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Justin Timberlake · S2 E1
Welcome to Orlando
The audition that uprooted a family
Early 1993, a hotel ballroom in Nashville. Justin is one of 20,000 kids at Disney's open call, and after waiting seven hours, he gets ninety seconds to sing.
MMC (1993). Ryan Gosling, JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, and Dale Godboldo perform Cry for You by Jodeci. Four kids on a Disney soundstage covering hard R&B. This is the room Justin was dropped into.
20,000 Kids, One Stage
Disney's open auditions for The All-New Mickey Mouse Club swept across the American South in early 1993. Nashville, Atlanta, multiple cities. Tens of thousands of children, each given a two-minute window to prove they belonged. Justin was one of the few they called back.
Disney's Hollywood Studios, Orlando
Stage 1 at Disney-MGM Studios. In 1993, this single building housed more future pop superstardom per square foot than anywhere else on Earth.
The Price of Orlando
When Disney calls, Lynn Harless packs two suitcases, leases an apartment near the Disney complex, and leaves Memphis behind. Justin's stepfather Paul stays in Tennessee to keep the family financially afloat. This is no longer a hobby. It is a complete restructuring of an entire family around one twelve-year-old's talent.
TAP TO REVEAL: What makes the 1993 MMC cast the most remarkable child performer group ever?
Which future Oscar nominee was Justin's castmate on The Mickey Mouse Club?
That's the Way Love Goes
Janet Jackson's slow-burn classic was sitting at number one the week Justin arrived in Orlando. Slick, polished, radio-perfect pop. This is the sound of the world he had just walked into.
Twelve kids on one soundstage, each one the most talented performer their hometown ever produced. Then they hear each other for the first time.
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