American Idol: Top 6 Week – 4/22/2008

As I mentioned yesterday afternoon, last night’s show was Andrew Lloyd Weber Night on American Idol and it was HAWT! I knew it had the potential for being a big night for everyone with a big, Broadway voice, and I was not disappointed. In fact, someone’s screw up made me as giddy as a schoolboy, much to my wife’s dislike about my cheery disposition and rewinding the DVR twice to watch it again. /sigh… It’s the small things in life, I tell you. On with the review!

Syesha Mercado started the show off with some steam with a cherry red dress on top of the grand piano. She walked her way across the stage and generally acted like she owned the stage, the building, and the town and was letting you know she was the star of the night. Oh, and the singing wasn’t bad, either. She set the bar pretty high for the night. Let’s see how I think the others did following her act. I gave her a 10.0 for the night.

Jason Castro had to follow that act up, and I felt bad for him, because he sets an entirely different tone. I wasn’t sure how he was going to pull it off. Mistake #1: singing Memories from Cats. Dude, you’re a dude, and that didn’t make sense. Mistake #2: singing Memories from Cats. I don’t think he really connected because he needs to stick to love ballads and let the girls look into his eyes or he should do hokey songs that are fun and entertaining. I gave him a 9.7 for the night.

I was really wondering if Brooke White was going to be able to pull off a big theme like this or fold under the pressure of singing Broadway. The answer was clearly B. She got 2 lines into the song, was looking into the camera, and froze. She did a super-quick head shake and looked over at Ricky Minor and asked to start over again! Yes! About eight seconds into the song! She was a wreck from then on and her voice told the story going on inside. During the judging and Ryan questions part, she eventually had to stop talking or she was going to start bawling on stage before the break. Before she clammed up, she answered Ryan and said she lost the lyrics. Paula ripped her a new one for stopping, but Randy and Simon both stood in defense that was the only thing to do at that point. I had another option: get up and walk off the stage and call it a night. I gave her a 3.1 for the night.

Then it was time for young David Archuleta, and I was thinking his song could go either way because of his track record picking songs. Lord Andrew picked on him for closing his eyes when he sings, and the boy get it down pat and kept them at least cracked for the whole song. He had some dang good vocals in there, even if he did pick a diva song. I gave him a 10.0 for the night.

Alright, if you’ve been following me for a few weeks, you know I’ve been really hard on Carly Smithson for the appearance of “singing angry.” Not today. She was Fantastic, yes, with a capital “f.” She was upbeat, moving, fun, and she finally dressed age-appropriate for an Idol star. Oh, and her vocals were pretty strong, as usual for her. I gave her a 10.0 for the night.

That left David Cook. For the second week in a row, if I could go higher than a 10 rating with my scale, I would. It wasn’t just good, great, or awesome, I was speechless after I mumbled something about there being absolutely nothing wrong with his vocal performance. He did the song and Lord Andrew justice and brought down the house. Remember, ladies, he is still single! I gave him a 10.0 for the night.

It’s that time of the year where half of them end up in the Bottom Three. My picks for the Bottom 3 are: Brooke White, Syesha Mercado, and Jason Castro.

Going home this week: Brooke White.

To see if I’m just being harsh, check out Brooke’s biggest American Idol ever. It was terrible. I know some people would like to point out that Archuleta forgot lyrics clear through the second week. Yes, but he went on like a professional. This was Brooke’s second start and stop. I say that is unforgivable, but what do you say at this point in the season?