‘STARS OF TOMORROW’ ON ‘TODAY’

NBC’s “Today” show has its share of entertainment features. But the show is run by NBC News, unlike rival “Good Morning America,” produced by ABC Entertainment. Why, then, is “Today” getting all these tapes of tykes singing “Tomorrow”?

Because it has launched an old-fashioned talent hunt called “Stars of Tomorrow,” which airs this month. This morning’s scheduled inaugural act was the Way Moves, described as a Chicago-based new-wave rock group that has opened for Duran Duran and Culture Club and “recently finished recording three songs.”

“Today” Executive Producer Steve Friedman concedes that there are those who will rend their garments and wring their hands at such things happening on an NBC News program. But he doesn’t care.

Has not “Today” aired segments of new Broadway musicals and plays? he asks. Has it not interviewed singers and actors? Has it not recently done a five-part series on young comedians, as well as the usual reports on matters of great import and consequence?

But has “Today” ever asked future greats of show biz to apply directly by sending in their resumes and audition tapes to “Stars of Tomorrow,” P.O. Box 912, Radio City Station, New York 10101?

“No,” Friedman acknowledges. “Usually the agents pitch us. What we’re trying to do here is get (performers) below the rung of people who are described by their agents as ‘hot new talent.’ We’re trying to find people who have not been spoiled by these, er, classy guys.”

Friedman, a free spirit in a world dominated by large anxieties and small packets of Tums, says that “Stars of Tomorrow” basically is the equivalent of light summer reading, a diversion that may also give talented unknowns their big chance.

“We’re looking for different ways to have a nice, quiet, relaxed summertime, and this is just one way of doing something different in the morning,” he says.

Let there be no mistake. “Stars” is not a video version of radio’s fabled “Original Amateur Hour,” which Major Edward Bowes always opened by saying, “The wheel of fortune goes ‘round and ‘round, and where she stops, nobody knows.”

Only professionals need apply for a ride on the “Stars” wheel. There is no room for the secretary whose colleagues think she is the next Madonna, no place for the veteran reporter singing his big bar hit, “How’s Yer Fern, Rose?”

Robert Brienza, the “Today” staffer in charge of future stars, says the big talent hunt opened several weeks ago with advertisements in such entertainment journals as Variety and Backstage.

He estimates that the hunt so far has yielded at least 200 audio and video demonstration tapes, “a lot of them from people who aren’t regularly working in show business.”

A lot of the tapes from hopefuls in their preteens or early teens tend to feature the hit song from Broadway’s “Annie.” This tends to drive him nuts.

“Everyone feels compelled to sing ‘Tomorrow,’ ” he says.

A few entries have plumb mystified him. A memorable one, he says, “just shows a bunch of guys and girls dancing in a basement. Not classical ballet, or modern, or jazz dancing. Just a bunch of people hopping around.”

The only reward for the young performers applying to “Stars” is the national exposure that may lead to the big time. “It’s not a contest, nobody’s voting and nobody calls in,” says Friedman.

“We’re just putting ‘em on. We say, ‘Hey, look at these people, we think they’re good, they’re looking for a break, they’re going to have five minutes on national television and here they are, folks.’ ”

The winning act will get a week on “Good Morning America”?

“No,” Friedman says. “But the loser gets two weeks there.”