Canadian TV Recaps

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Top 4

2008-12-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

Lisa and Izaak were eliminated last week, leaving Nico, Natalli, Miles and Allie. The Final 4 episode is two hours long and the two hours of voting that follow constitute the final vote for Canada’s top dancer. There will be no Results Show Thursday. The final results will be announced at the end of a two hour special airing at 9 pm on CTV this Sunday, December 7th, the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For those who have watched the series, I can’t imagine the grand finale will have much of interest before 10:55 EST, a half hour earlier in Newfoundland. Why a 9 o’clock start after 12 weeks of 8 o’clock starts? My two year old is so disappointed – she loves dancing along, but if she’s not down by 9 the wife starts looking at me funny and eyeing the knife rack in a way that makes me nervous.

Host Leah Miller wears a one-shouldered dress of balloon-grade Kevlar. In the parallel universe that got the future with flying cars, this is what the hot Italian women wear.

Leah intros the final 4. Natalli wears a solid red micro skirt and a white peasant blouse with flowers embroidered across the top and up the shoulder straps. Allie wears short-shorts made from the material left on the sewing room floor when they made Leah’s dress and a top made of material the same colour as Natalli’s skirt. Nico looks like a castaway on a desert island in ragged Robinson Crusoe shorts and a white tee with a boxing cartoon and a lot of stuff I can’t read written on it in black magic marker. It seems there was some ink left in the tube after he did the faux-tattoos for last week’s show. Now we know he is perfect - he even puts the cap back on. Miles wears a spotless white crew-neck tee, black jeans and ball cap and more eye make-up than Natalli. All are barefoot save for Miles, who wears black deck shoes with white soles.

Nice touch – the 16 dancers that have been eliminated from the Top 20 are present in the audience, standing as a group on a catwalk in front of the judges’ balcony box. The Judges are the group I think of as the first string – Luther, Blake, Tre and Jean Marc.

We start with a “hip-hop driven” cane-and-dance group routine choreod by Dan Karaty to Genesis by Justice (they tried Justice by Genesis, but found hip-hop doesn’t work well to pseudo-intellectual British science-fiction space rock). The choice was the right one. Genesis by Justice is a bit of ominous, crunchy techno that sets a great mood for the costumes: the guys are in all-red Edwardian suits with matching two foot tall red top hats and make-up by the Rocky Horror Picture Show stylists. They look like Satan’s undertakers. The women wear black top hats, vests, stockings and boots and short, flouncy red skirts. Allie has the top two buttons undone on her vest and for once looks as naughty as Natalli.

Loved the entire routine; music, choreo and dancers. Noticed that Miles’ bald scalp scar is back. Did last week’s hair plugs not take?

The judging isn’t really judging. Luther congratulates the dancers on making the top 4 and compliments Karaty on the choreo. Tre uses her time to congratulate Leah on winning a Gemini as “viewer’s choice for Canada’s hottest star.” Evidently this was a secret until Tre blabbed (shout out to Tre: love the sparkling white cocktail dress against your caramel skin). Jean Marc uses his time to introduce us to his wife, who is in the audience. It’s like the last day of the school year – yeah, work: I’ll get right to it.

Natalli and Nico do the first couples performance. Gustavo Vargas choreos a salsa (Natalli’s third salsa of the series. Somebody get this girl some corn chips and a Corona). In the rehearsal clip both Vargas and Natalli tell the camera about Nico’s quickness in picking up new dance styles. The storyline is two conservative people cross paths, salsa like rutting minks, and then pick up their briefcases and go on their way. Couldn’t happen to a better pair than Natalli and Nico.

He’s in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase and, inexplicably, wearing his usual complement of facial studs. She is in a blue business suit, if women’s business suits came with a matching figure skating skirt and glittering, stiletto-heeled strap-ons.

And in the time it took me to type that she has stripped down to a sleeveless, backless, shimmering red top with a figure skating skirt and glittering, stiletto-heeled strap-ons; Nico has lost the coat and tie. Can the shirt be far behind?

They salsa toward each other, ankles flashing. They meet. They twirl and Natalli lifts one of her perfect legs. Nico takes her heel and… they get twisted together worse than that drunken night the two of you played Twister with the new neighbors. Later in the routine Nico is late on a hand grab, and then Natalli doesn’t have enough momentum on a slide to take her back to her feet gracefully.

Sloppy.

The judges continue cheerleading. They gloss over the sloppiest job either of these dancers have dome in the entire competition. ?

First solo is Miles. He wears sneaks, a black ball cap, a baggy black suit over a blue dress shirt with the top four buttons undone, revealing the crew neck white tee he wore in the opening number. He pops to Slick Dogg’s I Can Make You Dance. If pop and lock is your thing, you no doubt loved it.

He adjusts the ball cap as he walks over to the judges and – aw shit – he puts it on backwards. Must just be a nervous mistake. No grown man in his right mind would intentionally wear a baseball cap backwards. That would make them look like they were mentally challenged. Ask the women, guys. The backwards ball cap is only cute on a male if he’s under 10 years old.

In the rehearsal clip before they do a hip-hop routine, we learn that Natalli’s favorite routine was the Pasa Double with Francis. For Miles the big moment was having Mia Michaels tell him, “Right now, you’re my favorite.” He doesn’t know that, like all Quakers, Mia’s life philosophy is, “My favorite person is the one in front.”

The choreographer is Sho-Tyme. His hip hop routines are usually krump-lite – hard, aggressive and more about two dancers doing the same thing side by side than any dancer interaction.

The song is Redman’s Let’s Get Dirty. Natalli wears b&e gloves, black leather billed cap, a gray vest/life jacket over a sweat shirt, camouflage pants and combat boots. Miles wears about the same with the exception of a black winter jacket instead of the vest/life preserver. About halfway through the routine Miles is looking left as Natalli turns right. She transitions into the next movement. Miles turns back and hasn’t a clue what happened. He stands there, obviously lost, until Natalli finishes and they go into the move he had been expecting before he discovered his partner doing the move he forgot.

Will the judges finally judge?

Miles is nearly in tears even before he gets to the chalk line. Natalli – ever the strongest dancer on the floor – comforts him. Leah won’t even look him in the eye.

Luther tells him not to beat himself up over this. He says, “You can’t let the beat defeat you.” Sounds cool, but what did he mean? Blake tells Miles to “wipe that look” off his face because “this game is not over.” Gooooo team!!! Tre asks him not to forget that he’s Mr. Entertainer of the show and Jean Marc tells him people love him because he is human. Not me. I love him because of how he dances, and THAT SUCKED!

The partners are switched around, with Allie and Nico doing a contemporary routine choreod by Stacey Tookey. The story is of a soldier returned from war to the woman he loves, who “has a secret she hasn’t told him,” the bitch. The piece includes a portion in which the roles switch and little Allie has to lead big Nic. The song is a heartbreaker – Permanet, a beautiful, slow piano and strings ballad by David Cook.

The piece is incredible, with Nico effortlessly doing huge lift after huge lift, and Allie’s ballet-trained body always finding the perfect point of balance. Great choreo, great music, great dancing. The performance of the night. Jean Marc is moved to tears and eloquent in his praise.

Natalli solos to Madonna’s Spanish Lesson. She has her midriff exposed from the bottom of her flowery bra to just below the hips. She is barefoot under a black, floor-length Spanish skirt (don’t ask me how the thing is staying on) and wears aquamarine three quarter length sleeves. Best solo so far.

Nico solos. We get a montage of his performance first and watching it I realize he makes the women he dances with more beautiful.

The first bars of the White Stripes’ Blue Orchids catch my attention. Best guitar sound since Mississippi Queen. Nico’s in unlaced ankle high black shoes, black slacks with the suspenders hanging loose, and a suit coat over a subtly striped white and gray Zellers v-neck tee. Driving routine.

Luther calls him the most popular dancer on the show and the dancer with the most presence. Blake tells him to stop by in the Mercedes. Tre tells him he is going all the way to the top. Jean Marc picks up on the masculine theme that has informed this show from the beginning. His sentiment, his desire to remove the stigma that attaches to a heterosexual man wanting to be a dancer, is heart felt and hints at some tough times in his own personal life. I expect him to do one of his puns (You’re not Nico: you’re Neo), but I guess he isn’t a Matrix fan. In any case, that Nico knows exactly what Jean Marc is talking about makes one sad. Good on both of you.

Allie and Miles do a theatre piece choreod by Sean Cheesman. The story is a couple fighting over the TV remote. The song is Move (You’re Stepping On My Heart), from the Dreamgirls soundtrack. It’s a fun, light piece with an insane number of transitions.

Luther’s praise is lukewarm. He loved the beginning and end but tellingly says nothing about the middle. Blake is vague in explaining why the piece was “amateurish.” Tre disagrees strongly, saying the routine, “…hit the trinity; dance, choreography and acting.” Jean Marc tells Miles to never lose the remote control. Over the howls of the audience he shouts, “It’s the only thing we own anymore,” and such.

Natalli and Allie do the first same-sex pairing in the series. Dare we hope for a storyline that includes a pillow fight? Aw; it’s Go-Go: what women did back before strip joints were legal and brass poles were invented. Melissa Williams choreos to The Hollywood Persuaders’ Drums a Go-Go.

The routine starts with the dancers up on the catwalk that carries the staircase that sweeps down to the stage. They wear white boots and white shorts layered in fringe, sparkly Madonna-style cone bras, hoop earrings and over the elbow gloves in red (Natalli) and blue (the other one). They don’t have much room to work. The choreo has one dancer still while the other moves. Drums a Go-Go thundering out of a theatre PA and one of the Go-Go dancers is still? Thirty-two bars have passed before the choreo gets them onto the staircase, where they can both move and stretch their arms. You can see the relief on the girls’ faces.

At the judging Luther’s long-standing infatuation for Allie creeps just below the surfaces. Come on, Luther – ask her out. This is your last chance. But no, all he can do is moon, the big lug. His last chance passes with no one but us to mourn what could have been.

Nico and Miles. Miles tells the camera that people should vote for Nico because he is an inspiration and the best dancer. He sounds sincere. Their choreographer is Paul Becker and he is re-visiting Caoeira, a traditional Afro-Brazilian slave dance. Earlier in the series Becker choreod a Caoeira group dance and I complained about the hackneyed stereotypes in the costuming. Tonight I am relieved to see the dancers wearing white pants with a naval cast to them and nothing else – no grass skirts, no war paint.

The dance is to a musical piece called A Amizade / Sacode A Poeira (Coro), by Mestre Barrao / Axe Capoeira. My Spell Check just blew up.

The routine gets off to a weak start when the guys are a bit hesitant on the opening series of unorthodox moves – nothing obvious, just not, as Liza would say, hitting it in the middle of the beat. As the dance progresses it becomes obvious that the source of the hesitancy is Miles, who simply does not yet have the knowledge base wired into his autonomous system that Nico has developed. Maybe some day, but not yet. This was a piece that cried for speed and crispness. More time and they would have gotten it.

In the judging Jean Marc gets back on his hobby horse and goes on about how much he would love to have fathers see these two, to prove to them how much dance is just another sport. Put a fight in it and us hetero men won’t be able to resist teaching it to our male children? Is that what you’re saying?

So, after 12 weeks it comes down to this? Women are go-go dancers and men are combatants?

To the producers, choreographers and judges: I am grateful to you for bringing this show to Canada. I really am.

To the dancers: You make us humble and proud. Even Izaak.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 6

2008-11-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Last week’s elimination took out Vincent and Arrasay, leaving Lisa, Nico, Miles, Allie, Izaak and Natalli. Leah, resplendent in a midnight blue cocktail dress, intros the Top 6 judges; Tre and Jean Marc as usual, with Mary Murphy and Sean Cheesman. Couples, paired at random, will do two genres and a thirty second solo.

Natalli and Nico start. She is the best possible replacement for Arrasay. Of the 3 women left, only Natalli has the same level of natural, overt sexuality as Arrasay and Nico demonstrated when they were paired as the contestants were whittled down from 20 to 10. They draw Disco as their first genre and Melissa Williams as their Disco choreographer. Melissa tells the camera they are going to be the doing the real thing, “A peak inside Studio 54, 1978,” not a “parody.”

The lights come up and my jaw goes down. Natalli is dressed in a skintight, gold lamé, bell-bottom jumpsuit. The sides are cut out from the bottom of her breasts to inches below her hip bone. The cut-out leaves only a three inch swath of material covering her abdomen from the top of the pubis to the sternum. The total effect is to frame and accent angles and curves that get overlooked when the mid-riff is bare. She is the most naked woman I’ve ever seen and I can’t take my eyes off her.

Nico is in a black dress shirt that has had the sleeves removed, black slacks and black shirt cuffs. His is the only male presence in the competition that has ever been able to match the heat of Arrasay, and he matches Natalli’s as well.

The routine is done to the Amii Stewart version of Knock on Wood (no match for the Sam and Dave original). They nail it, with the final lift of Natalli to a full splits behind Nico’s head is particularly well hammered. The judges love it.

Miles does a solo to Vernon Burch’s Get Up. The routine doesn’t really go anywhere: but at least he doesn’t spend his time polishing the floor. He remains upright for most of the piece, which features a lot of popping and a bit of strolling. I definitely didn’t get the Bay City Roller – Mime look. We’re they going for A Clockwork Orange?

Allie and Izaak do a Luther Brown choreod Hip-hop routine to the Diddy/Aguillaro’s Tell Me. They are out fitted in watch caps and khakis – zippered overalls for her, pants with suspenders over a white undershirt for him. Oh yeah – Izaak is also wearing a contraption that looks like a suicide vest minus the dynamite. Halfway through the bit Allie unzips the top of her overalls to reveal a sparkly red bra. Gratuitous, pleasant, and no match for Natalli’s cut-away. The judges find the routine “good but not great.” One week left in the competition and they’re still telling Izaak he has to “step it up,” “try harder,” “give a lot more.”

Miles and Izaak pale compared to the performance Nico put on with Natalli.

Natalli does her solo. She is in a man’s suit with the shirt untucked and unbuttoned save for the button between her breasts. She looks like a female version of American Gigolo’s Julian. She does a contemporary routine to N*E*R*D’s She Wants. Of the three women, Natalli has the worst technique and the best presence. Her sensuality is amazing. Human Viagra.

Lisa and Miles do a Contemporary routine choreod by Blake McGrath to Ryan Dan’s The Face. The story is of a woman whose partner has passed away and she is longing for his presence. The piece uses a full length mirror on a rolling platform to great effect. Miles comes out from behind the mirror when Lisa turns from her reflection. He dances behind her, the two never quite touching. When she finally turns to the presence she has been dancing with, Miles turns the opposite way and they are trapped with the mirror between them once again. Nice job, Blake.

Oh yeah – Miles is another Hair Club for Men success story. You know that large, unexplained bald strip on the front left quadrant of his scalp? The bald strip we all have thought was a scar lo these many weeks? Well, it’s gone. No explanation, not even a shower scene.

Izaak solos to Alibis by Marianas Trench. He gets great air on his opening ballet leap, as per usual. The whole bit is one of the best solos we’ve seen –a beginning, middle and end, all in thirty seconds.

Nico and Nat are back with a Quickstep routine to the Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88s version of Swinging at the Savoy. She is in an angle-length, blue satin evening dress with a broad, sparkly empire line, spike heels and her hair up. He is in a three piece suit minus the jacket. The tie is a Windsor knot, done fat, right and tight. Nico has left the facial hardware in the garage and his Mohawk has grown out. For the first time I think, yeah, I could see this guy in a movie that’s not about a meth-head.

Lisa does a solo to Radio Citizen’s The Hop, a musical piece with a slinky beat that she exploits well. She does a kind of tough chick stroll I like. Poppy, but more to it than just that.

Allie and Izaak do their second number, a Melissa Williams choreod Jazz routine to Forever by Chris Brown. Thank you, Allie, for the blue short-shorts. At one point in the rehearsal scenes ever smiling Allie starts crying from the pressure of the competition, but her smile barely dips. Not sure that’s a good thing.

In the dance Allie wears a white gown and pink sneakers. Izaak wears an open black shirt, black slacks and shoes and black and white basketball shoes. It’s a Cinderella bit, with Allie running off at the end, leaving a pink sneaker behind. Izaak was sloppy with the climactic lift. Tre tells them, “You pulled up out there, you pulled up.” Evidently this is a good thing, as when the pilot does it and doesn’t crash. It is not a bad thing as in you-didn’t-give-it-your-all.

Nico solos to Radiohead’s Reckoner. Open shirt, barefeet, ho-hum. Didn’t grab me.

Lisa and Miles Cha-Cha. He’s in a girly black sleeveless tee and faded jeans, she’s in a shimmery red bra, flouncy black mini-skirt and silver strap-on spike heels. The two do a great job that is wasted. Choreographers Tony Melanie and Melaney Lapatin decided to set their Cha-Cha to Lady Gaga’s Just Dance. Trying to Cha-cha to something other than Latin is like watching a great but badly dubbed porno. You want to get excited, but you keep being distracted by the out-of-synch moans and sighs.

The episode ends with Allie’s solo, a full-on ballet piece from Tchiakovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. She wears a turquoise green ballerina costume, complete with tu-tu and tiara. I have been wondering when she’d get around to this. She knows what she’s doing and does it well.

So that’s it. Top 4 should be Nico, Natalli, Allie and Miles, but we’ll see.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 8

2008-11-20T07:46:00.001-08:00

First, I wasn’t able to get the results show recap done last week due to other stuff. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

The Top 8 are coupled as follows: Miles and Allie; Izaak and Arrasay; Vincent and Natalli; Nico and Lisa. They look pretty casual in the intro. There will be two performances by each couple. Apparently I wasn’t the only observer who thought last weeks pseudo Dance for your Life segments were out of place – but when are we going to see for-real solo routines?

Leah is in her Eighties purple prom dress (she doesn’t look that old, ya know?). Judges are Tre and Jean Marc as per usual with SYTYCD US judges Mia Michaels and Dan Karaty filling in.

Miles and Allie start with a Samba Adam and Eve routine choreod by Eric Katy. All three are from Calgary, by the way.

They dance to Aquanile by Hector Lavoe. We know that this dance occurs after Adam and Eve got the eviction notice because they have covered their nakedness. Allie is costumed in a bikini made out of green material designed to look like leaves. Miles wears a pair of brown polyester bell bottoms. Oh, I miss Disco 2000. The dance begins with Allie in front of Miles. When she steps to the side there is an audible gasp from the audience at the sight of shirtless Miles’ abs. They are so huge it looks freakish – like he’s wearing a flesh coloured, sleeveless Batman suit.

Miles continues to impress with his abilities as a complete dancer, not just a B-boy. Allie looks great and dances the same. Only weak spot is the tentative way they came out of the first lift and spin. There’s one point where Allie does a backward limbo-like bend. Just as she passes the point of no return and falls, Miles, who is looking the other way the whole time, slips out a foot and catches her head. Nice.

Mia tells them, “You need to always dress like this.” Dan says, “I saw things there I’ve never seen before.” Yeah; like, Allie needs to wax.

Izaak and Arrasay do the Lindy Hop to My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black Parade, choreod by Benji Schwimmer. Leah intros it as, “From the war zone: a punk rock Lindy Hop.” It is hard, athletic and speed-metal fast. The judges complain the punk-rock war zone motif was a confusing non-starter. Mia and Dan tell Izaak he was overshadowed by Arrasay. What a shock.

Natalli and Vincent do a Lil “C” Krump routine to Lost Boiz Anthem, by Tha J-Squad. They come out in cat-burglar outfits, with the hoods on their black hoodies tied tight so their faces look like kabuki masks. Vincent carries two bags of money. We know because of the dollar sign on the bags. The routine is alright, but not great – certainly not as good as the Krump bit Lil “C” choreod for Miles and Lara a few weeks back. At one point Natalli clearly misses a move Vincent was expecting.

Mia tells the pair, “Don’t be too hard on your selves.” When a judge tells you that, it’s not a good sign.

Nico and Lisa are next, a Blake McGrath choreod Jazz Funk (translation – whatever you want) routine to the Pussycat Dolls’ When I Grow Up. Lisa is in another one of her Galaxy Quest porno outfits; a black, slit to the pubic bone leotard with a black crinoline rooster tail. Nico is done up like Jimmy Olsen, complete with the fedora and camera. He starts snapping pictures. She comes out of her director’s chair to writhe on the ground while Jimmy straddles her and clicks away. Jimmy gets too turned on, ditches the camera, pulls her to her feet and they dance passionately.

The two US judges are so shocked by the lasciviousness of the choreography that neither of them mentions the awkward pause in the lift that got Lisa out of her chair the second time. Both Mia and Dan tell us the routine would not have been allowed on SYTYCD shows in some other countries. The crowd cheers for Canadian sensuality. I have a vision of adult video store clerks flooding onto Yonge Street from their second-floor hidey holes, raising their fingers in the air and chanting, “We’re #1,” while Heritage Canada bureaucrats dance in the background, chanting, “We’re not boring! We’re not boring!”

Allie and Miles are back for their second routine, an Afro Jazz number choreod by someone I don’t recognize, Vicky Lambert. The music is Shosholoza, by the Soweto Gospel Choir, who were used in a piece a few weeks back (Vincent and Lisa, maybe?). The set up is a man and women waiting for a train. They are on opposite sides of the track. They make eye contact and ease into relieving the boredom of their wait with a quick dance.

The two are outfitted like Depression-era poor white southerners; an odd choice. The routine is received well by the judges. Tre goes off on one of her making-it-up-as-I-go critiques. That’s what I call them, which is more polite than, “talking out of her ass again.” She says, “To do African there is a grounding, emotional and with the body, that has to occur before anything comes out.” Right. And it rolls off the palate leaving a persimmony aftertaste.

Arrasay and Izaak tango; Alex DeSilva choreos. The couple are costumed as a Thirties gangster (black suit, white tie and spats) and a showgirl (Arrasay does Las Vagas in white). As with Allie, we learn a waxing might be in order. Mia and Dan again dump on Izaak for not giving more to his partner. This is sooooo tired.

Vincent and Lisa do a contemporary piece for their second routine, choreod by the choreographer with the best name: Stacey Tookey.

The story is a broken girl and a guilty man who has to let her down, but wants to do it gently. They dance to MIKA’s Happy Ending. She has on a nightshirt and black panties, Vincent wears his favorite jeans and tank top. Both are barefoot. The choreo is terrific and the dancers are totally into the mood. Moving. Dan calls it the best routine of the night, Jean Marc gives it a standing ovation.

Nico and Lisa end the show with a Luther Brown choreod Hip-Hop number to T.I.’s Whatever You Like. They come out in white shirts, hats and shoes, black pants and suit coats, carrying briefcases with dollar signs on them. They are the second couple to use cases as props tonight (Miles and Allie had suitcases in their Afro-Jazz routine) and the second couple to have $ on the props (the $ on the bags Vincent brought on stage at the start of his and Natalli's Krump bit). As for the routine; it is the least hip-hoppy hip hop routine I’ve ever seen. Could as easily been called Contemporary. It’s okay but nothing to put on this year’s Christmas cards.

