I admit that I was not looking forward to this evening. I think that most of Lloyd Webber's songs are utter dreck (next year, I want a Stephen Sondheim night, damn it!), and that the few redeemable ones are made so only by the strength of Tim Rice's lyrics. But let's face it, after the vapidity of Mariah Carey week, even Lloyd Webber's music starts to sound pretty good. Even better news is that Lord Andrew turns out to be a surprisingly effective mentor, getting reasonably good performances from most of his charges.
The rundown:
Syesha, "One Rock & Roll Too Many" -- The song doesn't stand on its own particularly well; the lyrics are insanely repetitious, and it's not entirely clear what the hell it's about. But my lord, look at Syesha go; she's funny and warm and sexy. She's packed more personality into this performance than we've seen from her all season, flirting with the band and strutting across the stage like it's her own private playground. Oh, there are a few small pitch problems after the key change, but when the performance is this much fun, who cares?
Jason, "Memory" -- All of the cats from Cats must be hanging around backstage, and Jason must be allergic; just listen to the poor boy gasping for breath between phrases (and during phrases, and in the middle of words...). He's clearly not in his element here, he's nervous and tentative throughout -- the bridge is particularly painful to watch and hear -- and the performance is a disaster. Lord Andrew seems to have expected as much, introducing Jason by saying (in essence), "I wash my hands of this one; whatever he does, it's not my fault."
Brooke, "You Must Love Me" -- When she bobbled the beginning of "Every Breath You Take" a few weeks back, it came across as somehow endearing; doing it a second time just looks sloppy and unprofessional. To her credit, she gets a bit more power out of her voice than usual, and doesn't sound quite as strained doing so as she often does. But like Jason, her voice simply isn't big enough for this type of music, and despite Lloyd Webber's attempts at coaching, she still doesn't seem to get the point of the song; her usual emotional connection to the song and to the audience is entirely missing.
David A, "Think of Me" -- The re-imagining of the song as a boy-band-esque pop ballad is quite effective -- so much so, in fact, that you're almost distracted from the problems with David's performance. The low notes are too low, and the words in those phrases simply get lost. The big problem, though, is that the performance just isn't very interesting. Yes, the notes are on pitch, and yes, all the young girls in the audience are screaming, but there's not much personality behind the notes, and very little sense that David understands what he's singing about.
Carly, "Superstar" -- Lord Andrew earns his keep for the night in the moment when he gets Carly to switch from "All I Ask of You" to "Superstar." It's absolutely the right song for her, and she seems more comfortable and relaxed on stage than ever before. She also seems less defensive and angry, which may simply be a matter of her makeup being much less heavy than it was in earlier weeks. Some of the high notes in the chorus are just a bit strained, but that's not entirely inappropriate to this song, and she makes it work very nicely.
David C, "Music of the Night" -- Who would have guessed that David Cook would give us the most traditionally Broadway performance of the night? It's a very uneven performance, to be sure, with a lot of pitch problems, especially in the quiet breathy passages of the verses. But the bridge ("Close your eyes...") is lovely, and the big money note at the end of that section is a magnificent thing indeed. The bombastic ending that they've tacked on doesn't work, but to do the final note as written would eat up most of his allotted two minutes.
For the night: Syesha, Carly, David C, David A, Brooke, Jason.
For the season: Syesha, Carly, David C, David A, Jason, Brooke.
Deserving to go home: Either Jason or Brooke.
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