Vital Idol - Showtunes!
First, a caveat. I "watched" this Andrew Lloyd Webber episode while doing dishes, so the only people I actually paid any attention to were those who were especially good or especially bad.
That said, obviously I don't remember much about Syesha except that she wore a sexy red dress and vamped around the stage. That's probably enough to keep her in another week given the boring personalities and bland singing of most of her competitors.
Jason Castro sang "Memories" exactly how Simon described it - like a poor kid forced to sing something by his parents. He was completely out of his element. While the show wants us to judge Jason because of that, I'm judging the show itself instead. Why does a show that claims to want to entertain the audience force contestants to perform songs that they know will suck? How is that entertaining?
Brooke White performed "You Must Love Me". I suspect America will respond with a hearty "Nah, not so much." Brooke screwed up the start and had to begin the song over. That, combined with desperate lyrics and crazy eyes should doom her.
I have no idea what David Archuletta sang. I'm sure it was some song about the children or rainbows or kittens or something. I'm also sure he sang it well, but wussily. Ho hum.
Carly Smithson finally found a song that suited her voice - "Jesus Christ Superstar". Carly was a little brassy and a little fabulous. Plus, I have to confess to a soft spot for the song since I fondly remember my father obnoxiously singing the chorus around the house for several years. Good times...
Finally, David Cook closed the show with my favorite showtune this side of "The Bitch of Living", Phantom's "Music of the Night". David got the emotion of the song and didn't do much to change it into a post-grunge tune. I appreciated that.
Best of the night: Carly
Should go: Brooke
Will go: Carly
Posted by at April 23, 2008 07:29 AM
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| # April 23rd, 2008 8:48 AM jagorham |
| Alas, it wasn't showtunes, it was just Andrew Lloyd Webber showtunes.
Mind you, I love his stuff, but it tends to be somewhat limited in style and range, which means it makes for a narrow selection for the performers. (I was waiting for David Cook to come out with "One Night in Bangkok," but was reminded that was ALW's one-time collaborator, Tim Rice, who wrote that tune with Benny and Bjorn from ABBA.) At least Shyesha sang something from one of ALW's lesser-known productions, "Starlight Express." Otherwise, it looked like the "Lloyd Webber's Greatest Hits" collection. I knew someone was going to be stuck with "Memory," and that it was going to suck no matter what. I had mental flashbacks to the movie "Jersey Girl," where everyone in the school seemed to do that tune at the elementary school revue. It's one of those tunes, like "You Light Up My Life," that was good the first 100 times you heard it; after that, it was treacly leading to nausea. David A. did a gender-bender with "Think of Me" from "Phantom of the Opera." He did ok, but muffed some of the lyrics. Wasn't this the *second* time that Brooke's double-clutched a performance? And, am I the only one who noticed that Carly botched the lyrics on "JC Superstar" more than once? I was a bit surprised that David Cook ended up with "Music of the Night," at least without spunking it up somewhat. He did well with it, but not as good as some of his other performances. If anything leads to his downfall, it's that he's done so well up to this point that anything not up to that level will be perceived as bad? Agreed, though, Brooke is the most likely to get the boot tonight. |
| # April 23rd, 2008 9:45 AM OlderIdolFan |
| It's been awhile since I've posted here but I still read it. Since my opinion of last night differs from both yours and the judges, I thought I'd post it.
Syesha Mercado - "One Rock 'N' Roll Too Many" from "Starlight Express." Finally she showed some personality! I think she's the best singer of the girls remaining, but her singing is often anonymous. I liked it. I'd give her an 8 out of 10. Jason Castro - "Memory" from "Cats". I generally don't like this guy with his wimpy songs and I groaned when I heard he was going to sing "Memory" which Steisand is so identified with. However I was greatly surprised at how well I liked his rendition. This guy really understood the emotions in the song and his singing of it was greatly affecting. The judges clearly didn't get it, but I give him a 9. David Archuleta - "Think of Me" from "Phantom of the Opera". I agreed with Simon on this one - forgettable. Out of all the ALW songs to choose, why this one? I think he would have been great on "No Matter What" (Boyzone). Nice voice and sang it well, so maybe a 6? Brooke White - "You Must Love Me" from "Evita". As with Castro, I'm not a fan of Brooke's. However I think this was her best night ever. This song actually called for something from her and I thought she delivered and I liked it a lot. Generally she doesn't put much feeling into her singing, but maybe ALW got her to do it, because it was there last night. And I don't care if she had to start over - I think it was a wise decision. 8. Carly Smithson - "Jesus Christ Superstar". Not a bad song for her - if she had the range for it! Hey, if you can't hit the high notes, son't sing it, stupid. It became an exercise in shouting and was by far the worst performance of the night for me. 2. David Cook - "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera". A surprising choice from this rock stud. ALW has written a lot of songs with a rock quality and David should have chosen one of them. As Randy said, this wasn't David Cook. But he did sing it surprisingly well (except for the ending high notes). I give him a 7. If I could vote someone off, it would be Carly. She just isn't that good a singer and it's time she went. |
| # April 23rd, 2008 10:13 AM kris |
| Thanks for the comment! You are ALWAYS welcome to post your opinion on the show, whether you agree with us or not ;-) |
| # April 23rd, 2008 8:12 PM themandownthehall |
| Syesha - oversang again. Good grief, when will some of these singers learn that screaming a song isn't the same as power singing? Sucked.
Castro - Oh my gosh. What the heck was that mess. It was creepy. Very creepy. The dread only added to the creepiness. Sucked worse than Syesha. Brooke - The worst thing you can do is forget the lyrics. The only way you survive that is to have a huge fan base. She doesn't. It's sad, because she isn't that bad a singer. I thought she did ok. Better than Syesha and Castro. But probably going home. David A - Did ok. Boring as heck. Carly - Nailed it. Grand slam. Best of the night to that point. Cook - Well, Carly was best to that point. Cook came next and took that title right from her. Best to worst: 1. Cook 2. Carly 3. Brooke 4. David 5. Syesha 6. Castro Going home: Brooke. You can't forget the lyrics... |