That’s about it. Mia tells them, “You guys are pimping hard tonight.” Nothing like using a word for making female children into whores as a metaphor for doing good work. Way to be hip, Mia.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 10

2008-11-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

Host Leah Miller introduces the Top 10:
-Natalli sparkles in a dress of Christmas Tree tinsel – great recycling, girl.
-Nico’s freshly polished face studs catch the spots and twinkle like misplaced teeth.
-Allie pirouettes in a turquoise version of Tony Curtis’ smart and snappy slave toga in Spartacus.
-B-boy Miles drops and spins, polishing the floor with his head.
-Arrasay performs a jumping jack for Jack Russell terriers.
-Izaak in an I heart PG tee, sparking an international incident when the City of New York threatens to bankrupt the hometown Prince George Chamber of Commerce for copyright infringement.
-Lisa in knee high, high heeled black boots, a mile of thigh, shiny black shorts, a half mile of mid-riff, a purple sports bra, evidently no breasts and a shiny grey jacket.
-Danny, looking like Ward Cleaver in pressed slacks and a gray V-neck over a white shirt and black tie.
-Kaitlyn, looking very Appalachian in bare feet, shorts and the kind of frilly undershirt you see on saloon girls when they are awoken unexpectedly in the middle of the night.
-And finally, yachtman first class Vincent, looking very Naval in white pants and a long sleeve striped sweater.

Leah fills us in on the rules for this portion of the competition.
1. Dancers participate in a random draw for a new partner and dance genre each week. Apparently they do this onstage and in full make-up, as we see them drawing from a hat held by the host, on stage, under the lights.
2. Voting is for individual dancers, not couples.
3. No bottom three. The man and the woman with the least votes go home. The judges no longer make the final decision.

But that doesn’t mean no judges. The original crew – Luther, Blake, Tre and Jean Marc, will continue to give us the benefit of their educated opinions.

First up, Izaak and Natalli do a Hip Hop routine, choreographed by Show Tyme. He is worried his dancers don’t have the mean for what he wants to do – something just this side of Krump. He tells the camera that Natalli, “will almost have to go from sexy to ugly.” Izaak sounds scared of Natalli, telling us he is “socially challenged” and she will probably wind up telling him what to do, being the strong women that she is.

They start as prize fighters in red and blue silk robes with matching white trim. The robes come off and they do the routine dressed in NBA-length boxing shorts and bulky, long sleeve sweatshirts. Hip Hop is all about the movement and stillness of joints and limbs. These outfits obscure the waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists and arms. Terrible costuming choice. The dancers are working it, but the sweats rob their best moves of the Wow Factor.

Vincent gives the first solo performance. He does a contemporary routine in bare feet, white slacks, red dress shirt and black tie. The music, Pour Gabrielle by Jorane, is spare jazz with an upright bass doing most of the work. I’m shocked when the routine ends with the fog horn fart that ends the dance for your lives portion, back when they were part of the process. I was looking forward to real solos – is a minute too much to ask? There’s no judges comments on the solos, either. It’s like they’re throwaways. I don’t get it.

Arrasay solos to Celine Dion’s Eyes on Me. She is breathtaking in a low cut, flowing white gown. The dance is Spanish in flavor, an impression accented with a yellow flower in her hair. Breathtaking.

Kaitlyn and Danny mambo to Tito Puente’s Salsa y Saber, choreographed by Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith. Kaitlyn has taken a page out of Natalli’s wardrobe philosophy. She shows as much as is legal in a red swag bikini. Danny is his usual uncharismatic but totally reliable self. It must be like dancing with your brother. Nevertheless, he is the most consistent and skilled partner in the competition.

Lisa solos to Secret by Missy Henderson. Surprise – she does a contemporary routine. It is technically impressive, but I have lost my feel for her. There seems to be a coolness now that wasn’t there earlier in the series. It’s almost as if she has lost some of the cockiness that I found so charming early on. I have a feeling she didn't expect the competition to be as stiff as it is turning out to be.

Miles solos to Juice (Know the Edge) by Eric B and Rakim. Surprise – he does a break dance solo.

Big, strong Nico gets paired with the dancer Luther calls Mouse, Little Allie. They do a waltz to Michael Buble’s version of That’s Life – a song I’ve always thought of as My Way without the self pity. Allie is resplendent in a flowing, spaghetti strap, floor length red silk gown. Nico is tieless in a suit and dress shirt. The waltz incorporates theatre elements, with a number of spectacular, nearly flawless lifts and spins. Oh, they made it look easy.

Danny, in a thirties gangster outfit that would do Cagney proud – all black save for the white tie and hat – solos. He gets off to a great start, quick stepping his way across the stage in an ankle-busting flash. But then he stops, throws off the hat and switches to a contemporary routine. He finishes looking very much like a ballroom dancer on his own; a little lost, a little lonely, but what a nice strong frame.

Kaitlyn solos to Adele’s Best for Last. As she often does in her bare feet, print swim suit tops and black short-shorts, Kaitlyn looks like she just came in from sunning on the deck of the hotel pool with the Cat in the Hat.

Arrasay and Vincent disco to Hot N Cold in a routine choreod by Melissa Williams. Chameleon Arrasay has a dominatrix thing going with mid-thigh high, stiletto heeled boots in a shiny metallic grey with a tight black latex one piece bathing suit with side panels cut out to frame her hips. Vincent looks great in monochrome grey slacks, sleeveless grey dress shirt and black vest. The routine is not one of Melissa’s best, but, damn, they look good doing it.

Allie does her solo wearing a red and black plaid vest over a pink tutu with one cherry red ballet slipper and one silver one. She dances a classical routine to Moloko’s Fun for Me. She looks like a ballerina in the Nutcracker Suite who moonlights as a waitress at Oleg’s Smorgasbord on I-94 at the Illinois-Indiana border.

Nico does a contemporary routine, wearing the first open shirt of the night. He wears a black mask with one starry eye, making him look like a member of the Kiss Army. Good, hard contemporary routine done to the ripple of good, hard contemporary abs.

Lisa and Miles do a contemporary routine choreod by Sean Chessman to Natasha Bedingfields, slow, sensuous Soulmate. For a B-boy, Miles does amazingly well. With that said, it is obvious Chessman understood Miles’ possible limits and designed a routine that used him as the lamp post to Lisa’s Gene Kelly. Tre says that, for the first time, she didn’t see Miles transform himself. Chessman calls from the audience: “He transformed! He was a B-boy and he transformed.”

Natalli solos a samba to Quimbara by Colie Crwz. She’s wearing another selection from her multi-layered pastel fringe go-go girl collection, this one orange. You go-go, girl.

Izaak solos to Alicia Key’s No One. Beautiful. He does a leap with an extra kick at the top that pushes him into a new level of getting air. He lands it perfect and spins across the stage. He shows a confidence and command of ballet that has yet to be exploited in a couples segment.

And that’s it. Sorry I’m late with this. Things came up. I’ll get the Results show done in a few hours.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 12 Results

2008-11-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

So let’s talk about the results.

Bottom 3 couples were Miles and Lara, Natalli and Francis and Danny and Allie. Of the six, Lara and Francis were eliminated. And god, Lara looked ghastly after she received the verdict. She put a smile on that looked like a skull’s and her unblinking, over-made-up eyes looked like the eyes painted on Captain Jack’s eyelids. A shame. You should have let out the pain, Lara. You have been so vibrant and fun to watch. Had you cried we would have cried with you, instead of for you. Maybe it is that stiff backbone that made you want to follow in B. J. Palmer’s path.

Do you think Lara should have gone, rather one of the five women left? Frankly, I’ve been disappointed the past couple of weeks by Lisa and partner Vincent, who I thought were best in class when the top 20 started. They don’t seem to have the versatility of the others, and I feel versatility is as important as mastery. If a dancer is the best ballerina in the country but can’t do hip hop as well as Tamina or foxtrot as well as Lara or salsa like Natalli, it doesn’t seem to me they should win this competition.

And what about Francis? It seems to me that Jean Marc, with his ballroom background, understands the male role in dancing in a way those judges whose backgrounds are more in the solo-style dances (ballet, hip-hop, break) just do not. As stated in the recap, I was actually starting to think of Francis as possibly the best all-round dancer in the competition.

So, in no particular order, here’s the top 10.

MEN
Vincent
Nico
Danny
Myles
Izaak

WOMEN
Lisa
Arrasay
Allie
Natalli
Kaitlyn

Were this a pairs competition, Nico and Arrasay would have already won. Now we get to see how they do when not in each other’s arms. My fear, which I share with Sheryl Lee (see the comments from last week and this), is that this competition is devolving into a battle of who has the best support group, like Canadian Idol and any high school talent competition you can mention. If that’s the case, the eventual winner will be Izaak or Miles, neither of whom can hold a candle to Nico or Vince. As for the women – a much closer group in terms of talent. Let me know what you think.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 12

2008-11-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Final 12 dancers. After the elimination tomorrow night the couples, who have danced together since they became the Top 20 (save for the one occasion when the elimination of Bre and Kevin broke up two pairs and resulted in Natalli and Francis becoming a couple) will be broken up. From next week on the dancers will be paired by a random draw.

I didn’t know this was coming and, though I know it’s fair in a competition where the best individual dancer, not the best pair, wins, I’m still disappointed. It’s just human nature to identify with what we watch, so like all the rest of you I’ve been wondering:

Will Francis’ sweet girlfriend, who we met in the audition rounds and watched get eliminated after making the top 200, take him back after witnessing the eyebrow-singeing heat between him and Natalli?

Can Vincent and Lisa overcome the impediments our society still places in the way of interracial love?

When are Myles and Lara going to make it official and will they live near her parents or his?

How will Nico find life in communist Cuba? And will Arrasay’s father ever forgive him for taking away his little girl?

Getting on with the show – choreographer Melissa Williamson (probably my favorite, except for maybe Lil “C”, the guy who did Lara and Myles’ Krump routine – still cracks me up when I think about it.) is judging this week, replacing Mary Murphy. The National Ballet’s Rex Harrington (wasn’t there a character with the same name on GM? Y&R? Melrose?) is back for a second week and stand-bys Tre and Jean Marc anchor the line-up.

Leah is in a spaghetti-strap knee length grey and black dress with an interesting reach-around palm silhouette pattern. (Speaking of which – what did you think of that black and red concoctions Michelle Obama wore on election night? I hated it – made her look blurry around the edges, like the transporter was still in the process of beaming her down.)

First up: Natalli and Francis doing a Gustavo Vargas choreod Salsa. Like – is there any doubt this is going to be hot?

And, oh, the outfits. Natalli is wearing a swag bikini. The underframe is as close to a thong as you can wear on non-cable primetime, with 10-inch purple swag attached, front and back – the sides aren’t bare; they are naked. The top is the same – swag covering her breast like a single large pastie. When she spins it is like the clouds parting. As for Francis, he’s in a snap-brimmed straw that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Superman sequence from The Godfather II, with a V-neck white tee, jeans and sneakers. Great look for him.

They dance to Hasta Que Se Rompa el Cuero by Sonora Carruseles. While I couldn’t take my eyes off Nat the first time, on replay you can see that Francis has a better command of the dance than she does. Vargas choreod 4 lifts and Francis nailed them all. There is tight, close-in synchronized hand and arm work and Natalli gets a little tied up at one point. She fakes her way out of it with a Marylin Monroe O-mouth oops look and Francis rescues her without missing a beat. Not perfect, but who cares. Looking forward to the best dancer as opposed to the best pair, this routine was argument in Francis’ favor.

Next are Allie and Danny doing a Luther Brown choreod Hip Hop routine to Flo Rida’s In the Ayer. She’s wearing big hoop earrings, a white tube top, red leather jacket, jeans with chain loops hanging down on both sides and white sneaks. Danny’s got a ball cap on sideways, black leather jacket, white tee, jeans and sneaks. Allie’s auburn hair has been ironed straight as the crease in a lawyer’s pants and the baby fat of her exposed midriff is way more erotic than bulging abs.

The routine is snappy and invigorating – lots of arm pumping in the ayer – but they seem to get lost about halfway through and have to fake their way back into it. Rex felt they were too cute and innocent when they needed more “gangster.” Melissa agrees they needed to hit it harder. Tre and JM are kinder, complimenting the fun feel as a redefinition by the dancers of the genre in a way that fit their personalities.

I’m with Tre and JM on this one. I think they brought a welcome sense of fun to a genre that too often degenerates into embarrassing displays of jive-ass humps drowning in there own testosterone. You come from the neighborhood I grew up in, gangster isn’t a cutesy-pie term for a dance style – it’s a name for the scum you struggle to rise above before it sucks you into the mud.

Lara and Myles do a Foxtrot choreod by new guy Danny Quilliam. He is surprised by how short the pair is in real life as compared to how they look on TV. I never thought they looked tall on TV, so now I’m wondering whether they’re midgets or what.

They dance to Michael Duble’s version of the Sinatra warhorse, Summer Wind. Lara wears a flowing, white, ankle length dress that uses more material than you’ll find on a fully made king-sized bed. The dress has a floral pink print and the hem attaches to her wrists. This creates a billowing cloud at the slightest turn. Myles wears a white shirt and pants ensemble of a loose India-influenced cut. The result of the costuming is that the two dance in their own self-contained cloud of swirling pink and white. Romantic in the extreme.

Lara does an effortless leap and Myles catches her as they turn and it is, as Leah says, “lovely.” Rex compares them to Fred and Ginger. Melissa says they get the growth award, Tre compliments Myles’ frame. Jean Marc concurs, amazed at the strength of the classic ballroom frame coming from a B-boy.

Izaak and Kaitlyn do a Jive routine choreod by Dimitry Chaplin, who warns that Jive is one of the fastest dances out there and the main thing is not to blow your lungs out in the first 30 seconds.

The song is on odd choice, Untouched by The Veronicas, a Flock of Seagulls-ish bit of New Wave fluff. The start includes a kiss, which is smart – gets the two right back into the intimate touch groove they finally established last week. They lose some momentum on a behind the back spin around but pick it up fast and rock. Kaitlyn does a leap into the one leg over the shoulder position they used to great effect last week and this time they come out of it with a swooping head down to the floor spin that draws gasps from the studio audience.

Rex, however, is unmoved. He found the footwork was slower than it should be. Melissa points out the misses (there were a few). Tre, on the other hand, calls it Izaak’s best so far but then says it "is still not enough." Jean Marc says it wasn’t precise and takes them off his Very Insane Dancers list. Ouch.

Arrasay and Nico pick Jazz. Paul Becker is doing the choreo and, after his spectacular work on as personal a piece as it gets last week, I’m eager to see what he comes up with. The song is James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World, which is a great choice for this super-sensuous couple.

Arrasay is in her red chemise once again, Nico is in a suit, the tie undone. The piece starts with her taking his coat off from behind. They slow dance; lots of big moves and space, then rushing together. The crowd hoots and hollers like an office party of receptionists at a male strip joint. Rex calls it the best routine of the night. Melissa agrees, Tre sighs, says they are the leaders of the competition. Jean Marc calls them magic. For the second week in a row Becker impresses.

As dancers, these two are going to miss each other the most of all the couples. And Canada’s going to miss them. Every week, they up the bar.

Vincent and Lisa go last, doing a House routine choreod by newcomer Sho-tyme to Crystal Waters’ 100% Pure Love. Tre will later tell us that House is a genre that takes elements of many genres – hip hop, break, jazz and others – and puts it all in the feet. I loved it but didn’t care for the costuming. Vincent and Lisa are mature dancers. pushing 30. Dressing them like teenagers seemed to me a show of disrespect.

While the choreo was beautifully fluid, these two are dancing outside their strength for the second week in a row. About halfway through they seem to get lost and have to improvise some before they get back into the routine. I fear for them in the voting.

So that’s it. Lisa and Vincent, Izaak and Kaitlyn, and Allie and Danny for the bottom three, Izaak and Kaitlyn to go. I batted 100 last week.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Top 14 Results

2008-10-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

This is the shortest, easiest recap ever. From the final paragraph of the recap of Wednesday night's top 14 performance episode: "For me, Lisa and Vincent, Myles and Lara, and Jesse and Caroline are the bottom three. And of those Jesse and Caroline should be eliminated."

And that's what happened.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Top 14

2008-10-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

This episode was full of surprises:

· The wardrobe department finally stepped up to the plate and outfitted the dancers in costumes that were appropriate to the routines, enhancing the choreo rather than distracting from it, as has happened no less than twice and frequently more in every previous episode.
· The final word from the judges, which I complained about at length in last week’s recap, was cut in its entirety (which is preferable to the wishy-washy nonsense we heard last week - but not as edgy as true critiques would have been).
· Some of the front runners stumbled.
· The judges did step up in at least one case and flatly told a dancer that this is likely the end of their stay
· And one routine redeemed my least favorite choreographer with a brave interpretation of a great song that brought tears to the eye and a healing touch to the heart.

Oh – and host Leah Miller wore a dress that fit like the case for a fine musical instrument, leaving no doubt that she is built with hips that could pop out babies with the ease of any of the Irish Catholic girls of my youth.

Here we go:

Luther Brown and Blake McGrath are choreos again this week. Their seats at the judges’ table are taken by scream queen SYTYCD-U.S. judge and champion ballroom dancer Mary Murphy (who was featured prominently during the audition rounds) and National Ballet of Canada artist-in-residence and Canada Walk of Fame member Rex Harrington.

Lisa and Vincent earned my vote last week for their Afro-jazz-ballet-theatre fusion performance. Both Lisa and Vincent are contemporary dancers and have danced shoeless in every performance. Choreographer Dimitry Chaplin asks them how their samba skills are and both dancers reply that they have none. Dimitry informs us that the samba is considered the most difficult of all South American dances – a region known for difficult dances. Not only that - the samba requires shoes.

Can they pull it off? The song is Skip to the Bip and the short answer is no. It wasn’t ugly, but it was sloppy enough that I will be voting for another couple for only the second time. The judges are kind. They know what artists these two are. But this is a competition and this week they were not crisp and clean enough to deserve my vote. Good luck in the dance for your life segment tomorrow night. I will hate the judges if they eliminate you. Judge Mary says straight out – no, the routine wasn’t good, but she will not vote them out in the final 6. Rex is aware the shoes were an issue, so I hope I’m right and Lisa and Vincent stick around. But it’ll be up to the judges to save them, and the judges let us down two weeks ago when they dumped Dario despite Jean Marc's assurances that that wouldn't happen.

And costume department: – loved Lisa’s outfit. I asked a woman how to describe it and she said “Christmasy Galaxy Quest porn.” Works for me.

Lara and Myles do a Benji Schwimmer choreoed West Coast Swing routine. Keep in mind, Benji follows dance styles rather loosely. The story is it’s payday for two kids working McJobs (again, good job wardrobe). They start dancing to the O’Jays’ Livin’ for the Weekend in uniform, as if they are dancing behind the counters at work; hestitant, slightly clumsy. The song kicks into high gear, the Velcro rips and we have Lara in a sparkly bra and black stretch pants, Miles in black pants, stripe dress shirt and tie and the two of them ripping it on a club dancefloor.

I don’t know if it was the choreography or Lara and Myles finally reaching the edge of their envelope, but, like Vincent and Lisa, the performance was not up to their usual high caliber. Rex mentions “the in between bits” were awkward and hesitant, showing they didn’t have a firm grasp on the piece as a whole.

Nico and Arrassay do a Luther Brown Hip-Hop routine to Busta Rhymes’ Don’t Touch Me. They are dressed in camouflage outfits that are stiff and not flattering at all. That said, these two are so vibrant they still make you want to rip their close off and get them in bed. Crisp, sharp, totally in sync. Nice bit was when we saw them in rehearsal and Luther asked each dancer, “What can you give me?” Loved that respect for the dancer. And loved Luther’s confidence in getting his dancers to show him their best moves and incorporating those moves into his routine. Mary called it buck, Rex waxed eloquent on the sensuous connection these two have even under stiff military uniforms, Tre pointed out ones native tongue is Spanish, the other’s is French, their choreographer spoke English and for all that, they have mastered the language of hip-hop. Best routine so far.

Caroline and Jesse do the Hustle in the night’s second Schwimmer choreod routine. Odd thing is Jesse is supposed to be a womanizer (they dance to Britney Spear’s Womanizer), but the routine has him playing subservient to Caroline. With that said, I think it’s one-trick-pony Jesse’s best routine to date and am a little taken aback by the hammering he takes from the judges. One after the other they tell him that, at this point in the competition, he is still unable to show “partnering” skills outside of the parallel partnering in his core strength of break dancing – an essentially solo dance genre. It is the same dilemma that got Tamina eliminated last week. And it’s true – the intricate, multi-directional spins of the Hustle are not for the novice. The judges make it clear to Jesse and to us that they think he has gone as far as he should.

It’s harsh, but that’s what these judges should be doing. They compliment Caroline quite highly, and you have to wonder, if Jesse goes and she stays, which of the other women will go?

Jesse impresses with how he takes the raking over the goals. He thanks the judges and says he will use their critiques to become a better dancer. I have a feeling Jesse will be back next season.

Danny and Allie dance a contemporary routine to Someday, John Legend’s song of lost love and the faint hopes we cling to as a way of enduring heartbreak. I’ve always interpreted the song as speaking of a failed relationship between adults with the narrator comforting himself with the unlikely belief that one day, in some uncertain future, he will be reunited with his beloved. Here choreographer Paul Becker, who I have not been impressed with to date, takes the risky, brave step of choreographing a routine that tells the story of his mother, who gave up her first born for adoption at birth, and the mother and child reunion that occurred 26 years later.

Danny, nude save for flesh colored tights, lies on the stage, apparently asleep. Far in the background a dim spot lights Allie, standing, nude save a flesh colored leotard. She walks down stage, apparently unaware of the sleeping form. Danny rolls forward, she steps over him. He rolls and curls around her ankles. She notices him. He rises and the pas de deux begins. It is one of the most moving routines I have ever witnessed, with the dancers fully cognizant of the meaning of each move as they come together, part, dance in their own spaces and finally come together again.

Paul – I take nothing back. You are not a consistently good choreographer. But now I know that doesn’t mean you are a consistently poor one. This piece was great art. The difference between craftsmen and artists is that artists get better. You’ve shown me you deserve my respect, and I assure you that now you have it.

As for the judges, Tre sums it up: “You guys,” which I hope includes Danny, Allie, Paul and Mr. Legend and even Paul’s mother and brother, who are in the audience, “are brilliant.”

Natalli and Francis do a Theatre number, choreographed by Sean Cheesman to Cell Block Tango by Countdown Singers, a fun tune with a spoken intro reminiscent of the Shangri-Las and Leader of the Pack (vroom-vroom).

Last week these two made a surprise appearance in the bottom three and I sympathize with Francis when he says, “I don’t know what more I can do.” The rumba was hot. So I implored the wardrobe department to rescue him from his dated, cheesy look, which I described as a parody of a Hull, PQ, disco stud circa 1975. This week, for the first time in the competition, he is not dancing in a long sleeve dress shirt unbuttoned to his navel. His hair has also been restyled in a short, clean look; he is dressed all in black with shiny purple highlights on his sleeveless tee that make the outfit dressy rather than greasy. Natalli starts in red silk baby doll, which gets ripped off to reveal a black slip when the spoken word intro ends. The choreo is over the top – kicks, pushes, hair pulling and throws – all done clean and crisp.

