Christian Guardino to help at 'American Idol' virtual auditions

Patchogue singer Christian Guardino, who this spring reached the top 7 on ABC's "American Idol," will be a special guest Friday at the Idol Across America New York virtual auditions.

The producers announced Tuesday that Guardino, 22, will be on hand virtually via Zoom, "joining hopefuls in the waiting room for Q&A, audition tips and more." Singers who are legal U.S. residents born between June 2, 1993, and Sept. 15, 2007, can apply at abc.com/shows/american-idol/auditions for an audition spot, or can alternately submit an audition video at the same link.

For the virtual audition, singers should prepare two to three songs they can choose to do either a cappella or with their own instrumental accompaniment. Auditioners should avoid clothing or backgrounds with "designer names, corporate or sports team names or logos, copyrighted images, celebrity names or images (living or dead), cartoon character images or inappropriate messages or words (for example, profanity)." Guardino, who is set to headline at the Patchogue Theatre on Nov. 4, has not commented on social media. Guardino previously had advanced to the semifinals of NBC's "America's Got Talent" in 2017, while still a student at Patchogue-Medford High School. Guardino — who is legally blind due to the rare retinal disease Leber congenital amaurosis — has benefited from pioneering gene therapy developed by the University of Pennsylvania's Scheie Eye Institute, and in October 2017 testified before a Food and Drug Administration panel about that therapy.