The camera crew must have been star-struck tonight-they took every possible chance to show us the stars in the audience… David Duchovny and kid,  Without a Trace’s Roselyn Sanchez and kid, Courtney Cox and kid…wow.  I’d be more impressed if I didn’t know that the audience consisted of only 12 rows of seats….cut and paste this link into your browser for more detail on the “reality” of the show.  Don’t get me wrong-this is STILL the finest network TV entertainment available…it’s just that perception is quite different from reality-I’m sure it is on all shows.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/arts/television/22idol.html?ref=television

This was a very weird theme week…but before I start to rant about the performances, I must respond to someone who contacted me about the blog and told me that it was clear that I knew nothing about music, blah blah blah….did I ever imply that I did?  If that’s what you’re looking for in a weekly blog, then go find it on any of the other 6 million Idol sites out there.  I enjoy music, cant carry a tune in a bucket and I play no musical instruments (well, ok, I can play chopsticks pretty well on the piano and I’m excellent on the kazoo) I feel a calling to rant about the things we WANT to know about-like what is wrong with Paula (the jury remains out on that one) and why can’t Randy speak English…while still offering valuable fashion tips along with dos and don'ts about interrupting the judges and talking too much and pretty much anything else that annoys me or piques my interest at any given moment….it’s the ADD approach. Pops into my head then falls out on the keyboard.  Seriously-if you are looking for any sort of expertise…keep on looking because you wont find it here.  My only qualification is a fascination with this show for all 7 seasons and the need to voice my opinions…..be glad this is limited to Idol! 

Anyway-back to Andrew Lloyd Weber week.  WOW.  The man is truly gifted and I’m in awe of his talent as a composer, but really….he was a rather opinionated and cocky mentor!  I guess if you wrote the song, you’re entitled to expect it to be performed in a certain way, but aren’t the kids constantly being told to “make it your own”??  Love his music, found him irritating. Glad he told everyone he was very interested in the kids-it sure was not apparent from the video clips we were shown.  Have to agree with Randy on this one-between the songs, the mentor, and his expectations-this is probably the toughest night of the season.

Syesha Mercado-great dress, looked really nice with her hair in the 40’s style “do”. Her performance was really good-very theatrical, right up her alley, and she really stood out for the first time this season.  Actually seemed to have some personality!  Deserves to be safe.

Jason Castro-he should probably have been disqualified immediately for not knowing that “Memories” was sung by a cat on Broadway.  Can he be this tuned out for real?? Stoner Boy did not do much to impress- the jacket looked silly, he looked uncomfortable through the whole song, and he was off key as far I could tell…he has his fan base, though and they loved this one too.  Deserves to be in the bottom 3, probably wont be.

Brooke SHUT UP White-did an  awesome job of displaying the frowny face while ALW was explaining the song to her.  EXPLAINING THE SONG TO HER!!!!!  Again, does anyone not know the story of Evita???  I thought I was perched on the back of the turnip truck (ready to fall off) when it comes to Broadway shows, but these kids are even dumber that I can imagine!  The over-the-top drama of stopping and then starting over did me in-this girl MUST go home soon.  I can’t take it anymore.  She may be the most annoying contestant in all 7 seasons…INCLUDING Brenna Gethers from Season 5 (remember the Fran Dresher wanna be?)  Even managed to work up some tears at the end of her performance-sure she thought it was touching, but I was in tears for a totally different reason-GO GO GO GO GO Bottom of the heap-hope she gets the boot.

David Archuleta-Great advice from ALW-told him to keep his eyes open and he tried hard to do that-it helps a lot.  Interesting version of Think of Me….rather odd from a male, but a good performance overall.  I anticipate an animated version of the Phantom for Saturday morning cartoons “featuring the voice of David Archuleta as the Phantom” (and possibly Christine) by next fall, brought to you by Disney studios.  Still like him, he is very talented-can't see him as the next American Idol for some reason-he just seems so young and inexperienced and unprepared. I expect to see him against David Cook at the finale. Safe.

Carly Smithson-Looked and sounded great-backup singers were far too loud again. Loved the dress, the boots, the long sleeves-I think she’s amazing. This was by far my favorite performance of the night-maybe my favorite performance of hers so far.  I keep hearing that she is very unpopular-not sure if she might have moved onto the Vote For the Worst top spot after Kristy Lee ( I never checked) but I just love her.  If my vote counts-she is safe.

David Cook-Not my favorite tonight-although David is growing on me and I enjoy most of his stuff anymore, this was not a good fit and I did not like his version of Music of the Night. He did a decent job-always good vocally, but this was not one of his notable weeks.  Safe by a mile.

Loved the shot of the judges wearing Phantom masks as the show closed out….