Mary gushes over Nattalli, telling her she has a “wild and crazy” edge to her sexuality that no one else in the competition has. Rex seconds the motion and Tre tells them (i.e., us) “I don’t think this competition can afford to lose you.” Jean Marc points out the Bob Fosse influence, which is spot on, but then he spoils it with unnecessary hype, claiming choreographer Cheesman brought it, “to another level.” On a good day Theatre choreographers reach Bob’s level, Jean. Nobody has ever or will ever take it beyond Fosse. He’s like punk. Thirty years after the dawn of punk, it remains unchanged and unsurpassed as an expression of adolescent alienation and angst. There is no level beyond it. Fosse’s the same.

And oh yeah –Francis, ever the gentlemen, is the first dancer to include the choreographer’s dancing partner in his thanks, so I’ll do it too: hey Cheri – good job.

Last are Kaitlyn and Izzak. Izzak was in the bottom two last week and was essentially told that, gay though he may be, he had to find a way to perform a believable sexual connection with his female partner or he would be eliminated. Blake McGrath does the choreo and I believe he designed his Jazz-Funk routine to Riahanna’s Breakin’ Dishes specifically to force Izzak to either overcome his one weakness or be forced out.

The piece is highly theatrical, with Kaitlyn as a waitress in a diner serving bespectacled nerd Izzak. Like all of Blake’s choreography the dancing is aggressive, with lots of small, fast moves and close-in turns, spins and head snaps. The money shot of the piece is Kaitlyn leaping from the diner table and Izaak catching her; one of her legs over his shoulder, the other against his chest inner thigh first, her crotch pressed against his lface. She leans back, grinding her pussy against his lips and they let her momentum spin them around and down to the floor, where they finish with a passionate, lingering kiss.

Blow me away. Maybe blow me, period. Loved that Blake pitched Izzak high hard and inside and love that the nineteen year old refused to bail. Dances are one thing – guts are something else. Great television.

So, as I mentioned 4 pages back, no last word from the judges. For me, Lisa and Vincent, Myles and Lara, and Jesse and Caroline are the bottom three. And of those Jesse and Caroline should be eliminated. And, much as I loved the other 4 couples, my vote goes to Danny and Allie, and by extension, to Paul, John Legend and Paul’s mother and brother.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Top 16 Results

2008-10-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

Before we start, can anybody help with this comment: "Hi there - I am looking for video of the Nico and Aarrasay performance using Marc Broussard's song "Let Me Leave". I am in the U.S. and so can't see the show here, but I work with Marc and would love to share a video of the performance with his fans. It sounds like it was AMAZING! If you know where I can find the video online, please let me know. Thanks so much!" If you can help email VPTV at beontvresource@yahoo.com and we'll hook you up. Thanks.

We open with the final 16 doing a Viennese waltz. All are dressed in black and white. A large picture frame stands center stage. The dancers waltz around and through it. The tradition of women in appropriate dress and men in odds and ends continues. One of the guys has a skull and cross bones on his tattered T, another is in a clownish tux outfit. And Francis shows his manly chest. Maybe it’s a medical condition. If this show isn’t nominated for worst wardrobe that creaking sound you hear will be Edith Head spinning on hers, down in the cold, cold ground.

The safe five are:

Jesse and Caroline: a bit of a surprise. Jesse is trying hard, but is clearly out of his depth in this competition. He can pop and lock and break and spin with the best of them, but his inexperience in other dance styles gets more obvious every painfull week. Caroline, on the other hand, gets hotter. She saved your ass this week, Jesse.

Danny and Allie: The cute couple. Skilled, non-threatening, G- rated. I want to see what these two can do with a newer style, like we saw with Myles and Lara last night.

Speaking of whom: Lara and Myles killed it with his abs (the guy has an eight pack), her flips and their krump. Myles is a b-boy like Jesse, but his feel for dancing with a partner is so natural. One of the top three couples. Leaders in the feel good category.

Lisa and Vincent: I thought these two had no equal, but this week I have to admit that…

Arrasay and Nico are challenging Lisa and Vincent for front runner status.

That leaves Izaak and Kaitlyn, Joey and Tamina, and Natalli and Francis in the bottom three. Nat and Francis are the yin surprise to the yang surprise of Jesse and Caroline being safe. Personally, I voted for Lisa and Vincent, but I may have to throw these guys a vote next week. No way should these two be in the bottom three. They are as seamless as a couple can be every time they perform. He has the strength and training she needs, she has the heat and passion that he needs. They may not be the caliber of my top 3 but they are a strong #4.

So in my mind, it comes down to Izaak and Kaitlyn or Joey and Tamina. Based on last night’s performances I’d have to say Tamina as the female and it doesn't matter for the guys as long as it's not Francis.

Not that Tamina didn’t crush Luther Brown’s hip-hop routine; in fact, she should go because she crushed the hip-hop so hard. It demonstrated how average she is doing anything else. She is the best female hip hop dancer in the competition –the best in the country, for all I know. But she has clearly focused on the one genre to the detriment of her versatility. She was so good it put a big spotlight on how average she is when she isn’t dancing her strength.

As for the guys – it’s a toss up. Izaak and Joey are two of a kind. Great soloists, lousy partners. That said, they are at a disadvantage. Both are gay. If Canada primetime was ready for two men as dancing partners, maybe they could tap into the connectivity that sexual attraction is all about. But they have to dance with female partners and simply can’t generate the sexual heat the judges are clearly looking for.

The judges return with their decision. Tamina and partner Joey are out.

This is not going to get any easier.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 16

2008-10-23T06:29:00.001-07:00

Tonight the Top 16 start down the road to the Top 14. What will the judges do then, when the number of couples left doesn’t evenly divide by 4? What am I talking about? I’m talking about the failure of these judges to judge (more ranting at the end of this recap). And yes, I am still mad at them for dumping Dario and Romina last week.

The show begins with the introduction of two new judges. Judges Luther Brown and Blake McGrath are doing choreo this week. Replacing them are my least favorite choreographer, Paul Becker, and legendary Hollywood choreographer Kenneth Ortega, a man with 3 Emmy’s on his mantle and a string of hit movies (Dirty Dancing, High School Musical) on his resume.

Jean Marc and Tre, evidently smarting from criticism of their choices last week, implore us to make their jobs easier by voting more because, “We love them all.” Their logic escapes me. No matter how few or how many votes are cast, 6 dancers will have to dance for their lives tomorrow night and the judges will have to send 1 male and 1 female home. So if the judges love them all, how is more voting by the audience going to make their task any easier? Am I missing something here?

Lara and Miles go first. They do Krump, to Tiny Ray Anthem, by Tha J-Squad, choreographed by someone new to us, Lil “C.”

The quotation marks are what the name banner uses, so don’t ask, Lil “Abner.”

Krump is a hyper-aggressive style of extreme hip-hop that knocks me out right from the rehearsal scenes. This is something that might work in the new version A Clockwork Orange I hear is in development. Drop Lil “Alex’s” love of Beethoven and the Singing in the Rain dance of death and go full out aggro with Krump.

Lara and Miles, who have been all sweetness and light to date, are amazing. The routine starts with Miles slowly rising from a prone position. Lara comes flying out of the shadows at the back of the stage, putting her acrobatic skills to their best use to date. She executes two complete flips at a full run and bang!, they are into a dance that reminds me of Godzilla tap dancing through Tokyo. Krump rules. The judges love it. Lil “C” is my hero, despite the stupid moniker. Jean Marc tells him he’s capital "C" now.

Kaitlyn and Izaak do a Cha-Cha that is unrecognizable as such, choreod by a choreographer I don’t think we’ve met before – Benji Schwimmer. Clearly Izaak and Benji have some history, based on Izaak squealing, "Benji!” when he first glimpses him in the rehearsal scenes.

The routine is a fast stepping affair. The judges unenthusiastically compliment the couple on showing somewhat more of a connection than they have demonstrated previously. Tre tellingly remarks that if Izaak could show the same enthusiasm for Kaitlyn that he showed in the rehearsal scenes for Benji, they would have a better chance of surviving in the competition. “Just imagine you are dancing with Benji,” she says.

I find her comments interesting. Earlier in the series I observed that the judges were favoring two things – hip hop in dance style and hetero in sexual orientation. Tre has just made the first open reference to what has been clear to all of us for 3 weeks now – that gay Izaak and straight Kaitlyn are being hurt by their lack of a sexual connection.

Nico and Aarrasay go next with a contemporary routine to Marc Broussard’s Let Me Leave as choreographed by Blake McGrath. Nico wears ripped jeans and a black tank top; Arrasay’s in a short, blue, one piece dress. Both are barefoot. The story is he’s trying to leave and she’s physically preventing him from going.

Wicked choreography: all possible props to Blake. Difficult as hell (close-in, aggressive, fast spins and lifts - Nico dislocated his nose during rehearsals) but mesmerizing and passionate. At one point she attacks him on the stairs and he has to carry her down to the dance floor as she squirms wildly – and he does it on time and with grace. Coming on top of the passionate, moving fallen angel routine they did last week, this performance makes them the only couple to rival Lisa and Vincent in technique and Myles and Lara in passion.

Ken tells Nico, “You’re the reason guys want to dance. Powerful, masculine, strong.” The comment clearly goes to the core of Nico’s art and his eyes fill with tears of wonder. It is a great thing that we are witnessing here – seeing an artist find his audience; seeing what it means to him to be understood. Jean Marc speaks of the two dancers having a conversation, and he is right.

And again a judge has referenced a dancer’s sexual orientation. Understand, I’m not complaining – I think that at this level a sexual connection between the partners adds an element that cannot be faked; something primal, beyond words. I guess I’m just surprised (and pleased) to see the judges being so open about such a touchy, easily misunderstood topic.

Lisa and Vincent do an African piece leavened with ballet and Broadway by choreographer Sean Chessman. Vince wears white pants and nothing else, Lisa is barefoot in a flowing white dress. The music is a haunting number by the Soweto Gospel Choir, a multi-octave harmony tour de force.

The routine is absolutely stunning. Last week’s Raggedy Ann and Andy fades from the mind – these two are more a force of nature than mere dancers. Bravo.

Even Tre’s attempt at painting a word picture of the dance can’t ruin it for us. “The lion and his tigress awake.” Boy, hope Mrs. Lion doesn’t find out Mr. Lion is running around with one of those slut tigers. Jean Marc entreats us to “Give it away,” for the pair.

Tamina and Joey do a Luther Brown choreod hip-hop number. Slight, fey Joey opines that his biggest challenge is going to be “getting down and getting funky.” Luther is more succinct: “He’s gotta be a tough guy.” The routine is aggressive, the two dressed in black, looking like they are out for a night of pulling B&Es more than hitting the clubs. Krump lite. And Luther has included a squeeze-your-boobs-together-for-the-folks-at-home move for Tamina. Thanks Luther – but does the audience for this show want their seven year old daughters learning boob squeezing?

Joey, in his soft wispy voice, tells the judges, “I’m ballin’.” Tre tells him he needs to lower his voice an octave or two if he wants to say “ballin’.” In complimenting Joey on his ability to act like the tough guy Luther wanted, guest judge Ken tells Joey, “We all come from different places.”

What the hell is going on here? Hetero on Parade?

Natalli and Francis do a Rhumba choreographed by Gustavo Vargas to The New 101 String Orchestra’s Perfidio. She is spectacular in a Gucci dress that isn’t so much slit to the hip as it is gathered there. This woman gets hotter every week. The sexiest dancer of them all, without question. Ballroomer Francis hits it out of the park, supporting his partner perfectly. But Francis – you look so sleazy and dated in the shirt department. Unbuttoned to the belly button makes you look like a joke – a parody of the French Canadian guys in the Hull discos, circa ’75. Will somebody in wardrobe help this man out? He dresses like a pervy uncle of mine after he’s had a few.

Becker tells the pair the dance, “made me hungry.” Tre pulls back and gives Paul an eyebrows up look, which he responds to by saying defensively, “Not sexually.” Is he telling us, "No, I'm gay. Really I am. I just missed supper is all."?

Okay, guys. That’s it. This – all the gay versus straight allusions - is planned, isn’t it?

Allie and Danny dance a Quickstep, choreographed by a man we haven’t met before, Pierre Allaire, a ringer for my 9th grade algebra teacher. See, Francis? Danny's dancing without his shirt unbuttonedand he isn't falling down. You can do it, Francis. We believe in you.

The music is The Boogie Bumper by a German group. The costumes are great but the dance is only fair. Too much circling, not enough ankle work, for my taste. But the judges are okay with it. Jean Marc again wants us to “Give it away,” for the performance.

Caroline and Jesse have Melissa Williams as their choreographer. She’s been consistently brilliant, giving us the best routines of the Top 20 and Top 18 episodes. But this week she got stuck with the Rock category. And, as Caroline tells the camera, “I don’t know what that means.” What the heck does Rock mean as a dance style? The Solid Gold Dancers?

Based on what we get here, to Melissa Rock, as a dance style, means a contemporary-jazz routine done to a rock song. Which, come to think of it, is what the Solid Gold Dancers do, isn’t it?
Jesse is in a suit and tie, Caroline wears a lipstick-red faux-latex one piece bathing suit with a plunging neckline that shows a good bit of boob. Whatever the material is, it is so thin and tight we can see the folds of her inner navel. And no, I am not exaggerating for effect. It’s an inny whose base has more flesh on the right than the left. Two flowing lengths of sheer pink gauzy material accent the outfit, kind of a cross between a scarf and a cape, one draped from her neck, one from her hip. Pink stiletto heeled strap-ons complete the wet dream of an outfit. It ain’t Gucci, like Natalli’s, but it is every bit as hot.

The judges are unanimous – Caroline overpowered Jesse. Ken tells Caroline, “There’s a choreographer, Robin Anton. She created the Pussycat Dolls. She should hear about you.” Yeah, Ken – it was definitely more burlesque than ballet. As Tyra would say, “Hoochie Mama.”

So that’s it save for the judges’ last words and a final desperate plea from Leah. For the umpteenth time in the show she reminds us, “It’s free if you use your own phone; so vote, Canada.”

As for the judges – they totally abdicate their responsibility. Four judges, eight couples. Do we get each judge’s honest pick for best or worst of the night? NO. Ken pimps for Lisa and Vincent and Arrasay and Nico; Paul for Joey and Tamina and Laura and Myles; Tre for Natalli and Francis and Jesse and Caroline; Jean Marc for Danny and Allie and Izaak and Kaitlyn. No one is left out. How idiotically Canadian. Come on, guys (and Tre) – do your job. Tell us who is best and why. You’re JUDGES, not cheerleaders. Risk offending someone. You owe it to your art, don’t you?

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 18 Results

2008-10-16T16:41:00.000-07:00

Are you kidding me? Are you freakin' kidding me? When I wrote "I still want to see Dario dance for his life – it’s the only time we get to see him practice his art, not someone else’s," to close last night's recap I only wrote it because Jean Marc practically guaranteed he wouldn't send Dario home even if he was in the bottom 3.

And Dario's firebrand partner Romina, as good a dancer as this show has, is gone, too? Both of Jean Marc's picks are out?

Over the hill b-boy Jesse, who has two good moves and stumbles through anything that's not hip-hop is still in and Dario - as magical a dancer as God ever created - is gone?

Izaak, who has yet to show he can make sparks with a partner, is still in and the man Blake called "the most creative dancer I have ever seen" is gone?

Izaak's 18 year old partner Kaitlyn, a dancer so bloodless she is offended by her partner touching her butt, is still in the game and Romina, who oozed life and passion, is gone?

Tamina and Joey, who have shown us nothing to compare with Dario and Romina, didn't even land in the bottom three and DARIO AND ROMINA ARE GONE?

Last night Blake said he wanted to change the name of the show to We Know We Can Dance Canada. Maybe so. But the judges sure as shit don't know how to judge.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 18

2008-10-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Changes from last week:
- 18 dancers/9 couples;
- With Kevin and Bre eliminated last week their partners, Natalli and Francis, have been partnered up;
- No big opening production number with dancers dressed and painted to look like south sea island cannibals in a circa 1950 black and white two reeler on the bottom half of the local RKO theatre’s Saturday matinee.

Other than that, it’s the same as last week:
- Luther, Blake Tre and Jean Marc are still the judges;
- Tonight’s voting will still determine the bottom 3 couples and those 6 dancers will still have to dance for their lives in tomorrow night’s results show;
- The dancers again do a 5 second turn when they are introduced;
- Izaak again grabs his crotch;
- Francis, shirt unbuttoned to the belly button, still looks like a Via Venetto gigolo;
- Vincent still looks like he slept in his clothes. Come to think of it, he may be wearing the same tank top and jeans he had on last week.
- The women are still uniformly beautiful.

Leah reviews the prizes the dancers are competing for and has to coax the audience to get it to applaud the $100,000 grand prize and the (shades of the Price is Right) NEW CAR!. Give it up for Mister 100 Grand! Reminds me of the time Oprah said orange was the new pink and the audience gave pink a round of applause and even a few cheers – swear to God.

Back to SYTYCDC. Before we get to the competition, the judges have some scolding to do. It seems we are not the perfect audience and need to shape up. Blake feels compelled to educate us: last week’s opening production fiasco was not the racist piece of crap we thought it was, but was in fact derived from a traditional Brazilian “martial arts” dance that “has never been done before on a So You Think You Can Dance stage across the world.” Wow. Do I feel stupid. I had no idea that aboriginal Brazilians even knew where the Orient was, much less the fighting techniques developed there, nor did I realize they wore grass skirts. Then Tre has “to get serious for a moment.” It seems some anonymous person out there – and she stresses that it is just “one person out there” – has criticized Jean Marc’s accent.

I’m stunned. Boorish behaviour? Sure. But worth a fucking second of my time, much less a dressing down on national TV? You’ve got beautiful skin, Tre, but it is dangerously thin. If you can’t stand 1 anonymous critic (I’m guessing a forum post or a crank letter) taking a cheap shot you should find a different line of work.

Please, judges - don’t waste our time like this again. Be the professionals you are getting paid to be. If your feelings are hurt, tell your lover. I’ve got enough problems of my own not to have to listen to you whine about yours.

First up are Allie and Danny. We get a “What is the best thing/worst thing about your partner” bit. For Allie, the best thing about Danny is his work ethic and the worst thing is his habit of leaving the top six buttons on his shirt undone. “Chest hair doesn’t turn me on,” she tells us. How can you not love this girl? And hand me the wax when you’re done. For Danny the best thing and the worst thing about Allie is the same thing – her effervescent cheerfulness. Seems she never turns it off. Yeah, boofreakinhoo, Danny. So tough having to endure Allie smiling at you all day long. But one must suffer for ones art, right?

Tonight they are doing a “New York style mambo” (mambo with kosher pepperoni?) choreographed by Melanie Lapatin and Tony Meredith. Melanie tells Allie, “There’s no cute in a mambo.” She wants them “Raw. Sensuous.” Looks like we are going to find out once and for all whether potato bug ear cute Allie has another gear in her transmission.

And boy; does she ever; a second gear, a third, a fourth and an overdrive.

They take their positions in the shadows. The opening paradiddle to Tito Puente’s Mambo Gozon raps out, the lights come up and Allie, wearing a bejeweled taffeta bikini, has a spike heel in Danny’s chest. The piano does that crazy opening rift, the band kicks in and cute little Allie is off on the road to perdition, shaking her boobs and butt just like a grown up lady.

The judges love it. Luther, who has had a crush on Allie since she first auditioned, calls the couple, “Unstoppable and undeniable.” Allie’s not daddy’s little girl anymore.

Vincent and Lisa, who brought the house down with last week’s best routine, do the best/worst bit and we realize we are going to get this from each couple. It can’t help but get repetitive and boring, so I’ll only note original comments, like the worst thing about Lisa from Vincent’s point of view. Vince, a Caucasian going back several generations, who clearly spends most of his life in practice studio, says “Next to Lisa’s beautiful brown skin I look transparent.”

Dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy, they do a hip-hop number choreographed by Jae Blaze. Popping to Anti Matter by N*E*R*D*S*, they do a story of the two childhood icons loving each other in front of the camera but trying to kill each other whenever the other’s back is turned. Blaze must be talking about the graphic novel Raggedy Ann and Andy.

The bit isn’t bad, but it isn’t great – but that’s no fault of the dancers. The costumes were great – they wouldn’t have looked out of place on the Big Comfy Couch. Had they hip-hopped to something bright and innocent, it might have worked better; but doing this to N*E*R*D*S*? Terrible choice. The judges liked it, I didn’t. Maybe I was expecting too much after last week’s opus.

Nico and Arrasay. According to Nico the worst thing about Arrassay is she makes him look like a construction worker. To counter this impression Nico has shaved his head and gone from a Ryan Seacrest hairdo to a full Mohawk. Better a punk circa 30 years ago than a working stiff, hey dude?

Choreographer Melissa Williams describes her Theatre routine (evidently it’s an actual style of dance. Later in the show we will see a style called Dancehall. Is Mall a dance style? Grocery Store?) as a girl at her wits end and her guardian angel decides to become human to save her life.

They dance to Queen’s Somebody to Love. Oh, I get it: the girl is at her wit’s end because she doesn’t have a lover. Arrasay is costumed in a lovely red silk camisole with black panties. She collapses in longing. Nico steps out of the shadows and catches her as she falls. Like the guardian angels of old, he wears nothing but a pair of jeans and black ostrich feather wings. Maybe they should have used the Jefferson Airplane’s Somebody to Love. This bit is more psychedelic than glam.

For all that, the routine is magnificent in its evocation of sexual longing and romantic fulfillment. William’s choreography is the equal of what Stacey Tookey did last week for Vincent and Lisa. Thank you, guys. When this competition is complete I am going to make a mixed tape of the best routines. So moved are the judges that they don’t even mention the sloppy lift and spin at the end.

Natalli and Francis, our new couple of the week, do the Pasa Doble, a traditional Spanish flamenco dance with choreography by Lapatin and Meredith. Natalli is spectacular in a pale pink, ankle-length dress with a black lining that envelopes her when she spins. Francis wears the pirate shirt that Seinfeld so hated. As always, it is open to the navel. But the black pants with medallions up the side are kind of cool.

The performance is great. Natalli, who has never done the Pasa Doble, is mesmerizing, while Francis looks like he was weaned on this stuff. Leah, and the judges who made this pair possible by sending their partners home last week, ease their guilt over dumping Kevin and Bre by touting the coupling as something that was meant to be. “Everything happens for a reason” is uttered more than once. I hate that aphorism. Embrace chaos, I say. Didn’t Dylan free us from the tyranny of reason 40 years ago?

Oh, and Natalli’s breathlessness when she tries to address the judges is great. Nice to be reminded of the effort effortlessness requires.

Kaitlyn and Izaak. Last week the judges complained about a lack of connection between the two. They’ve got a chance to erase that complaint this week – they are doing Dancehall, a sexually charged dancing style from the streets of Jamaica, according to Luther. It looks like the choreography from the back lots of Burbank used in the movie Dirty Dancing back in ‘87. And, ooops – it is just the thing to expose what nobody is saying but what is increasingly clear. The youngsters, 18 year old Kaitlyn (straight, I assume) and 19 year old Izaak (openly gay), are unable to fake the sexual tension that underlies all dance but war and tap. This pair are my first pick of the night for the bottom 3.

Lara and Miles. Last week this unlikely duo – a contemporary/acro dancer and a hard core hip-hopper – killed a disco routine and showed some sexual spark when they slipped a kiss into their routine. Tonight they have a challenge. Miles has 0 formal training. When he learns they will be doing a Viennese waltz he asks, “What’s a Vietnamese waltz?”

