Who would have guessed that the theme of "Classic Musicals" would take center-stage for this week's American Idol? Previous seasons of American Idol had seen the musical/Broadway genre lumped together with "Music From The Movies" or soundtracks - a mistake many record stores still make today - and it was great that songs from the stage had the recognition that they deserved by having an entire week devoted to them. What wasn't so great was that the musical genre was limited to only classic musicals, a move probably made by the producers to see how the pop/rock-savvy young finalists took on showtunes not in their generation.

Not too well -- if the performances by the 9 remaining individuals are any indication. Scott Savol opened the show with Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion's most covered male solo in Man Of La Mancha -- "The Impossible Dream". His throaty rendition of the song was a bad opening to the show and at times, it was difficult to tell if he was singing from the musical or about the possibility of him ever becoming the American Idol. Savol hasn't really impressed over the weeks since his auditions. It is acknowledged that he has a voice that doesn't suit the way he looks but his voice isn't in the slightest bit extraordinary and faced with the remaining competition, it may not be too long before he leaves. If the voters were listening to the lyrics of his song about "one man scorned and covered with scars still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star", he may receive some sympathy votes this week.

Constantine Maroulis started off the competition as a "rocker" like fellow finalist Bo Bice, but after going head-to-head with Bice with rock songs in earlier rounds, even he must have realized that he will never be as good a rocker as Bice is. Over the past few weeks, he has attempted to differentiate himself with a more careful selection of slower songs which showcased his vocals and theater background and he has met with more success than before This week, he chose to sing Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "My Funny Valentine" from the musical Babes In Arms. It started off very weak but he salvaged it near the middle portion. Simon Cowell mentioned in his comments that Maroulis had the best pout in the competition. I wouldn't exactly call what he does a pout but let's just say that with his smothering gaze, Maroulis will have no difficulty working as a hypnotist or a snake charmer if the American Idol thing doesn't work out.

Carrie Underwood chose to wear a gown that made her look like a blimp this week. In her defense, she was probably trying to look like Anna in crinoline dresses in the musical The King And I. Okay, who am I kidding here - her dress made her look fat and wasn't the most flattering choice for her svelte frame. From the start, I had tipped Underwood to run away with the American Idol title but this wasn't her week. She sang "Hello Young Lovers" with her quintessentially powerful voice but it was not appropriate for a saccharine song like this. What was more disappointing was Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell's comments that Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's song was "sleep inducing" and "mind-numbingly boring" respectively. Sure, Underwood didn't choose a power-house song and fell short of her usual standards, but criticizing a beautiful song by one of the best song-writing duos isn't called for.

Vonzell Soloman went for a song that would "show off [her] range" and sang "People" from the musical Funny Girl. It was nowhere as good as her "I Have Nothing" and "Best Of My Love" in the last two weeks but it was still a decent job nonetheless. While I do agree with Paula Abdul that she is the most improved singer in the competition, I disagree that she "sings it the way Barbara Streisand sings [it]". Abdul really needs to head to her local video store to rent a copy of the movie version.

If Soloman wins the most improved singer award, Anthony Fedorov will be a forerunner for the most de-proved singer award. Not only is he singing worse than in his audition and preliminary stages, his constant descriptions about him being an Ukraine who managed to find his place in the United States is going to alienate him from American voters who prefer a true-blue American to win. The lower registers of his "Climb Every Mountain" from yet another Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic - The Sound Of Music - was plain bad but based on singing ability and potential, surely Scott Savol deserves to go before him.

Next up was Nikko Smith who came out dressed the part of a suave crooner singing from West Side Story. I half expected him to sing the more straightforward "Maria" from the musical but Smith had greater ambitions -- to sing the duet "One Hand, One Heart"... Alone. The end result was an excruciatingly weird R&B rendition of this classic song that will surely put off many of the older voters who grew up watching this musical classic. Shockingly, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul loved his fiendishly weird interpretation of the song which simply means that they need to head to Broadway more often.

Re-interpretations of classic songs from musicals doesn't always turn out badly and Anwar Robinson proved this point when he sang "If Ever I Would Leave You" from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Camelot. Robinson put his own style into the song and didn't sound remotely as weird as Nikko Smith's did. In fact, it actually sounded very good. Robinson remains one of the few individuals in the competition who emotes his songs and who does not simply sing all his songs in the same way.

The second rocker, Bo Bice, was a big disappointment this week. Singing "Corner Of The Sky" from Pippin, he sounded like he just wanted to get the week's American Idol Classic Musical genre over and done with as quickly as he could. I seriously think Bice is over-rated and among the judges, Simon Cowell seems to be like the proverbial child who is the only one who is able to see that the Emperor is not wearing any clothes. What was more appalling was his statement prior to the song that he closed his eyes and pointed to the page to choose his song selection for the week. He wasn't the only one who came up with prior excuses as to why they may do badly in this week's genre. Scott Savol spoke about it being the "first time learning the song" "The Impossible Dream" while Carrie Underwood explained that she only "learnt [her song] last Thursday". These singers need to learn that the format American Idol follows necessitates that finalists need to be flexible enough to adapt to different genres. If the week's genre doesn't suit them, tough luck. Explaining that they did not have prior knowledge about any songs in the genre only means that they need to listen to a wider variety of songs, not that they should be excused for any faults that they make.

Last up was Nadia Turner who sang "As Long As He Needs Me" from Lionel Bart's Oliver!. This was a good song selection of a dramatic song on her part, but it demonstrated her limited range when she had to lower the second last note because it was too high for her.

The next night was results night which featured the fastest selection of the bottom three -- the first three seated on the top row of the two rows of finalists. Nikko Smith and Scott Savol were predictable entries into the bottom three while Vonzell Soloman was the more surprising entry. I guess there must be many Barbara Streisand fans who watched American Idol and disliked her rendition of "People". When the dust had settled, Nikko Smith was kicked out of the competition for the second time. Incidentally, he got to sing his strange rendition of "One Hand, One Heart" but producers saw it fit to end his song before he reached the middle portion where the weird  R&B bits came into play.

Overall, this was a bad week for the American Idol finalists, with many of them flopping like fish out of water in the "Classic Musicals" genre. Fortunately for them, two of the judges did not know much about this genre as well. Paula Abdul in particular seems only to need to hear one big note to jump up from her seat and give a standing ovation. In future, given how little contestants know about the musical genre, perhaps producers should remove any restrictions to the showtunes that can be chosen and sung by the contestants. With rock musicals from Hair to Jesus Christ Superstar to Rent, Bo Bice will no longer have an excuse that this is not his genre. After all, if the producers allowed him to sing a song from the 1972 musical Pippin, which clearly does not fit the description of a classic musical in any way, such finely delineated restrictions seem redundant.

If anything, after watching this week's American Idol, one really appreciates vocalists from the musical theater who can emote their songs with the searing intensity that should be accorded to these amazing songs. Future contestants of American Idol in subsequent seasons who are faced with the Showtunes genre only needs to watch "Hey Mr Producer!" to learn this invaluable lesson.

 

10 April 2005