The American Idol top 6 contestants do Broadway tonight, with the renowned Andrew Lloyd Webber as their mentor. Not surprisingly, our idol contestants were majorly struggling with the songs. Singing Broadway, I think, is not as easy as singing pop because the lyrics of the former have deeper meaning and requires an understanding of the story for the singer to evoke the right emotions from the audience and drive that meaning straight to their hearts. Here’s what I thought of tonight’s performance.
Jason Castro: Memory from Cats
I still love Jason but even I have to admit that he wasn’t exactly the greatest this evening. The song was all wrong for him and even though the arrangement was designed around his vocal range, he faltered during some of the low notes. His version of the song wasn’t revolutionary enough, and I think that has something to do with the fact that he’s never seen an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in his life. Randy was pretty harsh this evening, saying that vocally, his performance was a “train wreck.” Meh. I do hope this doesn’t mean that this is the last we’ll be seeing of Jason.
Brooke White: You Must Love Me from Evita
Oh my God, Brooke was a total disaster this evening. This is the second time the judges made her stop and start a song over again. I definitely think she’ll be getting the boot next because it seems to me like she’s been going through some sort of nervous breakdown for the last few weeks. I couldn’t tell if she was only performing the way Webber advised her to or if she was plain old freaking out but overall, it was a very painful performance to watch.
David Cook: Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera
David Cook’s version of Music of the Night was hands-down my favorite performance. It was a brilliant song choice because he was able to show that he’s got a very versatile voice without having to pull off a pretentious act. I love how he was able to belt out the high note on “Where you long to be” without going falsetto. I have a feeling some of his hardcore fans might not particularly like what he did this evening because he wasn’t doing the usual Nickelback thing, and I hope that doesn’t mean that he’ll wind up on the bottom three.