Amy Wright choreographs a “passionate, steamy” waltz to Etta James singing At Last. The costuming is great – pure Street Car Named Desire with Lara in a red silk nightie and robe and Miles in a torn wife-beater tee and pants with the suspenders off the shoulders. And, yes, they brush lips. The crowd loves it. These two will be around for awhile.

Caroline and Jess do a hip-hop routine to Touch It by Busta Rhymes, choreographed by Tanisha Scott. I do not get the toy soldier oufits – and when I say toy soldiers I’m talking about 18th century French military full dress uniforms, not G.I. Joe. Luther thinks they didn’t “Sell” the moves as well as they could. Blake and Tre liked it. But all of them point out that b-boy Jesse, who should have killed in any hip-hop routine, was badly outdone by partner Caroline.

Tamina and Joey, criticized last week on the same no-connection basis that hurt Izaak and Kaitlyn, have a Paul Becker choreographed contemporary dance bit to Elton John’s Crocodile Rock. The story is Joey is a prisoner in a jail cell remembering his teen sweetheart. Tamina complains to the camera about Paul’s instructions. I’m thinking he is a protégé of Blake’s because they both use the same, “It’s a pow and a pow and a whoosh,” nomenclature (or lack thereof) we watched Blake use in the choreography rounds of the auditions.

The routine is, in Blake’s words, “a mess.” And it is – there are several moves that require them to use the cell bed as a prop and the dancers have to wriggle slightly to get to where they need to be to launch their next move. A firm thin vinyl covered mattress pad with next to no give should have been used. Not only would it have been more authentic as a jail bed, it would have been far better to dance on and off of. As for the lack of connection; the routine ends with a bang (Gun? Door slamming shut?) and Tamina dropping out of sight off the far side of the bed. The move and effect work well – that’s not the problem. The problem is Joey gets up and walks over to Leah, leaving Tamina to get to her feet and cross over alone. You know, earlier Arrasay complained that the worst thing about Nico was that he forgets that the woman goes first. Looks like Nico isn’t the only male dancer here who could afford to integrate the courtliness of dance a little better into their non-dance behaviour.

The judges ridicule the routine. Luther says it is the happiest jail dance he’d ever seen. Tre calls it more juvie than jail and says it looked like a sleep-over. Tamina stands up to them, telling the judges, “We did the best we could with what we were given." Here, here. Vecker also choreographed last week’s tribal dance production number. Let’s keep Tamina and Joey and vote off Becker instead.

Dario and Romina do a Sean Cheesman choreographed jazz pop routine to Rihanna’s Disturbia. It is 2nd best choreo of the night. But judge Luther still has problems with Dario – he’s such a fantastic, unique solo talent, but he is weak in dancing with partners. Romina, on the other hand, is looking stronger every dance. Jean Marc listens to the others and speaks for me when he says, “Dario is always going to be out of his element because there is no element for Dario. I don’t want this guy to leave this comp.”

That’s it for the dancers. Last words from the judges:

Luther praises the b-boys. He encourages Jesse, tells him he’s starting to get the hang of the new styles and should be proud. He then turns to Miles and tells him, “You are doing it.” The crowd cheers and Miles clearly has them wrapped around his finger.

Blake singles out Nico and Arrasay. Absolutely.

Tre picks Allie and Danny, calling them, “Stunning. You two have the chameleon god standing over you.” Is that like the Lizard King?

Jean Marc votes for Dario and Romina, “The most raw and the most talented dancers.” He looks into the camera. “I don’t want to lose them, so you know what to do.

But I still want to see Dario dance for his life – it’s the only time we get to see him practice his art, not someone else’s.

So You Think You Can Dance Canada - Top 20 Results

2008-10-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

The first So You Think You Can Dance Canada results show opens with a huge dance troupe – 3 dozen at least – that includes the show’s 20 contestants. That these 20 familiar faces are part of the troupe isn’t immediately evident because the troupe is costumed as members of a tribe of south sea aboriginals. The music is dull chanting, which the grass skirted dancers accompany with sticks they are knocking together while hopping around in a badly choreographed performance that is as inauthentic as it is insulting in the Canadian multicultural context. Hopefully the producers were suitably embarrassed.

The troupe exits and we go to commercial to give the contestants time for a quick costume change. When we come back they are brought out on stage in two sets of 5 couples to watch a synopsis of their performances and get the news. The 3 couples with the fewest votes will have to return for the Dance for Your Life round. But they will not dance as couples. Each of the 6 will have a mere 60 second solo to show why they should stay. One man and one woman will be eliminated.

The first group is Izaak and Kaitlyn, Jesse and Caroline, Francis and Bre, Danny and Allie and Lara and Myles. Jean Marc delivers the results. Of the 5, only ballroomer Francis and contemporary dancer Bre will have to come back for the Dance for Your Life round.

The group exits, Francis and Bre to warm-up, the others to celebrate. The second group of Kevin and Natalli, Vincent and Lisa, Nico and Arrasay, Dario and Rowina and Joey and Tamina is brought out. Of them, two couples will be left in danger. The results are delivered and Kevin and Natalli and Dario and Rowina will be dancing for their lives.

Bre, in her signature one sock and white Flashdance-style tee, dances to a slow tempo song of loss and anguish. Maybe not the best choice – she has to embrace mourning.

Natalli bursts on the stage in a snow-white dress of fringes. Tina’s Rollin on the River is pumping out of the speakers and Natalli shakes it hard. Her dance is nowhere near as accomplished as Bre’s, but far more captivating.

Rowina is the Yin to Natalli’s Yang; the dark hot latino to Natalli's thawed ice queen. Dressed in a revealing black dress, Rowina rips off a high energy salsa.

Francis starts for the men with a crazy fast jive to Johnny B. Good.

Kevin follows in burgundy silk short-shorts and the long sleeve top half of a pair of long johns. He does a mid-tempo contemporary routine to Jimmy Bondoc’s Wish You Were Mine. It’s like the Bre - Natalli contrast; likely a more accomplished performance than Francis but not nearly as captivating.

Contortionist Dario is last. His solos are the dancing equivalent of magical realism. You stare and then start looking for the wires. Dreamlike and haunting. I fear he will be sent home because his art does not lend itself to a partnered performance.
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The results are announced, ladies first. Jean Marc calls Rowina out and tells her she is safe. It’s down to Bre and Natalli. Speed and sex appeal trumps introversion and grace. Bre is gone.

Tre delivers the men’s results and confounds the usual elimination dynamic. Rather than tease and stretch it out for the sake of building suspense, she simply wants to get through this – you get the sense she finds this part of the competition more emotionally distressing than she had imagined it would be.

“Lets get this over with, “ she says. “Kevin, you are done.”
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The blow is struck so quickly that Kevin has had no chance to prepare himself. He wobbles and for a second you think he is going to faint. He’s pole axed. So am I.

So You Think You Can Dance: Top 20

2008-10-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

Leah introduces the top 20. Each takes a 5 second spin on the floor.

Natalli; frilly, one-armed snow-white top that stops at the bottom of her boobs. Pink and blue silk flower corsage on the upper left. Bare midriff, short-shorts made of free hanging long pink fringes of a variety of lengths laced through shiny metal disks. The disks whip about to a samba move. Heavy dark eye make up, spike heels, shoulder length blonde hair parted down the middle, hanging loose, flying. She will probably never again look as hot.

Jesse; dorky b-boy hat, wire-frame glasses, scoop neck short sleeve blue top, single long gold chain a’ flying around his throat, red doo-rag hanging out of the back pocket of his jeans, light blue sneakers.

Allie; black slip top and matching panties. The top is under a backless plaid vest. Sounds stupid but looks great. She makes good eye contact before effortlessly launching a ballet leap and spin.

Nico; white, long sleeved (to the middle of the palms of his hands long) collarless sweater under an unbuttoned flannel work shirt with the sleeves rolled up to mid forearm. His pants are falling off because the suspenders are hanging loose, whipping against his legs as he moves. Black sneakers. His turn is all arms and hips and shoulders – hardly any foot work. Grunge.

Tamina; red bikini top under an unbuttoned (or tied) cross between a hoodie and a Hugh Hefner smoking jacket, black parachute pants tucked into brown mid-calf lace up boots that aren’t laced up.

Francis; jean shirt with the sleeves ripped off over a sleeveless black tee, black track pants complete with the stripe down the sides, barefoot. Toughest guy in the ballet class.

Arassay; white leggings down around high heels gives her feet a cowgirl boot look, fringed scarf tied around her waist over short-shorts, square-necked short-sleeved white top. Total effect is a Texas go-go dancer.

Miles; black leather jacket over a brown tee, black slacks and black sneakers. Most normal looking costume so far.

Bre; sports bra made of the stuff our one piece body suits will be made of when they finally start selling flying cars, black shorts with suspenders, barefeet. She starts her turn by pulling the suspenders off her shoulders and letting them drop in a nod to dancing’s origins in the ancient art of stripping. Barefoot.

Dario; sleevless black top, black slacks and sneakers.

Romina; Xena with a flower in her hair, dressed up as Gabriella.

Izaak; blue, fringe-y scarf tied around his neck, grey tank top, black sweat pants with one of the legs rolled up, white socks and red sneakers. Gives the camera his gayest leer, puts a fist in front of his crotch and humps it.

Lara; with the exception of her barefeet she is the very vision of a Las Vegas waitress in her red sequined cocktail dress.

Joey; sleeveless blue zip-up hoodie over a white tee, jeans with a belt worn through the loops, barefoot.

Lisa; the blue version of Lara’s dress. Rum and coke and a white wine spritzer, please.

Danny; open white dress shirt, slightly low riding baggies showing the top inch of his white boxers. The white-boy version of the gang-banger look.

Caroline; brown baby doll top with built in black panties. Looks like something you’d put on a 2 year old. Not to say it doesn't look hot on her. The juxtaposition is disturbing.

Vincent; long sleeve midnight blue neckless top, khakis, unshaven.

Kaitlyn; red slip top, black short-shorts, barefoot.

Kevin; brown tank top, beige long shorts, barefoot.

First impression: Nice moves. Too bad about all the browns and blues.

Host Leah Miller introduces the judges; hip-hop entrepreneur Luther Brown, dancers/choreographers Blake McGrath and Tre Armstrong and ballroom champ and US SYTYCD judge Jean Marc Genereux.

Leah gives us a rundown on the process. Ten couples will dance tonight. Voting is for the couple – no individual voting. Tomorrow night will be the results show, with the couples in the bottom 3 having to Dance for Their Lives (yes, it’s capitalized).

Time-wasting montage of the 20 making their way through the audition rounds.

Nico and Arassay are first. Over clips of Arassay dancing she tells us in heavily accented English that she is a 22 year old Cuban who dances Latin contemporary. She has only been in Canada for 6 months. Her dance teacher is her father. Did they immigrate specifically for this competition? We learn that the rest of the family is back in Cuba, so I think yes, they immigrated to Canada to compete in this show. Nico, as scruffy as Arrasay is groomed, describes himself as a Montrealer who does a unique blend of hip-hop and contemporary. Best line, “I don’t love to dance: I am dance.” Gustavo Vargas is their choreographer. We get clips of the couple and Vargas working out a salsa routine to La Salsa la Traigo by Yo Sonora Carruseles. They are well matched, with Nico big enough for the lifts but not too big.

The dancers start on opposites sides of the dance floor, Arrasay in a blue cocktail dress with pink panties and spike heels, Nico in a vest over a sleeveless tee, jeans and sneakers – and he has shaved. The routine is remarkably done with no obvious misses and some great, unusual moves. Judges and crowd love the work. A high bar has been set.

Natalli and Kevin. She describes her style as salsa with a bit of hi-hop. Kevin, 22, calls what he does, “lyrical contemporary.” Don’t know what that means, but it sounds good. Tanisha Scott describes herself as a “hip-hop dancehall choreographer.” Kevin, raised in a family that ran a dance school, tells the camera that Natalli has “trouble remembering choreography” (as opposed to free style?).

They are dressed in matching outfits for their performance. The outfits make them look like virile movie ushers wearing grandma’s church gloves. The routine doesn’t have them doing any touching beyond a hand on a shoulder once and a slap on the butt once. Other than that they dance like young toddlers play – in parallel but not together. Natalli misses a move once, but they blow by it with no aftereffects. Judges are not as impressed as they were with Nico and Arrassay.

Twenty-eight year old Montreal ballroomer Francis is paired with Bre. He lost his “love and partner” Claudia in the last whittle to the top 20. Amy Wright is the choreographer. She’s particularly happy to haveFrancis because she has choreographed a contemporary waltz and Bre does contemporary while Francis can waltz.

They dance to Aretha’s Natural Woman. Bre wears a spectacular diaphanous gown, Francis wears a white dress shirt, untucked and unbuttoned. I liked the routine, Luther and Blake didn’t. But Tre and Jean Marc were more into it. Most of the negative attention focuses on Bre.

Gotta say, I am not impressed with the costuming of the men. The women look hot, the men look sloppy. I can take either, but not both on stage at the same time. Are they dancing together or is she fighting off a mugger?

Ballet dancer Allie and Latin ballroom dancer Danny are next. Choreographer Melissa Williams gives them a rockabilly jive dance to the Stray Cats’ Rock This Town. Danny is happy – it’s his style.

The costumes for the first time are appropriate. Allie misses a through-the-legs slide, catching her high heels. Danny is much more confident. Luther loves Allie and tells us so every time he gets a chance. There is praise for the choreographer and none of the judges mention Allie’s errors but Jean Marc. The crowd loved the energy.

Kaitlyn and Izaak. Eighteen year old contemporary dancer Kaitlyn is the youngest member of the top 20. Nineteen year old Izaak describes his style as contemporary hip-hop, but from the audition episodes we know he is not above throwing in some jaw-dropping leaps and spins that are pure ballet. Sean Cheesman is the choreographer. The youth of the couple worries him. Izaak calls the routine a theatre piece. It has those wiggling fingers that, ever since I watched Bring It On (Rocky for cheerleaders), I can only think of as “magic spirit fingers.”

They dance to All That Jazz, she in a flapper outfit, he in an unbuttoned sleeveless vest over a tee shirt and tie. Luther only gives it “alright.” Blake says it was the 18 year old version, not the professional version I was looking for. Most of the negative comments are directed at Izaak.

Twenty-seven year old contemporary dancer Lisa, without a doubt the most confident person in the Top 20, is paired with Vincent, who I love. He does contemporary and hip hop. Vincent entered the competition with his girlfriend and partner, who made it to the top 200 but not beyond. From what I’ve seen, these are two of the best 4 dancers in the competition. Choreographer Stacey Tookey has a contemporary routine for them to Emmy Rossum’s Slow Me Down, a haunting, layered, almost a capella vocal piece. This is going to be great.

She is barefoot in a lovely dark purple full skirted dress with an asymmetrical hem line; he is barefoot in a blue shirt a black pants. The routine brings oohs and ahhs from the crowd during and a standing ovation after. Spectacular and moving.

Lara and Miles. Lara describes herself as “a contemporary acro dancer,” by which she means acrobatics are a big part of her skill set. Miles is hip-hop. Choreographer Williams has a disco routine to Metro Station’s Shake It in mind.

Miles is the first guy to be neatly dressed – a shirt with a collar, sleeves buttoned, shirt tucked in his trousers. He could definitely do without the white belt, though. She’s wearing a go-go dancer outfit with white vinyl boots and a short, side-less electric blue dress. They start the routine with a flawless over the head, arms fully extended, lift and spin. They get sloppy a couple times, but the energy is great. At one point they steal a kiss that didn’t look planned but surely was. Judges are amazed at popper Miles’ skill in the disco genre. Lots of talk about the kiss. Can’t hurt the voting to get a romance going.

Twenty-two year old Romina is a salsa specialist. Nineteen year old Dario is a Montrealer who does contemporary. Tanisha is the choreographer for a hip-hop routine about “a business man trying to pick up an innocent tease.” The routine is to Kardinal’s Dangerous.

Romina’s “innocent tease” is dressed as the French maid in a porno movie. Dario’s “business man” wears a suit and tie outfit the likes of which I haven’t seen since the Fine Young Cannibals topped the charts. The routine bears no relationship to the story we were told it was supposed to tell, with the French maid seducng the innocent, not the other way around.

Luther and Brad berate Dario for not being as strong as Romina. Myself, I thought the routine sucked and Dario got buried.

Tamina and Joey. Tamina, a 19 year old hip hopper, likes to wear work boots when she dances – no doubt the result of too many viewings of her mom’s copy of Flashdance at an impressionable age. Ninetween year old Joey is a contemporary dancer with a relaxed vibe. Vargas choreographs a tango to Gotan Project’s Santa Maria for two dancers who know nothing about the dance. She is in a sequined, backless dress of silver and red, he is all in black, his hair greased to his head. They did not give me a stiffy, which is how I know when a tango is working. The judges agree.

Jesse and Caroline. Caroline is a twenty three year old contemporary dancer, Jesse is the oldest competitor at 29 and a b-boy at heart. Choreographer Clarence Ford calls his plans for Soul Man “a retro jazz pop thing.”

The perform in Afro wigs and matching orange suits. The performance wasn’t great – loose, timing not perfect, the funny bits not funny. Weakest routine of the show and, unfortunately the last.

I’m calling for these two, Romina and Dario and Kaitlyn and Izaak in the bottom three. See you tomorrow.

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CANADA - TOP 200

2008-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

An open letter to the producers.

Love that you have done this. Scream Queen Mary was right – who knew Canada had so many great dancers? You did, and thank you for bringing them into my living room. With that said, however, there are some things I think could be done differently and better.

1. Too many dancers, not enough conflict. The defense to this criticism will be, “We wanted to show as many as we could.” With thousands of auditioners there is no way every try-out could be shown, so “show as many as we could” isn’t a reason, it’s an excuse. Next time, pick fewer dancers to go to air and follow them more closely.

2. There are dancers in the first 3 episodes that I was looking forward to seeing as the top 200 were whittled down to the Top 20, and they were left on the cutting room floor for far too long. never to be seen again. Don’t get me emotional invested in someone and then not show them again until they get named to the Top 20 almost a month later.

3. Name banners. Ever watch Canadian Idol? They always show us the name of the performer – even the ones who are horrible and about to be eliminated. Not in the montages, sure, but why miss a chance to help us identify contestants by name? It helps at the water cooler the next morning.

4. Clarify the rounds. In the top 200 episode we couldn’t tell what someone was being sent on to. Several times it seemed we were ready for the finals when a new round was introduced.

5. And finally, MORE TIME IN CHOREOGRAPHY in the audition rounds! What are you thinking? This is where the real tension and conflict occurs.

Sincerely,
LB

Here we go. 200 dancers fighting for 20 spots. Judges are Jean Marc, Tré, Luther and Blake. Judges give a bit of trite advice. Jean Marc says, “Go big or go home.” I say, “Get a new cliché or get out.” Luther says, "If normally you dance inside, dance outside." I say, “Huh?”

There will be several rounds; hip-hop, disco, ballroom, group choreography, contemporary, solo. Format is that you need 3 yes votes to go to the next round. Two yeses will get you to a “dance for your life” last chance dance.

We start with a clip of Luther choreographing a hip-hop routine. It looks too intricate for a lot of the contestants, particularly the arm moves. Cut to dancers milling about backstage, telling us how nervous they are as they are about to perform for the judges. They are broken up to groups of 5 or 6 and brought before the judges, where they will perform the routine and be told one of 3 things: go home, dance for your life, or on to the next round.

In his Montreal audition Olympic figure skater Emanuel Sandhu did a weird drag queen bit that turned the judges off, but they sent him through based on a dry-land triple axle. This time the judges rave and send him through to the next round.

Next is Allie Bertram, a cute, confident tiny young thing we met in the Halifax audition. Through to the next round.

Tiger Son, the south Asian immigrant who showed up at the Montreal auditions with a chip on his shoulder against everybody who hasn’t suffered as much as he has, is back. And the judges send him packing because he wasn’t able to do anything but the hip-hop. He gets some camera face time – a voted off the island-style “at least I’m leaving with my integrity intact” moment – that degenerates into an exercise in self-pity. When are reality TV contestants going to learn that really, really, really wanting something is not a competitive advantage when the other guy really, really, really wants it, too. If self pity was a drink, Tiger Son would be on the bottle.

Ballroom dancer Francis Lafrenière (Halifax audition) makes it through and leaves us wondering about his partner Claudia. Another ballroomer, Danny Arbour, makes it through as well.

We get a montage of dancers we haven’t met making it through or not, ending with one we do know. Natalli Reznik, from the Toronto audition, does a hammy hip-hop bit that gets a laugh and she's moving on.

Next up is Jade 'Hollywood' Anderson, who knocks me out with an African song behind him and a tribal-ish dance that takes my breath away. Blake isn’t convinced (versatility issues?) and says it was great, but will people pick up the phone for him? Jade looks up at the studio audience and asks, “Would you?” The crowd cheers. Jade, you are my hero. He goes through.

Ferdinand Tocol (the cheerful B-boy we met in Calgary) gets the hook. I thought his moves were good – he just doesn’t look like a dancer. They should have kept you, Ferdinand.

Arassay Reyes, who did a fast Latin routine in her Vancouver audition, does something totally different – a jazzy contemporary piece. She nails it and I realize her choreographer/father may be a stage parent, but he knows dance.

That’s the end of the first day. Leah tells us that 56 hopefuls were eliminated.

Day 2

Tré leads the dancers in a disco routine. First up is a group of 8 that includes one dancer we met at the Halifax audition, Joshua McLean, who wore a shiny gold blazer that drew criticism. Tonight he’s in a pale yellow dress shirt with a black tie. For the bus ride home.

Clip of 6 people reacting to being sent packing. Next to last is a tearful, broken-hearted woman. Last is a guy who feigns uncontolled crying and then laughs out loud. Cool dude.

Jeremy Tran-Hu (Montreal) “had trouble with the choreography, but two votes gets him a last chance.

Cut to an entire group that does the routine with such confidence that the judges get into it (Donna Summer doing Last Dance) and send the entire group through.

Montage of groups doing the routine. Nothing I haven’t seen way too much of for any more this lifetime. Thank you, punk.

Katelyn Fitzgerald, Shane Simpson, Graeme Goodall, Jesse Catiblog, Tatiana Parker, and Romina D’Ugo, make it through to the next round.

Cut to Leah talking with Montrealer Thien-Linh Truong. The day before she fell off a step and sprained her ankle. She does the disco routine with the ankle taped and does it well enough to make it through, but with the warning from Jean Marc, “you have to step it up.” Cut to Leah being taken to hospital. Later a doctor examines her and tells her if she continues she could permanently damage herself.

Mira Schwartzberg makes it through. The judges bid a truly fond farewell to Eileen ‘Dove’ Flomata, who auditioned in three cities before the judges gave her a pity pass. The mercy hand job ends here. "You got to keep going," she says after being cut. "One day, they'll say yes."

Sandhu is up again and again the judges are divided on him. Blake thought he looked like a waiter breaking into a dance after locking the door. They send him to dance for his life.

