Stephanie Lariviere, of Cumberland, leaves knowing that she made the first cut at Sunday’s tryout for American Idol at Gillette Stadium, in Foxboro. Thousands waited for hours, often in a chilling rain, for their chance to get 30 seconds to sing.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

FOXBORO -- At least one Rhode Islander is on her way to the next round of auditions for the next American Idol competition.

Stephanie Lariviere, 18, who graduates Monday from Cumberland High School, emerged beaming from a tryout at Gillette Stadium on Sunday after being invited to a second-round audition in Boston this summer for the hit Fox television show.

“It’s exciting, it’s great to hear. I wasn’t expecting it,” she said after singing the Carrie Underwood song “Last Name.” “I’m known as the national anthem girl at the high school. I sing at every event.” She has also performed the anthem at Bruins and Celtics games.

It wasn’t her first attempt at Idol. “Two years ago, when we did [the audition in] Philadelphia, we had the tears,” said her mother, Donna. “So this time it was nice to see the excitement.”

Other Rhode Islanders may be just as fortunate, though the odds against a call-back are long. At 2:30 p.m., about half the thousands of aspirants who had traveled to the stadium to audition were still waiting for their chance to sing for the show’s producers.

From Boston, the producers will move on to similar regional mass tryouts in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando and Denver.

Those who make it past the second round of auditions go to Hollywood, where the semifinalists for the next show are selected.

The last local contestant to do well in Idol was Ayla Brown, of Wrentham, Mass., who appeared on three episodes of the show after being plucked from the crowd at the last regional auditions at Gillette, in 2005.

It was a long day for most people seeking to be Idolized.

Thousands waited for hours, often in a chilling rain, for their chance to get 30 seconds to sing, without accompaniment, and try to make it past the preliminaries.

The waiting line at 7 a.m. was 6 to 8 people deep and more than a quarter of a mile long. An Idol publicist didn’t have a count of the number of contestants Sunday but the Associated Press reported 7,000.

“It’s worth a shot,” said a shivering Alycia Bedrosian, of Johnston, carrying an umbrella to protect her from the rain, but not a lot to protect her from the 57-degree temperatures. She arrived at the stadium at 4:45 a.m. and still found herself halfway down a line.

It was the fourth time she had auditioned. The first was in 2005 when Idol was last in Foxboro looking for contestants. She subsequently tried out at two smaller-scale competitions, at Swansea Mall and Gibbs School in Cranston.

“I never got past the first round,” said the 20-year-old, who sings professionally at different Rhode Island venues and played Belle in Beauty and Beast when it was performed at Johnston High School.

“I’ve been out in the rain since 3:30,” said 19-year-old Caitlin Menoche, of Pawtucket, who was astonished at how many hopefuls were already in line by then.

Sporting black and hot-pink hair, she figured that her chance of getting past the first round was “as good as anybody else” having some experience in musical theater and other venues. “And how many other opportunities do you get like this?”

Did she think she could make a sufficient impression in just 30 seconds?

“That’s enough time,” said the Tolman High School graduate. “Just having the confidence, that will set me apart.”

Jenna Regan, of Jamestown, who planned to sing the loudest part of Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools” during her audition, said she has been to plenty of auditions before, in New York, Boston and Providence, but never anything with this many people.

“I knew it would be like this,” she said, surveying the line. “I’d heard legends.”

It was her first Idol audition (“I resisted the urge in 2005”) and she said she was doing it on a dare. “It’s worth it for the experience, to say you’ve done it,” she explained.

The weather took a toll on her as well. It wasn’t until she hit Pawtucket on her drive to Foxboro that she realized she had forgotten her umbrella. “I had my hair professionally done,” she joked. “It’s not anymore.”

“I think I have pretty good odds,” said Nicholas Lamoureux, of Cumberland. Although he had to leave his guitar home, “I have a powerful voice the judges will like.”

He said he’d even be willing to do a handstand if it would get him noticed. “That will impress the judges.”

Raychel Bennet, of the Silver Lake section of Providence, said she wasn’t really sure what she would sing when called before the non-celebrity judges (only host Ryan Seacrest of the on-air cast was there Sunday). “I’m going to let the mood decide.”

Last year, Bennet traveled to New Jersey to try to get a spot on the show. “I got there at 2 a.m. and got out at 8:30 at night, she said.

It was slow going Sunday as well.

Contestants were asked to be there by 6 a.m. The first few hours were spent waiting so the production crew could get shots of the crowd and their umbrellas.

Then contestants were taken into the stadium to shoot more crowd video.

(Media were not allowed to see that part of the event or the individual auditions.)

Only then, around 10 a.m., were the hopefuls brought to the field to one of the 10 or so judging stations for their 30-second shots at stardom.

The vast majority had their hopes dashed, and a lot of them showed it with tears, long faces or expression of disbelief.

Grace Norton, 17, of Pawtucket, took the rejection well after she tried to impress the judges with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

“They told me I was too classical for American Idol,” said Norton, a student at the Jacqueline M. Walsh School for the Performing and Visual Arts, in Pawtucket.

“I thought I did good, but I guess not,” said Giana DeGiulio, of Lincoln, who was alternating between smiles and tears after singing “In the Still of the Night.”

“I was very surprised,” she said. “There were a lot of very good people who didn’t make it.”

Menoche didn’t make it either. She didn’t get home to Pawtucket until 5 p.m. and reported that, when she left, there were still lots of people waiting at Gillette.

“It’s such a long day,” she said. “But I had a great time. It was a good experience for me.”

gemery@projo.com