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'American Idol' Recap: Syesha and David Cook nail the music of the night

By April MacIntyre Apr 23, 2008, 15:42 GMT

Good on yer David...David Cook - 2008 American Idol Top 12 Party - Arrivals - Astra West, Pacific Design Center - West Hollywood, CA, USA © Tina Gill / PR Photos

American Idol is down to six contestants fighting for the top honor of America's Idol.

The show hosted Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber last night, a man who comes across as really charming on camera.  What a legacy he has left behind.  

His advice to the contestants was spot on and he connected with a few of them.  The night promised an interesting challenge for the allegedly “non professional” contestants who would be performing some of the biggest vocal tests in song.

Without further ado:

Syesha Mercado performed "One Rock & Roll Too Many" from Starlight Express
Syesha was amazing. She rocked it in a perfect red dress, a wise selection that illuminated the ultimate lesson in fashion: Less is more. (Unless you are Amanda Lepore)

She sounded great, worked the stage like a pro and her acting experience paid off. Watch out Broadway, another star is coming.

The Judges agree she is made for the Great White Way, Randy and Simon say that she was in her element, and Paula was over the moon for her.  Randy has no poker face, you can tell by his eyes immediately if he really likes someone, and he enjoyed her. This was one of the top performances of the night.

Jason Castro sang "Memory" from Cats.

“Bullets over Broadway’s” Helen Sinclair reiterates her admonitions to Jason from the previous weeks: ‘Please don’t speak, don’t speak.’ 

Memory? This is an old tart’s tune, not for Dready McRastaman.  While he was performing my mind drifted to all the things I had to do the next day, like write this recap, mailing some bills and waiting around for my garage door repairman.

The Judges all had the wincey face, Randy hated it; you could tell.  Even Paula looked like she had an old shrimp tied under her nose.  Simon nicely summed it up as the most torturous two minutes he had to endure.

Brooke White sang "You Must Love Me" from "Evita"

This was her second stage woof, despite what she said during judgment time.  Stop-start lyric freeze.  She looked mortified and her vocal froze up.  In the B Roll, we see that Brooke needed some cliff notes from Andrew about the backstory on the song.

The Judges were diplomatic, but essentially called her on the unprofessionalism, except Simon did note she was “brave” to do what she did.  Cue the pout face. It’s hard to say anything mean to Brooke. 

Someone please give her a reporting gig with Terry Seymour or Charlie Sheen’s fiancé at Extra.

David Archuleta sang "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera.

David can sing, and he listened to Andrew’s “notes” to keep his eyes open.  The song was lovely, but in retrospect, completely forgettable performance in comparison to a few others (cough, ahem, Syesha and the other David).

The arc angels threw their rose petals at the judges who all gave him nice glowing remarks, Simon said it wasn’t his best performance, but we know Simon has built-in angel Teflon to keep his analytical music honcho instincts razor sharp.

Carly Smithson belted "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Andrew steers Irish lass Carly to the more showy big song to match her big voice, and it was a good choice for her.  For me, it was her best performance so far.  She looked great, sang great and the band rocked. 

Again, producers need to stop panning to her husband with the tattoos all over his face; it’s alarming and the network show American Idol is not the bloody Jim Rose Circus.

The judges were positive and even Simon declared her performance one of his favorites of the night; this announcement made Carly jump into action and grab a T-shirt bearing the slogan ''Simon Loves Me! (This Week).''  Cute moment.

David Cook was the cherry on the sundae, he sang "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera.

His vocal was mesmerizing, and his notes were pure.  I didn’t think he was going to have such a great night given the songbook, but he shined. For me, he took the top honor of the night’s performance from Syesha, David A. and Carly.

Randy loved it, as did Paula, and Simon did but tempered his good cheer saying he  liked David's bluesy rougher edged stuff better. 

See you tonight after the bloodletting.

Predictions are that Brooke, Jason and Carly will be bottom three, and Jason should be the one with the lowest scores; what say you?