Jeremiah Hughes, who made it to the finals on the US show, Tre gives him shit for “remixing choreography” and he is told he will have to dance for his life. With quick takes of 7 dancers we have seen before being sent to Dance for Your Life segment, the Disco Dancing segment is over and the Dance for Your Life portion of the round begins.

Dario Milard earns a standing ovation and a pass to the next round. B-boys Miles Faber and Jeremy Tran-Huu make it through, as does Emmanuel Sandhu. Have I mentioned Sandhu has an oddly vampiric cast to his features? And it’s weird watching him circle, like he’s looking for the boards to tell him where to start his next move. You never stop being aware that you are watching a figure skater.

Jeremiah , Kevin Howe, Mike Catay, Jared, and James Jones, make it. Leah says, “It’s been a long chain of yeses, but will it continue?” We immediately pity the next performer, Derek Rice. Bye Derek. Bye Valerie. Bye Dean.

Justin Jackson’s crazy fast feet tap him into the next round. Cut to Thien-Linh being led off in a wheelchair.

Day Two: Foxtrot

Jean Marc and his wife/dancing partner choreograph the fox trot segment. Cut to the judges questioning Thien-Linh. She is told she risks damaging her partner’s chances. She says she won’t let anyone down. dancers being coupled up to perform for the judges. Cut to the partners being divided into partners. We get a longer than necessary introduction to the foxtrot.

Joey Matt and Lisa Auguste go first. They are flawless. “It’s a double big big yes,” from Jean Marc. Next round.

Justin Jackson and Chloe Schwartz. Justin is surprisingly sent home and Chloe to dance for her life. Kenny Avasa and Mira are through. Vasson Olivier and Caroline Torti are through. Vasson’s girlfriend, Kim Gervais, doesn’t. Her partner, Pierre Bouthier does (and is wracked with guilt for possibly letting down the beautiful Ms Gervais).

Some guy named Sean is sent home, but partner Catelyn stays. Ashley Sweet and Taylor Miller reach their end. Jeremy Tran Huu is gone. Hollywood Anderson is gone (damn I loved his tribal dance) as is his partner, A.C. Linsa.

James Jones and partner Michaela are eliminated, but bionic woman Thien-Linh and partner Ricky Cooperman live to dance another day. Jean Marc tells Ashley Ervin that her partner Danny Arbor, “saved your butt a couple of times,” but sends them both on with no stop at Dance for Your Life. Kevin Melreyea and Denitsa Iconomova are the best Blake has seen so far.

Vallerina Alley and Halifax ballroomer kill it. His girlfriend and partner Claudia Primeau makes it through despite being partner Nicholas Begin, a dancer 4 inches shorter than she. In fact, her whole group makes it through.

Dance for Your Life round begins. We see one performance - Chloe Schultz. She makes it to the next round with a contemporary routine, but barely.

Next up is a surprise Group Choreography challenge that is sprung on the 69 remaining dancers at the end of a long day – with a long day ahead tomorrow. The dancers are broken up into 10 groups and are told to choreograph an original piece to be performed for the judges first thing in the morning. The segment doesn’t last long enough to do anything but hint at a truckload of backstage conflict. In the end the routines, whether a success or a failure, are meaningless. Nobody gets eliminated and only three, all from the first group, dance for their lives.

Day 3: Contemporary

Blake McGrath chreographs. He tells them, "Half of you are cut after this." The dancers are not impressed by his instruction skills, complaining of no counts and inarticulate move explanations.

The first group performs for the judges. Juliette is sent home with an invitation to try again next year. Other groups perform. Claudia goes. Thien (more guts than brains) Linh's injured ankle finally proves too much for even her. Julia Harnett, Tabitha Lupien, Jeremiah Hughes and Christian Oulette are all gone. Jean Marc, a Quebecois ballroom dancing Montrealer like Christian, was particularly upset on that last one. Christian’s partner, Denitsa Iconomova, stays.

Joey Matt gets the first pass to the next round in ages. In quick cuts we watch 20 others get the good word.

It is Dance for Your Life time for the round. Natalli goes first and, in Leah’s words, “Sets the stage on fire,” setting the bar high for those to follow. Quick cuts; Chris stays but not Graham, Michelle, or Oliver. The segment raps on a high note, with Jesse Catibog bringing the audience to its feet with an old school break dance.

Day Four and last: Solos

Emmanuel Sandhu appears before the judges. Did he do a solo? If he did, we didn’t see it. Luther tells him his transitions from the dry-land figure skating “tricks” to his dance moves is bumpy and asks him to work on it come back next year.

Young Arassay Reyes gets a yes from the judges (again we don’t see the contestant dance) and becomes the 1st dancer in the Top 20. We get a great sequence of her screaming and shaking and laugh and wriggling like a puppy about to pee on the floor she’s so happy to see you; on stage, in the hallway, into the Green Room.

Denitsa, perhaps undone by the loss of her longtime partner in the previous round, is deemed not confident enough for the Top 20.

Blake tells Dario Milard, "You are the most creative dancer I have ever seen in my entire life." Tre tells him, “You made a tomboy cry.” Top 20 and #2. And I’m saying Top 5.

Lisa Auguste has been confident, even cocky, since we met her in the very first episode. She has reason to be. She’s the 3rd dancer in the Top 20.

Cody Banal is sent home, as are Mackenzie, Chloe, Yonni, Everett, Dwayne, Austin, Tara Jean, and Hanni.

We get our next addition to the Top 20 when too cute for words, little Allie Bertram makes it through as the 4th member of the Top 20. She tells the others, “Luther thinks I’m dope.” He also thinks she’s, “The cutest little mouse.”

Lara Smythe, Jesse Catibog, Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Vincent Noiseux, Tamina Pollack-Paris, Joey Matt and Caroline Torti are Top 20 members 5 through 11.

Kevin Mylrea gets some face time. Blake tells him that he is technically the king of the competition, but the last week he has not stepped it up. It’s a warning, not a farewell. He’s Top 20 member #12.

Ashley Irvin gets some face and is asked to try again next year.

We get a clip of the guy Leah called “Mr. Bossypants” for his behaviour during the Group Choreography competition, Izaak Smith. The clip shows him strolling through a forest. They don’t waste time doing clips of dancers who are about to leave. He is #13.

Romina D’Ugo is #14, Breanne Wong #15, pop and lock master Miles Faber #16. Jared gets sent home, “for this year.” Ricky, Jennifer, Chris, Melanie, Shane, Cory and Tatiana go home.

Nico Archambault makes the Top 20. Three spots left, 4 dancers. Natalli and Mira go together. They tell Mira she’s a diamond in the rough. Natalli is told she’s one the most passionate dancers, but she has “struggled mightily with the choreography.” Natalli gets the nod, Mira gets next year. Ballroomers, Danny Arbour and Francis Lafrenière, two very similar dancers, complete the Top 20.

See you next week.

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA

2008-10-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

CANADIAN IDOL 6

2008-10-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

So You Think You Can Dance Canada: Top 200

2008-10-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

5. And finally, MORE TIME IN CHOREOGRAPHY in the audition rounds! What are you thinking? This is where the real tension and conflict occurs.

Sincerely,
LB

Here we go. 200 dancers fighting for 20 spots. Judges are Jean Marc, Tré, Luther and Blake. Judges give a bit of trite advice. Jean Marc says, “Go big or go home.” I say, “Get a new cliché or get out.” Luther says, "If normally you dance inside, dance outside." I say, “Huh?”

There will be several rounds; hip-hop, disco, ballroom, group choreography, contemporary, solo. Format is that you need 3 yes votes to go to the next round. Two yeses will get you to a “dance for your life” last chance dance.

We start with a clip of Luther choreographing a hip-hop routine. It looks too intricate for a lot of the contestants, particularly the arm moves. Cut to dancers milling about backstage, telling us how nervous they are as they are about to perform for the judges. They are broken up to groups of 5 or 6 and brought before the judges, where they will perform the routine and be told one of 3 things: go home, dance for your life, or on to the next round.

In his Montreal audition Olympic figure skater Emanuel Sandhu did a weird drag queen bit that turned the judges off, but they sent him through based on a dry-land triple axle. This time the judges rave and send him through to the next round.

Next is Allie Bertram, a cute, confident tiny young thing we met in the Halifax audition. Through to the next round.

Tiger Son, the south Asian immigrant who showed up at the Montreal auditions with a chip on his shoulder against everybody who hasn’t suffered as much as he has, is back. And the judges send him packing because he wasn’t able to do anything but the hip-hop. He gets some camera face time – a voted off the island-style “at least I’m leaving with my integrity intact” moment – that degenerates into an exercise in self-pity. When are reality TV contestants going to learn that really, really, really wanting something is not a competitive advantage when the other guy really, really, really wants it, too. If self pity was a drink, Tiger Son would be on the bottle.

Ballroom dancer Francis Lafrenière (Halifax audition) makes it through and leaves us wondering about his partner Claudia. Another ballroomer, Danny Arbour, makes it through as well.

We get a montage of dancers we haven’t met making it through or not, ending with one we do know. Natalli Reznik, from the Toronto audition, does a hammy hip-hop bit that gets a laugh and she's moving on.

Next up is Jade 'Hollywood' Anderson, who knocks me out with an African song behind him and a tribal-ish dance that takes my breath away. Blake isn’t convinced (versatility issues?) and says it was great, but will people pick up the phone for him? Jade looks up at the studio audience and asks, “Would you?” The crowd cheers. Jade, you are my hero. He goes through.

Ferdinand Tocol (the cheerful B-boy we met in Calgary) gets the hook. I thought his moves were good – he just doesn’t look like a dancer. They should have kept you, Ferdinand.

Arassay Reyes, who did a fast Latin routine in her Vancouver audition, does something totally different – a jazzy contemporary piece. She nails it and I realize her choreographer/father may be a stage parent, but he knows dance.

That’s the end of the first day. Leah tells us that 56 hopefuls were eliminated.

Day 2

Tré leads the dancers in a disco routine. First up is a group of 8 that includes one dancer we met at the Halifax audition, Joshua McLean, who wore a shiny gold blazer that drew criticism. Tonight he’s in a pale yellow dress shirt with a black tie. For the bus ride home.

Clip of 6 people reacting to being sent packing. Next to last is a tearful, broken-hearted woman. Last is a guy who feigns uncontolled crying and then laughs out loud. Cool dude.

Jeremy Tran-Hu (Montreal) “had trouble with the choreography, but two votes gets him a last chance.

Cut to an entire group that does the routine with such confidence that the judges get into it (Donna Summer doing Last Dance) and send the entire group through.

Montage of groups doing the routine. Nothing I haven’t seen way too much of for any more this lifetime. Thank you, punk.

Katelyn Fitzgerald, Shane Simpson, Graeme Goodall, Jesse Catiblog, Tatiana Parker, and Romina D’Ugo, make it through to the next round.

Cut to Leah talking with Montrealer Thien-Linh Truong. The day before she fell off a step and sprained her ankle. She does the disco routine with the ankle taped and does it well enough to make it through, but with the warning from Jean Marc, “you have to step it up.” Cut to Leah being taken to hospital. Later a doctor examines her and tells her if she continues she could permanently damage herself.

Mira Schwartzberg makes it through. The judges bid a truly fond farewell to Eileen ‘Dove’ Flomata, who auditioned in three cities before the judges gave her a pity pass. The mercy hand job ends here. "You got to keep going," she says after being cut. "One day, they'll say yes."

Sandhu is up again and again the judges are divided on him. Blake thought he looked like a waiter breaking into a dance after locking the door. They send him to dance for his life.

Jeremiah Hughes, who made it to the finals on the US show, Tre gives him shit for “remixing choreography” and he is told he will have to dance for his life. With quick takes of 7 dancers we have seen before being sent to Dance for Your Life segment, the Disco Dancing segment is over and the Dance for Your Life portion of the round begins.

Dario Milard earns a standing ovation and a pass to the next round. B-boys Miles Faber and Jeremy Tran-Huu make it through, as does Emmanuel Sandhu. Have I mentioned Sandhu has an oddly vampiric cast to his features? And it’s weird watching him circle, like he’s looking for the boards to tell him where to start his next move. You never stop being aware that you are watching a figure skater.

Jeremiah , Kevin Howe, Mike Catay, Jared, and James Jones, make it. Leah says, “It’s been a long chain of yeses, but will it continue?” We immediately pity the next performer, Derek Rice. Bye Derek. Bye Valerie. Bye Dean.

Justin Jackson’s crazy fast feet tap him into the next round. Cut to Thien-Linh being led off in a wheelchair.

Day Two: Foxtrot

Jean Marc and his wife/dancing partner choreograph the fox trot segment. Cut to the judges questioning Thien-Linh. She is told she risks damaging her partner’s chances. She says she won’t let anyone down. dancers being coupled up to perform for the judges. Cut to the partners being divided into partners. We get a longer than necessary introduction to the foxtrot.

Joey Matt and Lisa Auguste go first. They are flawless. “It’s a double big big yes,” from Jean Marc. Next round.

Justin Jackson and Chloe Schwartz. Justin is surprisingly sent home and Chloe to dance for her life. Kenny Avasa and Mira are through. Vasson Olivier and Caroline Torti are through. Vasson’s girlfriend, Kim Gervais, doesn’t. Her partner, Pierre Bouthier does (and is wracked with guilt for possibly letting down the beautiful Ms Gervais).

Some guy named Sean is sent home, but partner Catelyn stays. Ashley Sweet and Taylor Miller reach their end. Jeremy Tran Huu is gone. Hollywood Anderson is gone (damn I loved his tribal dance) as is his partner, A.C. Linsa.

James Jones and partner Michaela are eliminated, but bionic woman Thien-Linh and partner Ricky Cooperman live to dance another day. Jean Marc tells Ashley Ervin that her partner Danny Arbor, “saved your butt a couple of times,” but sends them both on with no stop at Dance for Your Life. Kevin Melreyea and Denitsa Iconomova are the best Blake has seen so far.

Vallerina Alley and Halifax ballroomer kill it. His girlfriend and partner Claudia Primeau makes it through despite being partner Nicholas Begin, a dancer 4 inches shorter than she. In fact, her whole group makes it through.

Dance for Your Life round begins. We see one performance - Chloe Schultz. She makes it to the next round with a contemporary routine, but barely.

Next up is a surprise Group Choreography challenge that is sprung on the 69 remaining dancers at the end of a long day – with a long day ahead tomorrow. The dancers are broken up into 10 groups and are told to choreograph an original piece to be performed for the judges first thing in the morning. The segment doesn’t last long enough to do anything but hint at a truckload of backstage conflict. In the end the routines, whether a success or a failure, are meaningless. Nobody gets eliminated and only three, all from the first group, dance for their lives.

Day 3: Contemporary

Blake McGrath chreographs. He tells them, "Half of you are cut after this." The dancers are not impressed by his instruction skills, complaining of no counts and inarticulate move explanations.

The first group performs for the judges. Juliette is sent home with an invitation to try again next year. Other groups perform. Claudia goes. Thien (more guts than brains) Linh's injured ankle finally proves too much for even her. Julia Harnett, Tabitha Lupien, Jeremiah Hughes and Christian Oulette are all gone. Jean Marc, a Quebecois ballroom dancing Montrealer like Christian, was particularly upset on that last one. Christian’s partner, Denitsa Iconomova, stays.

Joey Matt gets the first pass to the next round in ages. In quick cuts we watch 20 others get the good word.

It is Dance for Your Life time for the round. Natalli goes first and, in Leah’s words, “Sets the stage on fire,” setting the bar high for those to follow. Quick cuts; Chris stays but not Graham, Michelle, or Oliver. The segment raps on a high note, with Jesse Catibog bringing the audience to its feet with an old school break dance.

Day Four and last: Solos

Emmanuel Sandhu appears before the judges. Did he do a solo? If he did, we didn’t see it. Luther tells him his transitions from the dry-land figure skating “tricks” to his dance moves is bumpy and asks him to work on it come back next year.

Young Arassay Reyes gets a yes from the judges (again we don’t see the contestant dance) and becomes the 1st dancer in the Top 20. We get a great sequence of her screaming and shaking and laugh and wriggling like a puppy about to pee on the floor she’s so happy to see you; on stage, in the hallway, into the Green Room.

Denitsa, perhaps undone by the loss of her longtime partner in the previous round, is deemed not confident enough for the Top 20.

Blake tells Dario Milard, "You are the most creative dancer I have ever seen in my entire life." Tre tells him, “You made a tomboy cry.” Top 20 and #2. And I’m saying Top 5.

Lisa Auguste has been confident, even cocky, since we met her in the very first episode. She has reason to be. She’s the 3rd dancer in the Top 20.

Cody Banal is sent home, as are Mackenzie, Chloe, Yonni, Everett, Dwayne, Austin, Tara Jean, and Hanni.

We get our next addition to the Top 20 when too cute for words, little Allie Bertram makes it through as the 4th member of the Top 20. She tells the others, “Luther thinks I’m dope.” He also thinks she’s, “The cutest little mouse.”

Lara Smythe, Jesse Catibog, Kaitlyn Fitzgerald, Vincent Noiseux, Tamina Pollack-Paris, Joey Matt and Caroline Torti are Top 20 members 5 through 11.

Kevin Mylrea gets some face time. Blake tells him that he is technically the king of the competition, but the last week he has not stepped it up. It’s a warning, not a farewell. He’s Top 20 member #12.

Ashley Irvin gets some face and is asked to try again next year.

We get a clip of the guy Leah called “Mr. Bossypants” for his behaviour during the Group Choreography competition, Izaak Smith. The clip shows him strolling through a forest. They don’t waste time doing clips of dancers who are about to leave. He is #13.

Romina D’Ugo is #14, Breanne Wong #15, pop and lock master Miles Faber #16. Jared gets sent home, “for this year.” Ricky, Jennifer, Chris, Melanie, Shane, Cory and Tatiana go home.

Nico Archambault makes the Top 20. Three spots left, 4 dancers. Natalli and Mira go together. They tell Mira she’s a diamond in the rough. Natalli is told she’s one the most passionate dancers, but she has “struggled mightily with the choreography.” Natalli gets the nod, Mira gets next year. Ballroomers, Danny Arbour and Francis Lafrenière, two very similar dancers, complete the Top 20.

See you next week.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 32

2008-09-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Final results show. The opening number of this 2 hour stall-fest reunites the top ten. They do 8 bars of a song I (and Google) don’t recognize. They sing, “Nothing can stop this thing that we’ve got;” the eight confirmed losers singing that nothing can stop them just as loudly as do the final two. The tune morphs into a medley, with each singer getting 12 bars of face time. Sebastian over-emoting again (you’re only mesmerizing when you’re cool, Sabby); Earl, in shirt, tie, and shades and carrying a skate board, dipping his shoulders to Feelin’ Alright; Mookie in the crowd proclaiming Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag, Theo doing Elton John’s Still Standing; Amberly, Adam, Mitch, Mark, Drew and Katherine: the class of season 6 was a good one.

We’re going to keep track of how many performances are included in this show and how many montages. That’s 11 Performances – one group and 10 individual.

Hedley, a band featuring some guy from season 2 who sounds like the singer from Maroon 5 when the material is in the right key, does You’re Going to Miss Me When I’m Gone. The visual alternates between the performance and a montage of rejections from the early audition episodes. That’s 12 Performances, 1 Montage. Good to get a clip of Gary Smeddon, the first person sent packing on air this season. Hey Gary – come back to us next season, okay? Jake was full of shit.

Hedley does the single off their new album. It’s another turgid power ballad that might work as a Canadian Tire commercial.

Satellite hook-up to Port Hood, NS. Ben talks to the crowd of Mitch supporters, Mitch stands beside Ben. His earpiece isn’t working, so Ben fills him in on the homely anecdote his uncle is relating. Mitch is wearing a white belt. Herb Tarlick is not a good look for you (or anyone), Mitch.

R&B diva and Canadian Idol behind-the-scenes interviewer Jully Black gets her montage next. It is followed by Jully performing for the only time in season 6. She’s a better singer than color commentator, but she has a high likeability factor. Maybe she could replace Ben if he decides to spread his wings (lol).

And we’re up to Performances 14, Montages 2.

Theo and Ben hook-up to Lethbridge. Theo’s earpiece doesn’t work any better than Mitch’s, so Ben relays the homely anecdote from Mitch’s Grade 5 teacher.

A montage of this season’s mentors transitions to the final mentor, R&B singer and John Legend, doing Ready to Go Right Now. Performance 15, Montages 3.

Mariah Carey does an interminable song with a one-note bass line, 3 chords and no chorus (or maybe it was all chorus). It was like watching River Dance stoned. It went on so long I wondered if I was caught in one of those nasty time loops.

Ben and Farley touring Malawi as part of their support for the Schools-in-Africa program. Performances 15, Montages 4

Canadian Idol 5 winner Brian Melo and his band do Back to Me, the single off their new album. Nice bit of calculated dissonance in the guitar work. I liked it.

An interesting bit on Canadian Idol as a small town Canada phenomenon. Clearly the producers are not unaware of where the show’s primary audience lives. And yes, the homage fromage is a montage.

The Top 10 return for a final performance, I’m Going Home.

Finally the stars of the show return for their final performances. They reprise their two best songs, Weak in the Knees from Theo and I Love This Town from Mitch, then do a duet on Blue Rodeo’s It Hasn’t Hit Me Yet. The results are announced. To know one’s surprise, Theo is the new Canadian Idol.

Long life, Theo. Forget everything you learned on Canadian Idol about being a pop star and you’ll have a great career.

Final tally, Performances 20, Montages 5.

Canadian Idol 6 – Episode 31

2008-09-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

A Trojan worm attack crashed my system as I was recapping Monday night’s Final 2 episode. A friendly warning to fellow web-surfers: YouPorn is a phishing site, not a YouTube affiliate.

The penultimate episode of Canadian Idol 6 offered convincing proof that the culture wars were won by REO Speed Wagon in 1978. All that you thought was worthwhile over the past thirty years – punk, rap, new country, thrash, hip-hop, world beat, whatever – is as dust in the wind compared to the awesome might of the 70's power ballad. The episode also confirmed what critics of Canadian Idol have been saying for some time – the show is not about talent; it is about the rural versus urban divide that has replaced the effete concerns of Quebec separatists to become this generation’s primary threat to Canadian unity.

I suspect the producers are aware that they are exploiting a fault-line in Canadian culture; but I also suspect they haven’t accurately defined it in their own minds yet. Host Ben Mulroney started the show by announcing it was “a battle of East versus West.” Well, yeah: since Mookie, the last urban singer left in the competition, was eliminated two weeks ago, the competition can now be (mis)characterized as East (Port Hood, NS, for Mitch) versus West (Coaldale, AB, for Theo). But that’s only because the unified front rural/small-town cultures generate has already defeated the fragmented, diverse populations of our urban centers.

But enough with the dime store (dollar store?) cultural deconstructionism: based on the final performances of the final two, who’s going to win?

Mitch started with Paris, a Faith Hill song by Gordie Sampson, the pride of Big Pond, Nova Scotia. Mitch does alright, but so what? His voice is thin and his pitch uncertain; always has been, always will be.

Theo counters with Jann Arden’s Good Mother – just him at the piano. That CI is about regions makes it an unfair venue for performers like Theo. He’s an exceptional artist who has soiled himself trying to be what he thinks the judges think a pop star should be. At least on this song he has to stay at the piano. God forbid he should do his imitation of a rock star (wander aimlessly around the stage, occasionally lunge toward the audience or camera, try to look tough but end up looking gay).

