon Cowell,
adorable just isn’t enough.
Then the rabbit — that is, the girl, who introduced
the rabbit as Petunia and herself
as Darci Lynne — belted out a bluesy version
of George Gershwin’s “Summertime”
that brought down the house.
“I saw an act before you that I won’t remember
tomorrow,” said the often-caustic
Cowell. “You, I’ll remember for weeks and
months and years. You’ve just changed
your life tonight.”
Former Spice Girl Mel B, another judge,
pressed her Golden Buzzer, which allowed
a tearful Darci to go straight to the quar-
-
tion — and the hearts of America — with
her extraordinary talent, innate showmanship
and huggable demeanor.
The sweet-natured seventh-grader from
Oklahoma City — whose full name is Darci
Lynne Farmer — told Parade magazine
that she just wanted to buy her mom new
kitchen appliances with her $1 million in
prize money.
There’ll be plenty more where that came
from, considering the sellout crowds that
national tour.
She brings along Petunia, of course, as
well as a stuttering Motown mouse named
Oscar, a sassy cowgirl named Katie, a
snooty fox named Scarlett, an intellectual
bird named Nigel, a naughty old woman
named Edna and an Elvis-impersonating
duck named Okie — another others.
Darci Lynne and Friends stops at the
Walt Disney Theater on July 28. Showtime
is 7 p.m. and tickets are priced starting at
$29.95, with a meet-and-greet available
America’s Got Talent winner Darci Lynne
may be just a kid, but she has been called
by Las Vegas headliner Terry Fator, a fellow
ventriloquist, “one of the most talented human
beings on the planet.”
SUMMER 2018 | artsLife 51
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