By: Mary Cavaliere

Last week Michael Johns was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.  He was fabulous!   Kristy Lee Cook was on this past Monday but honestly, as soon as she started to sing she was flat and I had to leave the room.  I read in TV Guide that she said she has no hard feelings because she made it further than she expected.  The author of the article, Shawna Malcolm, responded with “That makes two of us.”  All I can say is “That makes three of us.”

Did anyone watch Don’t Forget The Lyrics with Idol’s Kimberly Locke?  She was great as I expected she would be.  The charity she was playing for is called Camp Heartland which caters to children affected by Aids and HIV.  She brought a few of the kids with her and they all wore matching t-shirts that said “LOCKE in those lyrics” which is the famous catch-phrase on the show.  Kimberly got closer to the $1 Million than any other contestant since the show’s inception.  She was up to $500,000 but because she took a shot on the million dollar song, and didn’t know it, the pay-off was dropped to $100,000.  She felt so bad she committed to raising another $400,000 on her own to help the camp.  Wayne Brady, who was DEFINITELY flirting with her the entire time she was there (it was so cute), committed to help her any way he could as well.

Tonight was one of my favorite nights this season because I fell in love with musical theater when I was 16 years old after seeing my first Broadway Show in New York City.  It was my dream to perform on Broadway but unfortunately God didn’t give me that kind of voice so I settled on doing community and regional theater for the next 20 years of my life.

Tonight’s guest mentor was Broadway’s musical mastermind Andrew Lloyd Webber.  I knew even before the show began that this episode would separate the men from the boys because as the judges said tonight, this is not easy music to sing.  Here are the contestants in the order they performed tonight with, as usual, my very honest feedback.

Syesha Mercado ~ One Rock And Roll Too Many (STARLIGHT EXPRESS)  ~ I have never seen this show but I loved the song and I loved watching Syesha perform it.  I could very easily see her doing Broadway.  As much as I love the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber I wish they had opened it up to a broader theme of Broadway tunes in general to give the contestants more choices, because some of them needed it.  But not Syesha – I give her a Broadway 10!

Jason Castro ~ Memory (CATS) ~ This song choice was a huge mistake for Jason.  If he had done something really different with it, he might have been able to sell it, but he just sang it and without that crescendo in the middle of the piece, as one who knows this song would expect, it just lacked luster and excitement.  Carly Smithson probably could have carried this off much better (and I already know that Michael Johns could have rocked it as well).  This performance exposed Jason’s vocal limitations – I give him a Broadway 5.

Brooke White ~ You Must Love Me (EVITA) ~ I think Brooke sealed her fate tonight.  I love her as a person and I know I’ll buy her CD’s for sure, but this song was not the best choice.  I think she could have definitely pulled off I Don’t Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar much better.  I agree with Paula.  Never stop and start over.  Doing American Idol is just like Broadway.  It’s a live performance and there are no re-takes.  There are only professionals who do their best to cover their mistake and move forward.  If she forgot the lyrics it was because she was nervous and not focused and as far as I’m concerned, it’s too late in the game to still be making these kinds of mistakes.  I give her a Broadway 5.

David Archuleta ~ Think of Me (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA)  ~  I’m a huge fan of Phantom of The Opera and whenever I take someone to Broadway for the first time, I usually choose this show because it is a brilliant piece of work that everyone falls in love with.  My ex-husband loved this show so much he was the Phantom for Halloween and then when I bought him a dog he named him Phantom.   My point is I’ve see this show a dozen times (at least) and I own the soundtrack, so needless to say I know the music well.  Although I would have loved to hear David sing this the traditional way (because it would have been perfection I’m sure), what he did with it tonight was creative and perfection as well.   Once again he showed he can sing anything.   A Broadway 10 for my favorite Idol!

Carly Smithson ~ Superstar (JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR)  ~ Obviously Carly doesn’t read my blog.   She sang one of the most memorable songs in this Broadway show but she missed the whole point of it.  Did she rock it vocally?  Yes, she did.  But did she sing it the way it should have been sung?  Absolutely not.  This song is being sung to JESUS CHRIST in mockery and condemnation.  It is an angry song by Judas asking Jesus “Who do you think you are?”   Yet there was Carly smiling all through it.  I think I read her mind.  She was thinking “I love hearing myself sing – don’t you love hearing me sing”?   But as long as she’s having “fun” I guess it doesn’t matter what the judges or viewers think.  A Broadway 7 for this very disappointing performance.

David Cook ~ Music Of The Night (PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) ~ Today on Ellen she asked Randy Jackson who he thought would win the competition.  His reply was “It won’t be David and Goliath but David and David”.   I agree with him 100%.  The competition is between David Archuleta and David Cook, no doubt about it.  I wasn’t sure David Cook could pull off a Broadway hit as big as this one but I was totally wrong.  He blew it out of the house!  This David gets a Broadway 10 as well!!!

I’ll be surprised if Brooke gets to stay another week but if she does, I do think it should be Jason to head on home.

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

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