The next songs by both contestants are songs written for them and will be their first single should they win. Both are execrable power ballads that will have trouble mustering more than a couple weeks airplay – and that airplay will just be because stations figure they have to play them, not because viewers will turn to the radio just to hear their Idol.

The final two songs are judges’ choice, and the choices are revealing. Mitch does Bread’s If and Theo does Foreigner’s I Wanna Know What Love Is. Both songs are older than the audience.

Looking forward to the 2-hour finale on Wednesday night – Theo should win hands down, no questions, badda-bing badda-boom, game over, sayonara, somebody wake up the fat lady. But those Maritimers have a flinty edge to them. Albertans used to, but they’ve gone soft now on political power and oil money. We could get a real shock.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 30

2008-09-02T17:34:00.000-07:00

It’s the top 3 results show, featuring Bryan Adams doing 2 songs, home town concerts by the finalists and more commercials per minute of airtime than anything this side of the last 15 minutes of SNL. Mulroney quickly polls the judges on meaningless crap. Sass says if she can do anything for any of the top 3 guys, they should call her. Cougar alert.

Since the show is mostly filler, I figure I can put in some of my own. Want to mention that I approve of the gender-blind casting Canadian Idol has used this year. Don’t know if CI is the first iteration of the Idol franchises to try it out; does anybody reading this know?

Bryan does 18 Till I Die. I’m not a fan of forever-young sentiments. Hold on to 16 as long as you can my ass. Grow the fuck up and lend a hand - we’re bailing as fast as we can. That’s a sentiment I’d like to crank it up and wail to.

I’m sick of the CBC promulgating the myth that Canadians are polite. The rudest people I have ever met have all been Canadians, with the exception of a group of teenage boys on the south side Chicago that didn’t like the color of my skin.

Bryan does She’s Got a Way, the single off his new albums. Now don’t get me wrong here – I think Bryan has written enough classic barroom rockers to merit every honour and dollar he has – but, truth be told, I run for the door when his ballad gets cued up. Sometimes the door is too far and I take a window out of sheer self-preservation. Doesn’t matter what they call the ballad – and god knows he’s released it under a bunch of different names – but damn, it’s the same tune every time.

Okay, the hometown visits. Wish Earl was still around. I think he would have crushed it in front of Lloydminster. In any event, we get Drew in Collingwood; 15,000 population, all but 200 of whom turned out for the street concert. Theo hits Calgary, Coaldale and Lethbridge, Alberta. Seems kind of unfair that he got to do 2 hometown concerts and one big-city media stop. Mitch just gets one concert, like Drew did, but his crowd stretched to the horizon. Looked like most of Nova Scotia showed up. It looked like Yasgur’s Farm.

And the results: Drew, the performer who has shown the most consistent improvement over the course of the competition, is out.

Next week: chipmunk Mitch and piano man Theo go head to head in a battle of Alberta vs the Maritimes. This stopped being about talent a long time ago.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 29

2008-09-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Final 3 with Bryan Adams doing the mentoring and providing the songs. In the pre-performance patter Sass works happily (if not hard) at not saying she and Bryan once knew each other in the biblical sense of the word while on tour. I wonder if, cougar that she is, she’s trying to make some young fella jealous. Anybody heard from Sebastian lately?

Drew does Cut Like a Knife in a great arrangement – all Randy Bachmann power chords. More like Cuts Like an Axe. Knocked me out. Check it out on The Canadian Idol website when they get it up, if you missed it. If they released this version as a single it would play for years. Zack thought he should have dirtied up the vocals to better match the music, but he’s wrong. Drew is like that singer in Journey. Steve somebody. Journey was a joke of a band, to me – but their singer sounded like Sam Cooke doing metal and it worked for him.

Theo does Heaven from behind the piano; slower than the original, kind of Jackson Brownish. Theo’s voice is in its usual fine form and he hits the right emotional notes as well. Sass says, “Enormously powerful.” Farley thought the arrangement was incredible, Jake said, “You just blow it up with your voice.” Zack calls it, “One of the best performances ever on this show.”

Mitch simply doesn’t have skills to top top either of the first two performances. He does In the Heat of the Night and shows us angry Mitch. While he doesn’t look nearly as stupid as Theo does when Theo tries to look tough, I couldn't help wishing one of the judges would tell him he should stick to using his inside voice. Instead, they just told him he looked uncomfortable.

Maybe it’s the editing, but we didn’t see Adams give anything that might be mistaken for a musical critique – particularly disappointing in light of the master’s class Anne Murray gave last week.

Round 2.

Drew has changed from his rock star black leather to an intern investment broker’s dress shirt and tie, collar unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up; vest on, but no jacket. He stands at the mic, no guitar, and does I’m Ready. Zack said he looked and sounded like he was doing Bryan Adams in Bryan Adams: The Musical. Zack was right.

Theo does When You’re Gone and is doing well until he walks out from behind the electric keyboard and starts what Zack calls, “Aimlessly walking around the stage.” It’ll be nice to see Theo on a tour of his own, when he can just focus on being a singer and leave being a pop star to the tweens.

And then there’s Mitch. He does When You Love Someone. Afterward Sass tells him he has “redeemed himself” with the performance. It may bring him some comfort, but I think he knows tonight was the closest he’s going to get.

Final 2: Drew and Theo? We’ll see tomorrow.

Canadian Idol 6 – Episode 28

2008-08-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

It’s results night for the final 4; Earl, Mitch, Drew and Theo. Anne Murray and American Idol 6 winner Jordin Sparks are along to provide the filler.

Anne does Daydream Believer followed by Can I Have This Dance. Age has ravaged her pitch-perfect voice. The husky lower register is recognizable, but when she sweeps up to that once crystal clear top end the bell-like resonance is gone. Her voice trembles, making her sound decades older than her 63 years.

Afterword she tells Mulroney that she really wanted to give the contestants, “useful tips.” That she did. It was kind of spooky the way she isolated each performer’s weak spot and made them better singers with a sentence of direction and no more. I hope she gives singing lessons regularly. A national treasure.

Ms Sparks does her current pop hit One Step at a Time. Nice bubblegum. Amberly would do a great job on it.

It’s time for the results. No bottom three to build suspense; Mulroney calls them all out, acts like he’s going start toying and – boom! – out it comes. Earl, who Mulroney calls, Everybody’s best friend,” goes home.

Good ride, Earl. I remember the first time I heard you. “We end with Earl Stevenson, a gangly, soft spoken 23 year old from Lloydminster, Alberta. He’s been working at Bob’s Backhoe for two months but hasn’t gotten his first pay cheque yet, so he doesn’t know what he’s making. He was a serious snowboarder (has the video to prove it) but hurt his knee. He does a version of Heard It Through the Grapevine that knocks me and the judges on our collectives asses. Beautiful voice, great rhythm.”

It should have been Earl and Theo in the final two. Well it won’t be Earl and it may not even be Theo. Tonight Zack told him he needs to “skip the pop crap,” and focus on his own style. Odd words coming from someone who’s constantly reminding contestants that Canadian Idol is a competition for pop singers.

Canadian Idol - Episode 27

2008-08-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Top 4, with Anne Murray as guest mentor and her songbook as the source for round one material. Tonight is the first time the contestants will sing two solo numbers. Round 2 is contestant’s choice.

Mitch is first. In his session with Anne, she tells him to work on his breathing. Think of each breath as a thought, she says. “When you finish the thought, take the next breath.” It is the type of constructive, specific criticism I think the judges should always be striving for; too bad the judges don’t feel that way. Remember Shaun Francisco’s audition way back in the first episodes? Jake Goldman said he didn’t find him interesting and Shaun begged him to give him something specific. Goldman couldn’t come up with anything and lamely hissed, “When I see it I know it,” in a pissy kind of way that made it clear he wanted Shaun to shut up.

Mitch does Lightfoot’s Cotton Jinny. It is a pleasant performance of a nice song, improved by Anne’s advice which he does follow, and Mitch strums his guitar correctly throughout. Not dynamic enough for this late in the competition.

Earl picks a song that, yes, Anne recorded, but c’mon – Killing Me Softly will always be a Roberta Flack number. That said, though, it’s not a bad choice for Earl. And he really works on the eye contact, as Anne recommended – Sass even comments on it. He did look a little tighter than usual, though – possibly because he’s having to pay attention to performance issues as the competition narrows. Zack says he looked like he was, “Out meandering in the backyard.”

Anne tells Drew she notices he is bending his notes a lot, following the guitar playing. She tells him, “Simplify the guitar and focus on the vocals.” He takes her at her word and delivers his best vocal of the competition by far. His song is Hey Daddy, from Anne’s children’s album, Hippo in the Bathtub. Amazing that Anne spotted exactly the right item in her short time with him. The difference is subtle, but it makes him sound confident, compelling. Oh, and he’s lost that thin, sad beard and looks great with a Miami Vice scruff.

Anne’s advice for Theo is, “Fewer licks. I know you can do them. But make them tasty; make them count.” Again, she has gotten right to the heart of the performer’s weakness. 4 for 4. Theo does You Don’t Know Me, his first country tune of the competition, and plants a flag. Knocks me out. Zack thought it was flavourless but Jake got the 50s crooner thing Theo was going for, as did Farley.

Round 2, singer’s choice.

Mitch picks Eliot Smith’s Between the Bars. Not bad, but not compelling, either.

Earl does The Joker. Sass, perhaps inspired by Anne’s example, actually offers some constructive criticism of his singing technique (sliding up at the end of phrases). His finish is so precisely arranged it’s clear I’m not the only to have told him to pay attention to his endings.

Drew leaves the judges unimpressed by a bluesy Gravity. Ever notice these guys love blues in the auditions but not once they get to the final 10?

Theo finishes off with Gavin DeGraw’s Chariot. His goofy take on rock and roll as performance art betrays him again and he climbs on top of his piano singing a tune I could imagine Barry Manilow doing. Somebody help this guy, eh? He embarrasses himself every time he tries to be a showman. C’mon Theo – this is yours to lose. Hate to say it, but when you don't give me a lump in my throat I'm offended in a way that doesn't happen with the others. Guess I have a double standard- there's the standard you've set and then there's everybody else.

I say Mitch goes home. Talk at ‘cha tomorrow.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 26

2008-08-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

The results are in for the Top 5. Once again Toronto shows it is too cool for Canadian Idol and leaves a hometown boy dangling in the wind. That’s right – the guy who the judges have been calling rockstar since before they cut the pack down to the top 24, Mookie Morris, namesake of Montreal Expos great Mookie Wilson, is history (just like the Expos).

Last night Mookie did Come Together and looked his usual cool dude doing it; Beatle boots, some great Mick Jagger slip-slidy foot work, marching band jacket. He didn’t go the Abbey Road route and he didn’t cop from Aerosmith. His arrangement (if indeed it was his – the kid’s 18 fer gawd’s sake) was unique and that alone should have gotten him some consideration.

Best thing about the results was when Mulroney, having identified Mookie and Drew as the bottom two, asked judge Jake Gold what Mookie should do if he lost. Jake said Mookie should call him in the morning.

But you can’t beat the hometown vibe. So who will win of the top 4? Will the next Canadian Idol be Lethbridge, Lloydminister, Port Hood or Collingwood?

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 25

2008-08-18T18:11:00.000-07:00

The top 5, Beatles week, judges choice. The judges weigh in on the cultural impact of the Beatles. Ben asks Zack what makes the Beatles music still relevant 40 years later? Zack’s answers, “It was the songs.” I watch the show for the insights of the professionals into pop music and by extension, into the heart of pop culture. I watch and watch and watch.

I loved the Beatles because they wrote their own songs, they wrote great melodies, they sang two-part harmony in a way that left room for you to join in in a way the Everly Brothers didn’t, they could sing and look cool at the same time and mostly because when they weren’t doing music hall or psychedelia, they could rock in a way I’d never seen white people do.

Earl has to go first – a serious disadvantage at the final 5 stage and beyond. The judges have picked With a Little Help From My Friends. Earl’s voice is made for this and I’m into it from the first note. Wearing a suit coat over a tieless dress shirt, topped off by a porkpie hat, he stands at the mic clutching it like he’s afraid the undertow will pull him out to sea. Never saw him this concentrated. Maybe his surprise appearance in the bottom three last week woke him up?

It seems Earl has been listening to some of the forum criticism (he never gets any from the judges, and that’s too bad – the guy is a great natural talent, but he’s got serious flaws, too). He’s focused tonight – so focused I don’t remember him opening his eyes during the entire performance. The band is a razor. When he gets to the, “Do you need anybody,” call and response section he resists the temptation to try to out Cocker Cocker and underplays his part, surprising me. His most focused performance so far.

Come Together is Mookie Morris’s assignment. With his British Invasion vibe, he’s a natural for this. Love the foot work, the boots and the marching band jacket. The arrangement is his own and it impresses. He does unexpected things with the phrasing. It’s a good job, but you know, I wish they had given him one of the early ones. Twist and Shout? Hard Days Night? Maybe even the iconic She Loves You? Gives me chills to think.

Theo gets Long and Winding Road. Theo takes a wrong turn. The judges rave and I can’t figure what the hell they were listening too. He totally missed the heart of the composition. Where was the wistfulness and longing? He friggin’ tried to power-sing one of McCartney’s few exercises in vulnerability. It’s one thing to change the melody to make it your own – it’s quite another to change the emotion. Yeah, you can get away with it sometimes and it’s brilliant when it works (remember Marty on Rockstar doing that acoustic version of Hit Me Baby One More Time?), but for me this didn’t do it.

Mitch should get down on his knees tonight and thank god for the judges’ choice. In My Life is perfect for his thin, trembling voice. He starts the piece a capella, just him and the back up singers. When the band does join in a harpist ushers them to their places and the string section keeps the synth player on the bench. The song choice of last week and tonight’s have been pitch perfect for Mitch and he is looking confident. I still can’t see this guy as a pop idol, though.

What did they put in the Kool-Aid? With the exception of Theo’s stinker, every performance tonight has been a gas.

Drew finishes the night with a revelation. He does While My Guitar Gently Weeps, playing as well as singing. He sweeps up to falsetto twice in the first stanza and you can see he’s going to go for it. And for the first time in the competition, he looks like a pop idol. Boy, this guy and Mitch are getting stronger the longer this competition goes on. And Drew gets better looking, edgier, too. Zack actually stands up in ovation after telling him he believed him for the first time.

Mulroney says that of all the shows they've done he has never wanted one to go on longer more than this one. Couldn’t have said it better myself. I haven’t got a feel for who’s going down, but I’m thinking Theo will be in the bottom three again.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 24

2008-08-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Glad to start this recap of the results show with some filler courtesy of one of Canadian TV Recaps most loyal readers, slively from Northern Ontario:

“The group-sing segment that is being used to start the results show cannot be allowed to stand. We must find who is responsible, kidnap them under cover of night, politely dispose of them in an environmentally responsible fashion (we are Canadians, after all) and never breath a word of our shame to anyone, ever.”

I hear you, sister. Have you noticed that when Theo tries to look tough he ends up just looking gay? Maybe gay men scare him? In any case, the group rendition of Sloan’s Money City Maniacs was bad, as was the song choice.

After the group sing we get a rather clever TSN Sports Centre recap of last night’s show, neatly spoofing CBC’s Olympics coverage. Then Simple Plan does Your Love is a Lie, a totally unremarkable tune.

Ben tells the judges, “Doing a half hour of filler for 10 seconds worth watching week after week is breaking my freakin’ balls. Help me out, here. Jake, is this the best Canadian Idol group ever?”

Jake: “They are very interesting. They are probably the best musicians we’ve ever had.”

Ben: “Given this is the first year we have allowed contestants to play instruments, that’s high praise indeed. And now for the results.”

Mookie is called up to center stage.
Earl gets to stay on the couch.
Amberly stays on the couch.
Theo joins Mookie.
Drew stays on the couch.
Mitch joins Theo and Mookie.
Drum roll…….
And it’s a fake. There’s a man open in the end zone! (Hey, if Sports Centre gets to spoof Canadian Idol, no reason we can’t spoof Sports Centre).

The three on the couch are the bottom three; big sighs from the stage. Drum roll…..

The Amberly is out. The stage is now officially a men’s room for the remainder of the season.

I’ll miss you, Amberly. You were always unpretentious, always good. Too bad you couldn’t do that catch-in-the-throat thing Fiest does. Sometimes doing a song that’s too familiar is a bad idea. Watching you break into tears after singing the song that got you booted off the show brought a lump to my throat. The audio track picked up Earl as he hugged you and whispered, “It’s all good.” Maybe not tonight it isn’t, but it will be, Amberly.

Canadian Idol - Episode 023

2008-08-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Final 6 with Montreal’s Simple Plan doing the mentoring. In his attempt at gonzo journalism, Canadian style, Ben calls them “Unbridled Canadian rock.”

We start with Amberly doing Fiest’s 1-2-3-4. My first reaction upon hearing the choice is to review my recaps, ’cause she’s already done this one, right? 22 recaps later I accept that I am wrong – she hasn’t chewed this particular flavour yet. So she chews. Lesson for this week: the kind of bubbles you blow depends on the gum you choose, not the flavour. It’s like every other song she’s done. She’s not going to unbridle this particular Canadian horse so close to the finish, so this is the last time I type, “Not counting The Redemption Song.” It’ll be copied and pasted from here on in.

Gotta say something about the freakin’ make-up. You looked like a corpse, Amberly. Jack’s Elvira crack was totally deserved. You are such a beauty, I’d rather see your zits than most women’s nipples. Please, open your make-up kit and throw out the trowel right now.

Theo Tams – with a haircut that finally suits him. If you love him, hide the jell – does Sarah Slean’s Sweet Ones. The guy is amazing in his comfort with the 88s. He never has to look. He seems comfortable tonight, goofy even. Halfway through the last verse he stands up, kicks the piano bench out of the way and gets into a faux-gruff voice with a smile on his face. The last note is a long, high one. As he ends it he steps back and practically vogues. Unshowy showmanship. Looks good on, ya, guy.

Mitch does fellow Maritimer Joel Plasket’s I Love This Town. He finger picks his Gibson J-50, no band behind him. The song is sooooo good, and Mitch seems to be one of those guys that sings up (or down) to the caliber of the material.

Mitch doing the solo troubadour bit is what he should have been doing all along. Damn, he sounded good; and everybody knows I am no Mitch fan. Keep keeping it simple, Mitch, and you’ll keep making me look stupid.

Earl takes on Little Bones by The Tragically Hip. Oh No! This is terrible. His vocal feed is right off the mic. There is no reverb, no balancing, no EQ – the voice is flat as the Prairies. It must sound different to the people in the hall, because none of the judges mention it and the crowd doesn’t rise up, screaming for blood. I could imagine how you sounded, Earl, but that’s just because I’ve spent years balancing vocals through PAs. Most Canadians are just going to think you sound bad – and you’ve got such a great natural tone. After landing in the bottom three last week, this is not a good development.

Drew Wright does That Song by Big Wreck and the judges think it was too much song for him (except for Sass, who liked the quiet part). The judges fault him for not being animate enough. Yeah, hey – the forums have been full of discussion about Drew’s lack of charisma for weeks. But I thought he did a fine job on a great tune. In fact, the only performer better so far is Mitch.

Wow, did you see what I just typed? It was like the opening scene in The Matrix; a real Who’s-fucking-with-my-computer?-I-didn’t-type-that moment.

Mookie goes back to the Sixties for Steppenwolf’s Magic Carpet Ride. The arrangement uses a scratchin’ DJ, which detracts from the drive of the rhythm. But it sounds good in theory, so I don’t fault the try. And the “Close your eyes girl” build really needs the ascending power chords. But, hey, he’s a star, right? I mean he, like, knocked the mic stand down and everything. He's got so much charisma he gets chariz on everything.

Bottom three: Earl, Mookie and Amberly. My man Earl goes home.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 022

2008-08-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Final 7 results show with Tom Jones.

To the person who commented on Television Without Pity that the clinkers Drew played on guitar last night are intentional wrong notes that Radiohead plays on the Creep original: thanks for the heads up. What a relief; I thought it was the drugs.

After a recap of last night’s performances we are treated to a two song medley - Green Grass of Home and Delilah. Amberly, Mark and Theo are okay on GGoH and Drew is alright on his section of Delilah, but Earl and Mookie are a disgrace. Big yuck.

Mulroney kicks it over to Tom Jones himself, doing It’s Not Unusual (in keeping with the VPTV we-always-admit-our-mistakes policy, TJ did acknowledge Mookie’s It’s Not Unusual crack with a fast sotto voce and totally deadpan, “Good title for a song,” retort that I only caught on the replay. If British humor is dry, Welsh humor is as desiccated as a mummy). It looks like it hurts more than it used to, but damned if he doesn’t deliver the “Why can’t this crazy love be mine” money notes strong and clean. That he doesn't quite get all the scats that follow the way he did when he was in his prime is okay by me. For a second there it was 1965. Cut to a commercial and we’re back with TJ in full voice doing If He Should Ever Leave You. Props to ya, Sir Jones.

Next bit of filler is Jully Black schmoozing with the contestants as they get their make-up on. Earl says, "It's not the manliest thing, but you lnow, like, I don't want to look like some crazy, like, grey dude." Jully replies, "This is why we love us some Earl, 'cause he drops it like it's warm."

Filler time is over.
Drew and Amberly are told they are safe.
Earl and Theo land in the bottom three.
Mitch (shit!) is safe, as is Mookie.
Mark is the final member of the bottom three.
Drum roll…….and Mark Day is finally sent home. Good run, kid. Frankly, I liked last night’s Keep Bleeding best of all the work I’ve seen you do over the past 6 weeks. It’s not your fault that Canada kept you on while giving the boot to far more deserving talents like Martin Kerr, Paul Clifford, Omar Lunden, Gary Morrisette and Oliver Pigott.

Are you listening, Earl? Pay attention to your endings! Being laid back doesn’t have to mean being lazy. Ending every song you sing by showing your tonsils to the camera while shouting “Yeah, yeah, whoo-whoo, awwww right,” is going to lose this thing for you.

And Theo; you are too good to pander to the panel’s cheesiest instincts. We are the ones who say whether you stay or go, not them. Respect yourself.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 021

2008-08-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Top 7, hits of the UK with Tom Jones as coach. Poor Tom has had one face lift and one night in the tanning booth too many. Word of advice: don’t let the surgeon near your eyes unless you’re a burn victim if you don’t want to wind up a ringer for Bruno Gerussi, like Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones, Mr. Jones: he’s got a thing going on.

Mark Day starts us off. Leaving behind the Poison/Bad Company stud rock covers he’s become know for, Mark does a chick song - Keep Bleeding, recorded by Leona Lewis, the 1st winner of X-Factor, the UK show that spawned the whole Idol phenomenon. Nice bit of cross marketing. I like the tune, actually and he does it well. If he hasn’t been booted off before, he won’t get booted off this week either.

Mitch MacDonald does Lennon’s Jealous Guy. The clip of Jones not wincing as Mitch absolutely butchers a great song is priceless. Doing it live, poor Mitch is no closer to being in key from the get go and the song goes downhill from there. Worst ever; of his performances, for sure, in the history of X-Factor and its 26-nation strong franchise operation, maybe. Sass tells Mitch he’s consistent. When that’s the best you can get out of Sass, you know you’re in trouble. Farley, Zack and Jake all critic the pitch. This could be it for you, Mitch. Bad; and I don’t mean that in a good way.

