American Idol 7 / Week 10
We just got done watching some of the 2004 show Long Way Round. What a fantastic few hours of television that was. And now, I can hit Idol commercial-free!
It's the music of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber! I've been waiting for this week, and I'm sad that it's only 6 songs. I can guarantee you I'll know all of these songs, so I finally feel somewhat adequate to judge these performances from a place of song familiarity.
In the audience tonight, the still-beautiful David Duchovny! And ... some other people. There's a little green FOX logo in the corner for Earth Day. The band has increased to an orchestra, and they're down on the stage tonight.
We get a package about ALW and see the kids visiting the theater where Phantom is being performed in Las Vegas at the Venetian. Is that a permanent show? If so, cool. He mentions that he's been doing TV shows back in Britain, helping young people perform. I've seen snippetas of a couple of them -- like that crappy Grease show here in the US, he's done shows over there for a couple of roles in musicals, such as How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (Which, BTW, had John Barrowman as a host/judge/mentor. Swoon!)
Syesha Mercado: She's doing "One Rock and Roll Too Many", and I can tell you immediately that it's from Starlight Express. An intriguing choice. We start off with a close-up of her left hand, which has what looks like an engagement ring on it. Did she get engaged recently, just like KLC did? Did it happen on the AI stage, and we missed it, just like with KLC? Anyhoo, she starts the song at least one measure off, and despite her claims to ALW that she was going to do it "animated", she starts out drab and boring and uninteresting. And she forgets a couple of words in the second line. She wanders around and dances some with Ricky Minor, then stands with her hand on her hip a little bit. She misses a huge chance to get the audience to cheer with the "what do you say" lines. I'm totally disappointed with the performance -- even with such a frivolous song, it could have been so much more. Randy feels that it's her element, and that it's her best performance to date. Paula tells her she was "real good". Simon calls it "very sexy" and agrees with Randy, and says she showed "masses of personality". I disagree.
Jason Castro: He's on the stools to start. May I predict now, something from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? He seems the type. He admits he's never seen any of the ALW shows, but he recognizes many of the songs. Whoa, he's doing "Memory"? Jason, honey, you're no Grizabella the Glamour Cat. ALW can't imagine it done by a young man, so let's see what happens. He sings it accurately, but he's throwing way too much phony-feeling emotion into it, including squints and grimaces. It's like he took over Michael Johns' creepy mouth-shapes. Randy calls it a trainwreck, and thinks there's too much melody for Jason. Paula calls it a wise choice, even though everybody expects an older woman to sing it. She thinks that this performance will draw people because it's so "unique". Simon calls it the longest two minutes of his life. He compares it to being forced by one's mum and dad to sing a song at a wedding.
Brooke White: She's looking very Legally Blonde in her pink top, and she's tackling "You Must Love Me", the song written for the movie version of Evita. ALW says he doesn't think she had a clue about what she was singing. So he walks her through the story, and now that she knows the background, I'm sure she'll bawl her eyes out when she sings. She screws up on the second line, and asks the band to start again. It's the second time she's done that, and I think, the second time it's ever happened on this show. They all reboot, and she carries on with getting the words right. It's all right, but it's nothing earth-shattering. It's weird to say that Madonna did it much better. Randy says it wasn't great for him, but likes that she listened to ALW and understood the emotions. Paula pauses for a long while, then tells her to NEVER start and stop. But she does love that Brooke didn't overact (which makes me glare at the previous two, who both did). Simon loves live TV, because the reboot was so dramatic, and it made her so uptight and tense. Seacrest asks about the do-ver, and Simon calls the restart brave, and says he would have done the same thing. Then the judges bicker about stopping and starting (and Paula seems to think Brooke should just have made up words to approximate what she felt until she remembered the words again).
David Archuleta: The kid starts on the stools, and gets to meet a bunch of sisters who all want to hug him. He's going to sing "Think of Me", another song choice that seems to both horrify and delight ALW, since it's written for a high soprano diva. He totally throws ALW with his rendition, which seems like it may be an almost David Cook-grade rewrite. ALW says bravo, and his big advice is that David needs to keep his eyes open. He totally turns the song into a boy-pop ballad, and it totally works. It's fantastic, and if the judges say different, I'll punch them in the ass. I can't say much more than that. We see David's dad in the audience, and the guy looks like a less hagged-out Danny Bonaduce. We see ALW, who appears to be pissed and applauding out of duty. Randy calls it the bomb. Paula calls it absolutely perfect. Simon calls it pleasant, but one of his weakest performances, and nothing that people will remember. All right, Simon, bend over for the ass-punch.
Carly Smithson: Ah, good, I was hoping Cook would get the headliner spot. Carly started with "All I Ask of You", but ALW cut her off, correctly noting that's not a good song for a belter. (Plus, the first line had too many hard R sounds for her.) She then switches to "Superstar", which is much more appropriate for her. She says the song has her written all over it, which I expect to be inaccurate. She's wearing an ill-fitting minidress, which is distracting. She also can't or won't hit the highest note in the chorus, which always ticks me off. You'd think I'd like this quirky girl with her Enigma husband, but she just leaves me SO cold. Her name might as well be Meh. Randy calls it good, but maybe not her best. Paula loves it because it was unexpected, and worried that it might be too high in range, but loves "what she did" (what, struggle and fail to hit the good notes?) in the chorus. Simon calls it one of his favorites of the night, and it becomes clear to me that Simon and I are totally on different pages this week.
David Cook: He's going to do "Music of the Night", and he grew up doing musical theater. Really? ALW hopes that David can come out of himself and find that mature passion that he needs to pull off this song, but his "maybe it will work" doesn't speak of confidence. He's wearing his hair brushed to the side, and appears to have embraced his big-ass forehead. He sings it softly and beautifully, and hits some great notes throughout (and an especially nice one at the end). He's no Michael Crawford, but he kicks Gerard Butler's ass. I notice that he's wearing a red rubber support bracelet, and I hope that it's a Stephen Colbert WristStrong bracelet. Randy tells him it was amazing, unbelievable, and "another hot molten hot lava bolt tonight." Paula calls him well-rounded, and the song fantastic. Simon doesn't like this side of David, prefers the grittier raw side, but says he made the most of the song.
Recaps: Syesha put on a big fake show of fakery, and they show a flat note I didn't notice the first time through. Jason's a big pansy boy, but I think he's adorable. Brooke sang to a fixed point above the audience's heads off to my right. Archuleta reworked his song brilliantly. Carly bores the crap out of me no matter what she does. Cook played his song straight, and did a surprisingly great job with it.
Both Davids are totally safe, which means I only have one more safety spot to issue. I'm going with Syesha and Carly and Brooke for the bottom. Much as I'd like to see Carly go, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's bye-bye for Brooke because of her big whoopsie moment. You know what, it wouldn't surprise me if it's Jason in the B3 instead of Syesha, but I have to go with who bores me or irritates me more.
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the_missy) wrote,
