Contestants belt out Webber tunes on Idol

This week on Idol was Andrew Lloyd Webber week, so the Idols chose songs from his extensive repertoire, though the judges predicted they would have trouble with the difficulty level of many of them. Webber coached the contestants on their arrangements, and he was so excited after seeing their finished performances that he could barely speak at the end of the show.

Syesha Mercado started off the night with “One Rock ‘n’ Roll Too Many.” She had fun with it, but her vocals weren’t great. Randy and Simon both said she seemed much more comfortable in Broadway-type performances.

Jason Castro sang “Memory,” and Randy called the vocals a train wreck, with a trademark “it’s just not your thing, dude.” Jason’s breathy, almost-whiny quality is getting boring, but those puppy-dog eyes seem to have won him plenty of fans.

Brooke White sang “You Must Love Me” and lost track of the lyrics a couple words in, then started over. Strangely enough, it was Paula who came down on her for it, not Simon. He actually said he would have done the same thing if he had forgotten the lyrics, and told her she did a very brave thing by starting over to make sure she got it right. Her voice did tense up as soon as she realized the slip-up, though, and the rest of the song seemed more forced.

David Archuleta restored his image as the boy wonder with “Think of Me.” Before his performance, a few schoolgirls actually came up on stage to hug him. Even though he’s getting more and more repetitive every week, he’s got the adoration of pretty much every 13-year-old girl in the country right now, so he should be fine for a while to come.

David Cooke and Carly Smithson gave their typical brilliant performances with “The Music of the Night” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” respectively.

Predictions: As sweet as Brooke is and as hard as she tries, she’s been hovering in the bottom three for a few weeks now and a nervous performance today could end it for her. Jason Castro was the other low performer tonight, but he hasn’t been in danger recently, so he’ll probably be safe for another week.

Kristy Lee Cook leaves American Idol

Kristy Lee Cook was voted off American Idol tonight during an hour-long results show featuring a performance by Mariah Carey.

Kristy has hovered in the bottom three recently, and was joined there tonight by Brooke White and Syesha Mercado. Ryan brought each contestant out onto the stage and separated the first six into two groups, one by one. David C., Kristy and Brooke were grouped together with Syesha, Jason Castro and Carly Smithson on the other side. At the last minute, Ryan made a pun about having "too many cooks in the kitchen" and switched David C. and Syesha, leaving Brooke, Kristy and Syesha on one side. Then, Ryan used David Archuleta as the tiebreaker.

This week's theme was Mariah Carey songs, and she helped to mentor the contestants to prepare them for their performances.

Hands-down, the best performance of the week went to David C., who sang his own arrangement of "Always Be My Baby." Randy bestowed his first standing ovation of the season on David after the performance, and the judges' praises left him teary-eyed.

Idols sing for inspiration

Tonight's theme of inspirational songs on American Idol made for a wide variety of choices from the remaining eight contestants.

Carly Smithson sang Queen's "The Show Must Go On," but it didn't work for the judges as well as it had in past weeks. David Cooke ran into similar criticism after his rendition of Our Lady Peace's "Innocent."

Kristy Lee Cook made a great song choice and gave a chill-inducing performance of Martina McBride's "Anyway." She let a lot of her passion come through, and the judges agreed that it was one of her best.

David Archuleta sang "Angels" by Robbie Williams, accompanying himself on the piano. It wasn't his best, but he has a large enough fan base that he can't do too much wrong at this point.

Brooke White closed the evening with "You've Got a Friend."

Tomorrow FOX will be airing "Idol Gives Back," beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Dolly Parton week takes over Idol

This week's American Idol theme was Dolly Parton songs, and Dolly herself appeared as a guest star to coach the contestants individually on their songs.

David Cook sang "Little Sparrow" and pulled it off beautifully, as usual. He's really shone the past few weeks and has demonstrated an enormous amount of creative talent.

Carly Smithson, another stand-out, sang "Here You Come Again." Dolly said the song was made for a voice like Carly's, and she was right -- it was a great fit.

When David Archuleta sang "Smoky Mountain Memories" in rehearsal with Dolly, she was so moved that she said, "It's all I can do to keep from crying, and I'm trying to hold these fake eyelashes in place!" He did do an amazing job with it, and his fan base is large enough that he can probably continue to coast for awhile.

Syesha Mercado took on "I Will Always Love You," which sounded really good, but Simon wasn't a huge fan of it. It was definitely a way to catch people's attention with a powerful song and to show that she has the voice for it.

Predictions: Ramiele Malubay will probably go tonight. Simon said her performance of "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind" looked like something you'd see on a cruise ship, and he was right on the money. Dolly thought it was a good choice for her because it was upbeat, but it came off a bit too kareoke. In a night where everyone performed extraordinarily well, it is really damaging to be even slightly mediocre.

Tune in tonight to see who gets the boot.

David Hernandez voted off American Idol

David Hernandez was the first to leave the top 12 after receiving the fewest number of tallies tonight in a contest that racked up 29 million votes.

He was joined in the bottom three by Kristy Lee Cook and Syesha Mercado.

Jim Carrey joined the audience tonight dressed as an elephant to promote his new movie, "Horton Hears a Who."

Look forward to another week out of the John Lennon and Paul McCartney songbook -- next Tuesday will continue the tribute because of the popularity of this week's theme choice.

American Idol top 12 perform in two-hour show

American Idol kicked off the countdown of the top 12 contestants tonight with a two-hour show on its flashy new set.

Syesha Mercado started off the John Lennon and Paul McCartney-themed night with “Gotta Get You Into My Life.” She wasn’t great vocally, but she at least looked confident and really shone on the new stage. Chikezie followed with a funky twist on “She’s a Woman,” and it really brought him into his own for the first time in the competition. His energy was contagious, and the judges couldn’t stop layering on the praises.

Carly Smithson and David Cook were back-to-back highlights with “Come Together” and “Eleanor Rigby,” respectively. Brooke White gave a heartfelt rendition of “Let it Be,” which left her in tears at the end.

David Hernandez gave an over-the-top performance of “I Saw Her Standing There.” It was nothing if not energetic, but the judges thought it was too much – Simon actually used the words “corny, verging on desperate.”

Kristy Lee Cook put a country spin on “Eight Days a Week,” which was an interesting idea, but it was all a bit rushed and forced. The judges weren’t feeling it, either: Simon told her it was a “brave but foolish” move and told her she sounded like Dolly Parton on helium.

David Archuleta, a clear standout through most of the season, stumbled a bit from a long streak of professional performances after admitting how flustered and nervous he felt. He even forgot the words a few times and had a hard time keeping his focus after the slip-ups. Randy and Paula allowed him a bit of leeway, but Simon didn’t cut him any slack and told him that it was his worst performance so far.

Predictions: David H. hasn’t showed enough of his personality to stick around – it makes him seem shallow, which doesn’t bode well in a tight competition like this. Amanda has also overstayed her welcome. It’s great when their voices and attitudes aren’t all sticky-sweet pop because it makes them stand out, but Amanda sounds the same every single week, so we don’t get to see her range, and she probably won’t be able to keep racking up the votes. She might last another week over Kristy Lee Cook, who made a gutsy move that could alienate a lot of viewers.