Drew, who has shown the most improvement over the past two weeks of any of the contestants, tells Jones he’s going to get back to doing what he’s comfortable with. He sings Radiohead’s Creep. I don’t know if it’s him or if the guitar is out of tune, but he hits a couple of clinkers. Still, he doesn’t flinch and when it comes to the money notes at the end he nails them. In the chat with Ben segment he says he’s been trying to show his versatility and now it’s time to do what he knows. Who would have thought this guy would be a strong finisher?

Theo is back to the Something About Mary hair do. For the first time he attempts the full rockstar shtick, abusing Joss Stone’s Taking Back My Life to do it: leathers, trying out his seductive look on the camera like a 12 year old girl in front of the bathroom mirror with the door locked, strutting around the stage. He’s as embarrassing as Oliver Pigott was the week he got eliminated, and just as white. Zack, a sucker for tight pants, says he “threw it down in a big, big way.” Jake, Sass and Farley all cream themselves. I (and I’d wager, his close friends) feel ashamed to be participating in this humiliation of a true talent.

Tom Jones says, “Mookie – that’s an unusual name.” Mookie says, “It’s not unusual.” The crack goes right over old Tom’s head. The Mookster does Lola, playing along on guitar. He looks cool, but his range is not up to the demands of the tune. But once he’s up into his range, he grabs the song by the throat. Is it enough? Yes, it is: the judges are soooo enthralled by his charisma it’s annoying. I swear Zack would blow him if he asked. In the chat with Ben, Mookie has a British accent attack that surpasses anything that has slipped out so far. Hey Mook – maybe the people of TO would get behind you if you talked more like they do.

Amberly tries Put Your Records On sitting on the piano, guitarless for the first time. The song has that same rot your teeth bubble gum sweetness of everything else she has chosen, save The Redemption Song. But, boy, she is worth a trip to the dentist. She slides off the piano and bops across the stage, sultry and smooth and looking like trouble. Nice to find out she’s got the same rhythm/body linkage Earl has. This girl is looking more like top two each week.

Earl does Clapin’s Change the World. He cracks up to a sweet falsetto and comes back down so quick and smooth you wonder if you really heard that one clear sweet note or just imagined it. But he ends the song with a yelling, woo-woo, yeah-yeah bit that we’ve heard and been unimpressed by before. C’mon Earl – you’re my man. Listen to what I’m saying – tighten up the endings.

We get an interesting insight into where the judges’ heads are at as they give their critiques of Earl. Zack says there are 5 contestants with great rhythm. He doesn’t name them, but Jake says it’s 4: Theo, Amberly, Earl and Mookie.

I’m calling for Mitch to say good-bye tomorrow night.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 20

2008-07-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

The final 8 do My Generation. Sebastian gets up on the judges’ table, points down at Zack and sings, “I hope you die before I get old.” Great f’ing TV or what? Nice thing about Canadian versus American Idol – the contestants get cut more slack (or take it?).

So after last night’s show I picked Sebastian as the bottom 1. It hurt to do it. I was knocked out by both Pigott brothers from the get-go and have been rooting for them ever since. My first indication that North America was playing with these guys heads (they’ve spent a most of their lives in Europe) was back in episode 6 when I wrote of Oliver’s performance of I Hear You Knockin’, “Speaking of star power, Oliver Pigott shows the first sign of weakness in the Pigott Brother’s assault on Canada. After a series of flawless performances, he has chosen tonight to do I Hear You Knockin’, an up-tempo rocker that is quite a change of pace from the ballads he’s been serenading us with since episode 1. The band kicks into it and Oliver, wearing a hood-up hoodie, embarrasses himself by playing at being sexy.”

And really, the boys playing at being what they think North America wants slowly destroyed their confidence. Watching one and then the other lose the quiet confidence and the relaxed, friendly vibe that made them so enjoyable has been painful for them and their fans.

Gavin Rossdale does a song. I don’t care that much for the guy, but his coaching seemed to be spot on and brought out the best in all the performers last night.

Jully Black gives us a look inside the Idol mansion, where the contestants stay. I want to see more and I want to see it more often.

Okay – the results:

Bottom three: Mookie, Sebastian and Mark Day. Second time for Mookie, 3rd time for Sebastian, 2nd time for Mark. Mulroney polls the judges. Zack is the only one to go on record with an opinion, and even he names no names, saying that he thinks all three are charismatic, but two of them aren’t the next Canadian Idol. If he’d polled me I would have gotten on my hobby horse and said being from Toronto or Quebec is a handicap on Canadian Idol.

And Sebastian is going home.

Hey Pigotts: get out on the road and see your country. I’ll pay to see you.

Note to the guy who commented about his hate-on for Sebastian: There was a glitch in the Blogger software and I got two copies of the comment. When I erased one prior to publishing the other, both disappeared. But yeah, I agree he has performed poorly for the past several episodes. I still say he was great in the audition and then in the top 200 and top 20 rounds we got clips of him and Oliver harmonizing with (variously) Paul, Martin, Tatiana and Mookie and everytime it took my breath away. Guess I was hoping to hear that one more time.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 19

2008-07-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

Top 8; 1 woman, 7 men, all acoustic. Judge Jake Gold admits his prejudice right off: to him, unplugged means they get to show their vulnerability. Screw you, Jake. “Dylan” and “unplugged” sleep together nightly. “Dylan” and “vulnerability” rarely even go to the same restaurants.

To make a bad start worse we get a clip of Sebastian being coached by Gavin Rossdale on how to be vulnerable. Sebastian does Lucille and he doesn’t sound vulnerable – he sounds pissed. His best performance in weeks. All the judges say as much, but Zack adds, “But with any luck, you’ll go home tomorrow night and we’ll be able to get on with finding the next Canadian Idol.”

Earl gets the word from Gavin: trust your instincts. Gavin gets the word from me: Haven’t you been watching this series? Snowboarder and Bob’s Backhoe groundman Earl has been running on instinct all his life. That’s where the souls comes from. Thank god he likes people. Guys who run on instinct and don’t naturally like their fellow man cause a lot of damage in this world. He does Ryan Adams It Takes Two and it just drips soul. Jake says it best: “It’s hard to judge you when I just want to sit back and listen.” I hear you, bro.

Gavin tells Mark to sing each line of the song as if it’s the only line in the song. Mark does Glen Hughes’ Why Don’t You Stay, a tune best known for Sugarland’s version. It’s sweet; nice aching feel to it. I’d forgotten he had this in him. After a series of mediocre performance, he seems to be finding his stride the past 2 weeks.

Mitch (with Alvin and the other Chipmunks nowhere in site) does Oh Atlanta, a song Alison Krauss did recently. Neither Alison nor Mitch can hold a candle to the Little Feat original. But hey, he gets points from me for picking it. Little Feat is one of the most overlooked bands in rock and roll history. The judges give him a hard time for staying in his safety zone and they’re right. Myself, I’m gonna get some weed, whites and wine and put on Dixie Chicken.

Amberly does The Way I Am. Another great turn. I think Farley’s got the hots for her. For the third time he uses his criticism time to talk about her hair. Zack calls her one of the top 2 or 3 they’ve ever had on the show. C’mon, Farley – you don’t ask her out, Zack going to.

Mookie picks The Band’s Ophelia. I’m ecstatic. Mookie and Mitch must have brought along their parent’s vinyl collection. Two of the greatest bands of the 70’s get some exposure to a new generation. The horn section adds a sound to the mix that we hear far too seldom. This 18 year old is so loose, so at ease. A freakin’ prodigy. One the signs in the audience says, “Superman wears Mookie underwear.” Zack makes the same point I made 2 weeks ago when Mookie wound up in the bottom three – Toronto the We’re-Too-Cool-For-School needs to get behind this native son.

Drew takes on Maroon 5’s All I Need. Liza Minnelli says the Maroon singer is great because he hits all the notes in the middle. Drew’s aim isn’t half bad. This is not an easy song for the singer and it is my favorite performance by Drew of any he’s done. For the first time, I want to hear him sing more. And what do the judges have to say? They don’t like his rugby shirt and ragged jeans. The only judge to stick up for him is Sass. Oh no – I agree with Sass. This can’t be good.

Theo, who has already done a few acoustic performances, wraps up the show from behind the piano, string section on the side, doing Weak In the Knees. It’s a weeper and he brings tears to everybody’s eyes. I gotta say – this guy could steal the title from Mookie or Earl.

My pick to go: sorry Sebastian. The others are just better singers.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 14

2008-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it. Tonight the problem will be solved.

The top ten contestants return for the opening production number – How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria (what else?). Seeing Donna again reminds me of the dressing down she got from Elaine and how much fun it would have been if they had let us be flies on the wall for some of the behind the scenes drama.

Speaking of Elaine, Gavin asks her if she thought, back at Maria School, that Janna and Elicia would be in the final. She responds with a succinct synopsis of what we have seen over the past seven weeks.

“Right from the beginning Janna stood out in my mind as one who was going to go to the very top. She had the poise, she had the training, she had… Everytime she sang, every time she acted it was magnificent. Janna is a Maria.

“And then Elicia; I watched you before our very eyes explode into this incredible talent as you learned to trust yourself. I remember the tears. You are the dark horse that has come up the middle and, my dear, you also deserve to be Maria.”

The inevitable montages follow, spiced with snippets of the women addressing the camera. As Elicia talks about the first audition we get a clip with Simon Lee in it and I realize he’s not here for the final, either. Not a word has been said so far. Will they mention him in the wrap-up?

Elicia and Janna both do an encore performance of one of their “showstoppers,” as Gavin calls them. Elicia has picked Cabaret, which was the breakout performance that seemed to finally position her in the judges' mind as a possible rival to what were then the two front runners, Janna and Jayme. She does it with slightly different choreography and an incredibly higher degree of confidence, this time. But I must say – she hit the bottom of the money note. As the person who commented on last nights show says, “with all her show-stopping belting, [she] just doesn't seem like she'll be able to hold up consistently under that kind of pace.”

Janna does Defying Gravity. As happened the first time I heard her do this number, when she slides up to the soprano register coming out of the intro, I get a chill. And she nails the end.

Last night I said if I were voting solely on the basis of the performances in that episode, Elicia would be Maria. Tonight I say Janna. But tonight, it’s meaningless – the votes are in.

We cut to commercial. We come back to final words from ALW:

“Janna, you are the consummate professional. Of all the girls in the competition, you remind me most of Connie Fisher, who won in London and went on to win the London Critics’ Prize. A fantastic girl. And you: I can only say that you were superb.

“Elicia… it is a wonderful journey you have made. It’s extraordinary, this, as both the panelists have already said; this extraordinary discovery from the beginning of the program. It’s almost from zero to hero.”

The moment of truth: dark horse Elicia noses out Janna at the finish line.

She closes the show with the song they have saved for her alone: The Sound of Music. She is great, but I feel let down. I thought Janna owned the dream more than any of the others by a wide margin. Way back in episode 1 I wrote, “If she [Janna] doesn’t get the role, there will be stalking.” The comment was and is a joke. But Janna, you will need to mourn. Be comforted by the fact that some of us are mourning with you.

Oh - and the name Simon Lee was never spoken once. What is up with that?

And finally - this production has set the bar for talent competitions. Screw the amateurs. I like watching the pros.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 13

2008-07-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

The final 3 episode opens with Janna, Jayme and Elicia rather appropriately doing Anything You Can Do. After the nicely done comic piece, host Gavin Crawford makes two surprising announcements. First, musical director Simon Lee is absent due to personal reasons. Given his central role in the series, and the way he has impressed with his professionalism and courtesy in a tough job, one can’t help but offer a quick prayer Simon's okay. The second announcement is that Canada will have no say in whom the final two will be – or rather, Canada has already selected one of the final two and Andrew Lloyd Weber himself will choose the other.

Because last week's top vote getter is guaranteed a spot in the finals, that slot has already been determined and will be announced during tonight’s show. The remaining two Marias will perform an elimination duet. ALW will then make his choice for the second finalist, at which time the lines for voting will open. The two remaining contestants will then sing one last time and the results will be announced in Monday night’s final.

We cut to Stratford veteran director Donna Feore analyzing the women’s acting abilities. She feels Janna needs to act in broader, less intimate strokes for the big Princess of Wales theatre. She complains that Jayme doesn’t listen and process direction as well as she is going to need to for the show. As for Elicia, her comments finally make it clear to me what it is the judges have seen in her that has excited them so much: it’s the excitement of the blank page. Though Elicia is but a year younger than Jayme and Janna, the judges perceive her to be less experienced, rawer and thus easier for them to mold in their own image.

Time for the individual performances; Jayme starts, doing I Don’t How to Love Him. Beautiful tune, beautifully done. The only complaint I have is she had her brow knitted throughout the performance. A flash of the joy the singer must feel on some level to be so in love would have been nice. Janna sings Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina (not one of my favorite songs). Competent, but more than mere competence is needed tonight. Elicia does Memories. The melody is far and away the most theatrical of the three songs and she makes the most of it. If the voting were based solely on these performances, I’d say Elicia would win.

ALW cautions the viewer that none of the three numbers were Maria songs, which I think is very fair of him. We get a clip of the women performing on the stage of the Princess of Wales, empty save for ALW. One can only imagine the rush they must have felt.

All three do My Favorite Things. Another note and inflection perfect performance. We go to the two judges, Barrowman and Overfelt. This is what I wrote during the commercial that followed: “At this point in the competition it seems that neither one wants to take the results out of the hands of the voters. They praise all three without reservation or favour.” In re-watching the sequence, however, it seemed to me both judges are the most excited by Elicia.

Back from commercial, Gavin names the women and says, “Last week one of you managed to get the most votes.” Actually, Gavin, it is impossible that one of them wouldn’t, isn’t it? In any case, the contestant who received the most votes last week and so earns a spot in the final two is 24 year old Woodstock, Ontario, native Janna Polzin.

Of the two remaining contestants, ALW saves Elicia.

Did I miss the promised elimination duet? No – they just decided not to do it, I guess. Despite the format explanation given by Gavin at the top of the show and posted on the HDYSAPLM website (“Last week's top vote getter is guaranteed a spot in the Final Two; she will be revealed during Sunday's broadcast. The remaining two Marias will perform an elimination duet, following which Andrew Lloyd Webber will decide on one who will continue as the second finalist in the Final Two.”) there is no duet. ALW takes all of 30 seconds to announce he is saving Elicia.

The three finalists sing So Long, Farwell, with Jayme as the lead. How she does it without breaking into tears is beyond me. Jayme Armstrong, I tip my hat to you.

Following a montage of Elicia’s performances and a montage of Janna’s performances, the two finalists perform The Sound of Music as a duet. I have said this competition is Janna’s to lose, but right now it feels like it’s Elicia’s to win.

Canadian Idol 6 - Epidsode 18

2008-07-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

It’s filler time.

The final 9 results show opens with an embarrassing medley of leftovers from the Sixties show. Amberly, Katherine and Mark trade refrains on Mama Cass’ Dream a Little Dream of Me. Segue to Drew, Earl and Mitch taking turns looking and sounding ridiculous as they try to get funky with Purple Haze; it’s like being mugged by rabid teddy bears. Segue to Sebastian, Mookie and Theo doing A Little Less Conversation. Out of all of them, the only singer to get a song he was truly comfortable with was Sebastian. Ironic, given that this is likely Pigott the Younger’s last night.

Canadian Idol 5 runner-up Jaydee Bixby does Old Fashion Girl, the single off his debut CD Cowboys and Cadillacs. We learn that Bixby is just the first of the special guests that will be performing every week going forward. The list includes power popsters Simple Plan, new folk Gavin Rossdale (who will lead the troops through an unplugged edition for next week’s final 8), the legendary Bryan Adams and the father he never knew, Tom Jones. Talk about the most male Canadian Idol ever – not a woman on the guest list.

And the bottom 3 are: Katherine (great job last night on Joplin’s Move Over), Sebastian (standing in the bottom 3 for the second week in a row based on another off-key start) and Amberly are the bottom three.

Amberly?! She was the best of any of them last night with her no frills take on Marley’s The Redemption Song.

The surprise doesn’t last long. Mulroney quickly jumps in to send Amberly on to the final 8, leaving Sebastian and Katherine.

And Katherine gets dumped. The pretty blonde from La Belle Province proves once again that not enough Quebecers watch Canadian Idol for a Quebec singer to have a fair shot at the top two.

So Sebastian lives. Next week is unplugged, which should help him, what with his busking background.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 12

2008-07-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

After making reference to the Richard Gere gerbil urban myth last night, Lord Andrew Lloyd Weber’s first contribution to the results show is to ask host Gavin Crawford, “May I call you Gay-vin? Can I say you’re a sparkling little sweet wine?”

The filler required to stretch out these results shows to half an hour is not insignificant. The judges and host make in-crowd jokes. Time passes.

The results of the voting are announced. Moving on to the final three episode (airs live this Sunday) are Jenna and Elicia. Marisa or Jayme will join them – one, not both.

The Maria House roommates do As If We Never Said Goodbye. Marisa seems older tonight; Jayme, too. A long road is coming to an end for one of these women. The decision on who to save goes to ALW.

He saves Jayme based on his feeling that Marisa should not be doing soprano roles, based on her natural range.

Two episodes left. I have felt this was Jenna’s role to lose since episode 2. I still feel that way.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 17

2008-07-21T19:12:00.001-07:00

Dead songwriter week, singer’s choice.

Theo Tams starts us off with Bob Marley’s No Woman, No Cry. Canada spoke and Theo listened – his hair no longer resembles Carmen Diaz’s Something About Mary do. In fact, he’s out front for once and looks good. A quiet breakthrough for Theo – the first time I see him as a pop idol.

Mitch MacDonald does Heatley’s Angel Eyes. His odd chipmunk timbre is even more pronounced than usual. Zack calls it, “Uniquely annoying.”

Earl does Light My Fire. Surprisingly (and smartly) he goes the Feliciano route. He gets his trademark shoulder-dipping cool jerk working and slides all over the melody. Sloppy as hell, but the crowd loves it and they let him get away with it.

Sebastian Pigott has another poor showing. Three bars into the Elvis version of Love Me, he loses the key. Sass mentions it sounded like maybe he couldn’t hear himself, but they way he looks, who cares? The male judges remind him of his poor showing last week and do more than hint that he should think about film and/or modeling as a career for sure – but not music. Ouch.

Joplin’s Move Over is Katherine St. Laurent’s choice – a brave one. She hammers it. Sass, who seems a little giggly tonight, complements her looks. That makes two in a row – she did her usual drooling when Pigott finished. Katherine is looking better and sounding more assured every week.

Blind Melon’s No Rain is a great pop melody and a great fit for Drew Wright’s voice. His best performance of the competition to date.

Mookie Morris picks James Brown’s I Feel Good. His vocals are nothing to brag about, but he does it with style and confidence and a sense of fun. Sass is totally channeling Paula Abdul, yelping like a cowgirl.

Amberly Thiessen does the second Bob Marley song of the night. Her Redemption Song is impressive as hell. Thiessen has a sixties-ish look about her that doesn’t hurt. Baez lives. This girl could beat the boys.

Mark Day wraps things up with Luther Vandross’ Dance With My Father. It is the first performance where Mark has looked like he’s taking the task seriously and he displays a depth that has been missing for the past few weeks.

That’s everybody. Hard to imagine Sebastian dodging the bullet this week. We’ll see tomorrow.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? - Episode 11

2008-07-21T06:07:00.000-07:00

The final 4, Jenna, Marisa, Elicia and Jayme, looking like Ann of Green Gables wanna-bes in their straw hats, open with I Have Confidence. After the number finishes Gavin introduces the judges. He then introduces Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber as, “The Phantom of the Opera himself,” accompanied by a sinister organ chord and we know we are in for some serious corniness (is that a contradiction in terms?) as they stretch this thing out to a full hour with only 4 individual songs to be sung. ALW is seated on a platform somewhat lower and off to the side of that upon which the other judges sit. It makes him look a bit like he has been relegated to the kids table at a family reunion.

Remember in last week’s recap I wondered how the practice of musical director Simon Lee saving the Maria of his choice would work as the eliminations proceeded to their conclusion? We learn the answer. The top vote getter this week will be guaranteed a spot in the final two and (presumably) the final decision will be by votes only.

Jayme performs first, doing Bacharach’s Say a Little Prayer. The chief knock on Jayme has been that her polish is at odds with Maria’s naiveté. In the opinion of Barrowman, Overholt and Lee, in her performance tonight she lets her guard down and inhabits the song in a more genuine way than she has been. Personally, I don’t see it. Jayme is professional but uninspired, as per usual. ALW, on the other hand, finds the performance a breakthrough for her.

Just before we cut to commercial we get a clip of Barrowman and Jenna stretched out prone on the stage, singing a duet to one another, followed by the host saying, “When we return, John evidently eats a Maria.” Cut to Barrowman flicking his tongue like some gross lizard. Put it back in your mouth, John – nobody wants to see that thing.

When we come back we watch Barrowman working with the women on their kissing. Corniness².

Elicia does You Needed Me. She builds nicely to the final chorus, but then her voice thins badly as she goes almost falsetto on the money notes. Overholt, Barrowman and Lee would disagree, as all praise her excessively. Overholt mentions that the song was changed at the last minute and ALW adds that the Elicia “wasn’t allowed” to sing I Will Always Love You. As one who has long lobbied to have the Dolly Parton-penned Whitney Houston la-la fest banned from competition, all I can say is, “It’s about time.”

It’s back to the Bacharach/Warwick catalogue for Jenna’s number. She does Anyone Who Had a Heart. Lee criticizes her for being too reserved, while Barrowman praises her for her choice to play down the song. Funniest part is when Overholt mentions working with Richard Gere and takes a shot at Barrowman’s incessant name dropping (“You’re not the only one who knows people.”). ALW forgets where he is and wonders out loud whether they will be discussing gerbils next.

Marisa gets a rather odd song assignment – River Deep, Mountain High. What does her ability to do a Tina Turner rocker have to do with her qualifications for Maria? She is clearly not comfortable with the song and actually gets lost at one point.

Barrowman, Overholt and Lee all express reservations with Marisa, from Barrowman and Overholt’s concern that she “over-thinks” her performances to Lee worrying whether her voice (not a true soprano) can handle doing soprano eight shows a week.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have this week’s loser.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 16

2008-07-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

I want to get right to the final three and talk about what I see happening in this edition of Canadian Idol, and why #6 is fast becoming the biggest Idol bummer of them all.

In the first elimination of a top ten contestants, the bottom 3 are Adam Costelli, Mookie Morris and Sebastian Pigott. Last week Martin Kerr, Omar Lunan, Gary Morisette and Oliver Pigott were eliminated. Paul Clifford went the week before that. Now, I like Adam. He’s got great taste in music and radiates the kind of integrity you see way too little of in the age of video music. I’d make a special trip to see him in a club setting. But he’s not a great performer and he’s not a great singer.

Great singers are not so rare that there is any excuse for any of the top 22 or 24 or 50 Idol contestants not to be a great voice. The musical theatre reality competition series, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, currently running on CBC, proves that. Maria hasn’t had a contestant without great pipes since episode 1.

Take the names listed above, add in Theo Tams and Earl Stevenson (who are still in the competition) and you have nine better performers than Adam. He’s the weakest and should have been eliminated before any of them, but he’s still in and 5 performers of greater talent nd charisma are gone. Not only that: he stands on the verge of sending one of the top four performers still in the competition home (Mookie or Sebastian, who along with Theo and Earl are the top 4).

Mulroney puts his finger on the problem when he follows his announcement that Mookie and Sebastian are in the bottom three with the aside, “It sucks to be from Toronto.”

If the home visit clips on Monday night showed us anything, it was that being on Canadian Idol is a bigger deal the smaller your home pond. The flag-waving/town-picnic/lets-all-meet-in-the-school-gym atmosphere of support we saw from small town Canada is not available to performers from the bigger cities. It’s an odd disadvantage, but seems to be a valid one.

If Canadians continue to vote for the contestant they know who lives closest to them (people in TO don’t know who lives in the apartment next door), we may get Theo or Earl as our next Canadian Idol, which isn’t terrible. But we won’t get Mookie or Sebastian, the two contestants with the best chance for significant performance success.

Adam is finally eliminated. C’mon, Canada – reward talent, not regional loyalties.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 10

2008-07-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

We open with Streisand’s Don’t Rain on My Parade. The six finalists are in great voice. Even better, they’ve got some choreography that isn’t an embarrassment. Great job.

We get a montage of last night that includes Elaine using the phrase, “Our Lord Andrew,” which I missed last night. The judges get introduced and a recap of last night’s show is presented. We learned the producer have already chosen their top four: Donna and Tamara out, Jayme, Marisa, Jenna and Elicia in.

The results are announced in the usual stilted style:
“Elicia, please wait where you are.
Jenna, please wait where you are.
Marisa, you will be singing in next weeks show, congratulations.
Donna, please wait where you are.
Jayme, congratulations, you’re through to next week.”

Tamara, Donna, Elicia and Jenna meet on the stage. Jenna is told she has made it through. Tamara, Elicia, and Donna are left. Simon can save one. Unless we’ve been set up, according to what we learned in last night’s show Tamara and Donna are gone. Simon will save Elicia.

The three sing Tell Me On a Sunday. Such a sweet song. There is little to distinguish the women, one from the other, so uniform is their excellence.

Simon says:

“Donna, who has been our larger than life big-belt brassy, sassy, all the qualities that are so exciting in musical theatre. She knows, I know that I haven’t always felt that those were qualities for Maria. She showed us a soprano voice that I perhaps haven’t always appreciated as much as I might have. But I do not want to take away from her virtues, which are legion and she would be an asset to any company.

Tamara, you’ve always had the soprano voice that is the vocal thing we are looking for. There are other areas we were exploring because Maria is more than just that color. That’s the principle color. And I love your purity and your honesty and always have.

And Elicia has shown us so much what she has learned in such a short period of time, as have everybody. I’m feeling a little pressed…. The person I am going to save, that I am going to nail my colors to the mast for, is Elicia.”

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 015

2008-07-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

New intro, suits for the boys and dresses for the girls, and a new set for the debut of the top ten. Orrin and the Canadian Idol Band even get an intro and 8 bars. In the pocket - makes me want to hear more. Zack is wearing eye make-up in honour of David Bowie night.

Drew Wright is first up. He narrates a quick tour of home town Collingwood, with Vote for Drew signs all along Main Street, yakking hometown support yadda-yadda. He sings Bowie’s 36 year old Five Years while putting in a solid turn as band drummer. Has a string section playing along, miked to sound like a synthesizer. If it’s intentional, the sound man should do an installation piece for the National Gallery’s post-modern wing. The judges in general don’t care for Drew opening the top ten and not being out front.

Cut to Adam Costelli riding as part of a motorcycle pack with his dad and some friends. He’s riding what looks like a white Harley, a cop bike. But other makers churn out Harley-styled bikes these days, so unless you catch a glimpse of the logo you don’t know what it is if you can’t hear the motor. They pull into a family reunion in some southern Ontario green space. Guess it’s hometown night as much as it’s David Bowie night.

Costelli cruises on stage on his bike (the white windshield ferring is kind of gay) as the band crunches into Rebel Rebel. Somebody hands him his Telecaster as he dismounts. He hits the mic right on time. Nice. Lot of energy for Adam, which is something he’s needed to crank up. Zack and Jake both say it’s his best so far.

Julie Black does a lame-ass interview with Mark Day and it’s clear she doesn’t take him seriously as an contender. I think the judges are pissed that he has lasted this long, despite their attempts to discourage him. Lately it has seemed like he’s grown impervious to their insults and is just enjoying the ride. Before he performs he narrates a visit to his hometown in Newfoundland and we get to see his dad and uncles return from the sea to wish him luck.

He does Martha and the Vandellas’ Dancing in the Streets. Well, yeah, Bowie and Jagger released a version, but they were both at the height of their coke days and didn’t they have sex once around that time, just to see what that would be like, too? Mark goes totally over the top. Seeing this pudgy kid dressed in black and shaking it like a rockstar fills me with new respect for him. Farley and Zack can’t stop laughing. Jake calls it camp and accuses Mark of mocking the competition. You win, Mark - stay as long as you can.

Mookie Morris tackles The Man Who Sold the World. It is not a very good song, to start with. The melody is one of Bowie’s weakest. Zack and Sass continue to tout Mookie as the second coming of Elvis himself. Farley’s neutral and Jake didn’t like it. I’m with Jake. You could’ve burned the house down on Suffragette City, Mookie. Bad song choice.

Amberly Theissen gives us yet another glimpse into small town southern Ontario Canadiana before doing Space Oddity (39 years old. Damn, that’s scary). Jake notes it’s the Natalie Merchant version and refers to a season 2 performance of the song that was much more intense and, for Jake, set the standard for that song on this show. Zack disagrees, but I gotta go with Jake on this one – it wasn’t intense, and the song demands that.

Sebastian Pigott narrates his tribute to his family. He does Let’s Spend the Night Together, which Bowie did on the Aladdin Sane album. He misses his guitar intro and is horribly flat on the ending, but he’s a confident failure. Sass tries to tell him how badly he screwed up but chickens-out on getting specific. Farley doesn’t get more specific other than to say, “it was a lot of things.” Leave it to Zack; in possibly his finest moment as cultural critic to a generation, he tells Sebastian, “You pooched the first three chords on guitar and then you pooped the bed with the vocals from then on in.” And the best part about it is, Sebastian grimaces and doesn’t argue. In fact, he admits, “It happens.” Keep this guy, despite tonight.

We visit Lloydminister. Seems the town is thinking the town goof-off may have been right all along: risk having fun. Earl does Rock and Roll Suicide in a Sinatra short-brimmed hat, which looks kind of cool. But the judges are letting Earl down by not calling him on his loose ways with the key. Anytime you get compared to both Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen as a singer, it is not good, Earl. Tom Waits (for no man) and JC’s younger brother, L, are immortals for their songwriting. So is Bowie, for that matter: though you’d never know it from the choices being made here this evening. C’mon Earl, respect your gift. Respect the key.

Katherine St. Laurent, hometown, support, yadda-yadda. She does Cat People and it is horrible – but it’s not Katherine’s fault. The mix is atrocious. Though a whole band is playing, all you can hear is the rhythm guitar. Poor Katherine is put in the position of Howard Dean, when he lost the nomination because he screamed to be heard above a bad mix. Even Zack complains. The way the judges pump her up after the disasterous performance (Farley looks forward to seeing her, “next week and the week after and the week after and the week after”) you have to think the rumours that the judges are stumping for the first Quebec Idol might be true.

Insert Pantenne infomercial here.

In Theo Tams’ tribute to his hometown support we get our first tribute to a musical mentor, in this case a professor in the University of Lethbridge Music Department, Dr. George Evelyn. Theo does Silly Boy Blue off the very first Bowie album. His hair is bad enough to be a distraction. Theo, what’s with the hair? Every week you find a new way to look like Carmen Diaz in There’s Something About Mary, know what I’m saying? Just one performance, comb it back and look us in the eye. Till you do that, Zack’s right; you’re not exciting. Also, he’s flat for the first time in the competition, but not for long. That said, he’s still one of the top three.

Mitch MacDonald wraps us up. Last hometown visit, thank god. Mitch does Moon Aged Day Dream. What the hell, guys? No song later than 1982 was picked tonight; 20% of the selections weren’t even written by Bowie and one of the originals was done the way an artist other than Bowie arranged it. Are you telling us David Bowie hasn’t been vital for a quarter of a century, or that he never was vital?

That said, it is Mitch’s rockingest performance. Zack votes him most improved.

That’s it for the top ten. Next time we meet, we’ll be down to nine.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? - Episode 9

2008-07-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Does musical director Simon Lee have final say on who stays and who goes, right down to the final two? Because if he does, he controls this entire process. Once he makes up his mind on who he wants as Marisa, there’s sweet F anyone can do, is there? Even if he doesn’t have a say in the final two, he has the ability to get the contestant of his choice to that final decision, no matter how many times Canada puts her on the block, in theory.

No reason for the above other than that I was wondering.

We open with the final six doing The Lonely Goatherd. Gavin introduces the judges as “our posse of Maria wranglers,” and refers to Barrowman as a “Broadway leading ram.” Does that crack qualify as Gavin’s requisite gay man’s joke of the night?

The theme of the week is songs from 1965. Last week’s theme, “musical theatre,” was supposedly our chance to judge the contestants’ ability to sing while dancing. Only problem was, the judges said nothing about the dancing and didn’t even complain when some of the women evidently decided dancing wasn’t to their liking and danced not all). With that in mind, I remain hopeful that one of them will attempt to make the KISS-FM hot hit of the week, Katy Perry’s I Kissed A Girl (and I Liked It) there own this week.

We start with the news Andrew Lloyd Weber will be in Toronto next week and will remain in TO till the final selection. Before the performances start, ALW reminds us that all the women are strong vocally, so now it becomes a question of casting the role of Maria Von Trapp. He also says that they are focused on only 4 of the 6 women left.

According to ALW, Elicia’s performance last week (Cabaret), “probably was the performance of the evening.” Cut to Lee addressing the camera, “If The Sound of Music was just an album, Elicia would be my choice.” He does a hands-on-knees paradiddle finished off with a chest slap.

Lee has Elicia do, of all things 1965, the Otis Day and the Knights’ barn burner and Animal House anthem, Shout. And boy, does she ever nail it. She starts out in the crowd and makes her way to the stage singing a storm. She is moving throughout the entire performance and doesn’t miss a breath in the non-stop, high speed singing. I don’t know that I know anything more about her correctness for the role of Maria than I did before, but I do know that as soon as I am done with this recap, I’m going dancing.

Elaine says the same thing I do – she wants to dance. “You found the joy,” she tells Elicia. “It was a great performance.” Barrowman agrees, with his only complaint the fact that he couldn’t understand every word. Lee is beside himself. As much as Gavin is playing up a crush on Barrowman, I’m beginning to think Lee may actually hit from either side of the wicket and, if so, has a true case for Elicia

Of Prima Donna, who told us last week that she wasn’t going to change he bitchy ways (despite being publicly upbraided for them by judge Elaine Overholt) because she was delivering the goods in performance and that was what counted, ALW admits she is not one of the 6 they are seriously considering. He says, “She clearly doesn’t have a soprano yet that can tackle the importance of that opening number, The Hills Are Alive.” But, he admits, she has been proving them wrong so far and, “good on her.”

Lee tells us he gave Prima Donna Sonny and Cher’s Bang Bang “because she gives a big performance and in order to challenge her, this version of Bang Bang is totally internal and unshowy.”

The tempo is even slower than the dirge speed of the original. Listening, the Kill Bill version is what comes to mind – and that’s not a good thing. It just leads to free association of scenes from other Tarrantino movies, which is way too distracting.

Barrowman says it was boring and not the right song for her. The audience begs to differ. Elaine, who I say remains pissed off at Donna, agrees that it wasn’t right for her but disagrees that Donna’s soprano is not up to snuff. Lee leaps in. He tells Donna she did a good job, even if she didn’t hit every note in the middle. Then he ices her heart by disagreeing with Elaine and agreeing with the boss, telling Donna that, compared to her belter voice, “Your soprano is weak and undernourished.”

Back from commercial we learn that Madeline Paul (who Gavin calls “the resident director” of The Sound of Music, which sounds rather ominous if you’re Madeline, don’t you think?) paired the contestants with a group of children to put them “through their paces.” Over visuals of the contestants working with stand-ins for the Von Trapp children, we get Madeline’s opinion of the women as actors.

Tamara: “This would be a big, big learning curve for Tamara.”
Marisa: “Her energy is contagious.”
Donna: “Donna is a happy person; she’s always giggling. Her challenge is to find a maturity about her Maria.”
Jenna: “I’m drawn toward Jenna. She does her home work. She’s a natural.”
Elicia: “Elicia I loved. She is inexperienced, but she took the few notes I offered her seriously… She is a great singer and now she must learn to be a great actor.”
Jayme: “Jayme is bigger than life... I would like to see her just open her pores and be in the moment. Right now she has very strong instincts about how she wants to play Maria, and that could be a trap.” (a Von trap?)

In setting up the next performance we get a clip of ALW discussing Tamara’s performance of his You Must Love Me on last week’s show. He felt she was “at sea” with the song and feels that, knowing the caliber of the people working with her, “there must be a problem.” Cut to Lee, who chose to keep Tamara in the competition. “Tamara is classically trained, and it is hard to break out of that. But she needs to do that for Maria.”

Lee has her do the Leslie Gore 1965 hit You Don’t Own Me. Elaine thinks the acting was better, but admits she is, “still not sure you’re the top Maria.” Barrowman is even blunter: “Tamara, you are talented but you don’t do it for me. You need more training on your acting. I don’t see you as Maria.” And Lee is the bluntest: “A game effort, but not a successful one.”

If Tamara is in the bottom 3 this week, Simon won’t save her a second time.

ALW and Lee are in disagreement about Marisa. The boss likes her throaty lower register, while Lee feels it is a hindrance to her as Maria. He picks Downtown as Marisa’s song for the week and he may be subconsciously sabotaging her. He says it was chosen to showcase her “sweetness,” but Downtown is a tenor vocal and the choice may entice her into dropping the bell tones entirely.

Elaine calls it, “The best performance I’ve seen you do,” but only after mentioning, “The aches we have to go through with you.” Barrowman thought she was just as good as Petula Clark (“and I know Petula very well.” Even when he can’t dredge up a connection to his resume, this guy is compelled to insert himself in nearly everything that comes out of his mouth.) and feels she has finally displayed the vulnerability he has been looking for. Lee says she sounded sweeter, but feels it was a melancholy reading that missed the joyfulness of the original (I’ve always felt the melancholic undertone was the best part about Downtown, myself.).

Jenna seems to ALW to be, “a complete theatre animal; somebody who I would love to see working live. She is one of our leading contenders, I would say.” Lee feels Jenna’s voice lacks “a little warmth,” and for this reason assigns her California Dreaming. Huh?

It is an odd performance – Jenna’s least impressive, in my opinion. And the background dancers are just annoying. Elaine agrees, telling Jenna it was her first performance that wasn’t perfect, with the soft beginning creating pitch problems. Barrowman agrees (“When I was in a Broadway show with Carol Burnett…” That’s it – the official Maria drinking game: everybody knock back a stiff one when Barrowman name drops, including play titles.). Lee agrees as well: “It was Jenna’s weakest performance. That said, Jenna’s palette is enormous.” He expects her to be back next week.

Jayme’s is the final performance of the night. Referring to the wardrobe malfunction she dealt with last week, ALW says, “We absolutely know this girl can keep the curtain up in any circumstance and she’ll give you a good performance.” Lee’s problem with Jayme hasn’t changed since the series began: “Jayme is so polished it doesn’t read as real: it reads as a performance.” He gives her the Dusty Springfield classic, Believe Me. “You cannot do this song with a veneer. You have to do it with your guts on the floor.”

Elaine is mightily impressed with Jayme’s vulnerability (I swear, the more these guys whine about the contestants’ difficulty displaying vulnerability the more vulnerable they are to me changing the channel. Find something else to talk about, judges. Complaining about a lack of vulnerability makes you seem sensitive the first dozen times, but now that we are in the hundreds of mentions you just look unimaginative). Barrowman says, “Jayme, you shattered the glass Simon put before you. You did it with your guts on the floor. It was amazing.” Simon Lee is ecstatic. He feels he saw something in Jayme he’s been missing.

So that’s it for the performances. Clearly Simon wants Donna and Tamara out and Jayme, Marisa, Jenna and Elicia in. As the show ends, Gavin asks Elaine and Barrowman how they rank the top three. Barrowman (everybody, fill your glasses) says, “Elicia, Donna and Jenna.” Aw – glasses back on the table. Elaine’s top three is, “Jenna, Jayme and Elicia.” So neither Tamara nor Marisa gets a nod. What will Canada say?

Canadian Idol 14 - Episode 14

2008-07-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Last night I picked Drew, Mitch, Gary, Adam, Mark and Marie-Pierre to be eliminated tonight. I was only right about Gary and Marie-Pierre. If this was 6/49, that wouldn’t even win a free ticket.

If this competition was primarily about vocals, Omar and Martin would still be competing. You heard me – Omar Lunan and Martin Kerr were eliminated. A voice to rival Stevie Wonder and Omar gets dumped before the top 10. And Martin – yeah, I’ll check out your online product.

You know who else is gone? Oliver Pigott. He never should have put down the guitar. He never had the same confidence after that.

If this competition was primarily about showmanship, Gary and Sebastian Pigott would be fighting it out. Instead, Sebastian is looking more and more like a lock to take it all while Gary was just too much of a traditionalist. This season’s other bluesman, Adam Costelli, made it through to the top 10 despite not being able to hold a candle to his musical brother Gary in terms of showmanship. Why? Because Adam is a smart arranger who updates what he plays (plus, Hamilton is on a civic project to be the first town to be home to consecutive Idol winners and I’m beginning to think this competition may be all about the networking).

Mark Day makes top 10. The second male lead in the high school musical, maybe. Is he riding the same kind of networking wave Adam is enjoying?

Two women made the top 10 – quintessential Montreal chick, Katherine St. Laurent (on the strength of a very average Love Is a Battlefield) and quintessential Mennonite girl gone bad, Amberly.

I’m too confused to continue. Martin Kerr, Omar Lunan and Oliver Pigott: you are all in my top 10. For Canada, it’s;

Mark
Drew
Mookie
Katherine
Theo
Earl
Mitch
Amberly
Sebastian
Adam

At least my favorite, Earl Stevenson, is still hanging in there. I’m calling for an all-male top 3 of Mookie, Earl and Sebastian.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 013

2008-07-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

Tonight is Part 2 of the final 16. At the start of the episode Judge Jake Gold has this to say about Part 1: “Last night’s performances by and large, outside of a couple of them, were pretty lame.”

For a class that started as the most talented in Canadian Idol history, the performances that will determine the final 10 performers of Canadian Idol 6 have not been impressive to date. Will tonight make up for that?

Mitch MacDonald starts us off with the J-Hawks’ Blue, a great, under-rated and under-aired tune. He gets points for song choice, but not for performance. His falsetto doesn’t crack to break your heart, the way the song needs. In fact, his throat sounds really tight, like he’s got a bad case of nerves. Jake wonders what the hell Mitch is doing. Sass and Farley are kinder, but Zack points out the obvious – not a star turn. I’m colouring him gone.

Gary Morisette decides to go with House of the Rising Sun. He tries starting quiet and slow, then bringing the band in and the tempo up after 4 bars. From the blow-it-up section, on, he’s fine, but he simply cannot do subtle – the opening 4 bars are flat to tuneless, the rest of the song is the same emotional note all the way through. Don’t think we’ll be seeing Gary next week. Hey Gare – I’m serious about you hooking up with Costelli and hitting the road.

Katelyn Dawn tries on The Cranberries’ Zombie, leather pants substituting for attitude. She doesn’t evoke the overwhelming sorrow and dread of the original, but she’s not horrible and she is an attractive young female. She’ll be back.

Oliver Pigott starts Lean On Me a bit off and he has a communication problem between himself and the rest of the band when the song switches to the swing section (“You might call me, brother…). This guy lost a lot when he put down the guitar and I’m starting to think he better pick it back up pretty soon or he’s going to find himself watching little brother Sebastian on the hotel TV.

Speaking of whom; Sebastian does Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home. He’s sticking with the suit coat look he adopted two weeks ago. He gives the camera a come-hither look that visibly weakens the knees of the woman I watch the show with. He plays with the background singers and owns the stage without pissing on the poles. Farley calls him, “The first real sex symbol we’ve had on this show,” and he is.

Earl Stevenson takes on Dylan’s Like a Rollin Stone. Between him and Mookie, they have the soul supply cornered, what with their loose shoulders and gangly bodies. Zack calls him “One of only two people in this grouping that I would go out and see.”

Insert Gillette product placement here.

Katherine St. Laurent does every chick’s favorite Karaoke tune, Love is a Battlefield. As 50% of the female contingent for this group, she may squeak into the top ten alongside Katelyn. But for myself, I won’t miss her if she gets left behind.

Now Drew Wright is a guy I have ignored like no one else in this competition. He sings The Reason tonight and there’s nothing particularly wrong with his performance or his voice, but this guy simply does not inspire me. He doesn’t irritate me enough to complain about, which is more than I can say for some of the others, but that surely isn’t sufficient reason to let him take up space in the top ten.

So that’s it. I’m calling for Drew, Mitch and Gary from tonight and Adam, Mark and and Marie-Pierre from last night to be the losers of tomorrow night’s results show. Talk at you right afterward.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 8

2008-07-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Gavin says last night the women sang like there was no tomorrow, but there is a tomorrow and it’s tonight. We open with a group rendition of How Do You Measure a Year, from Rent. It sounds great till they try to get funky, proving only that these are white girls going back at least several generations.

Gavin introduces the judges (Duke of Broadway, Princess of Octave, The Merciful King) and uses it as his chance for his one-per-episode joke for gay men. Last night it was the crack about one of the male dancers being a cowboy in his dreams. Tonights it's, “If we only had some queens.”

We get flashbacks to last night’s performances and included in them is something telling that wasn’t broadcast: Prima Donna’s reaction to Judge Elaine Overholt’s criticism of her habit of consistently rejecting notes she receives from coaches and directors and her habit of blaming her own failings on others. Here it is: “If confidence is being confused with being a diva, I’m not going to be any less confident because at the end of the day, I’m getting the job done.”

Hey, Prima – NOBODY SAID ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR CONFIDENCE. Elaine only talked about your inability to accept criticism. That’s not confidence – it’s the opposite: insecurity. That you have already turned around what she said in a way that permits you to once again avoid accepting responsibility for your own behaviour is all the evidence I would need to find somebody else to work with for the next year, if I were the director.

Gavin announces the bottom three. They are Katie, Kyla and Tamara. They do Jesus Christ Superstar. Katie is animated; maybe over-animated. Tamara is so straight-armed she could be auditioning for River Dance. Kyla stands and sings, making the mistake of trying to get by on the looks that have brought her this far. Oh yeah – and the musical director makes the lets get funky mistake again.

Simon wonders whether Kyla’s exotic beauty is right for Maria. He thinks Tamara has hidden depths. “You’ve come a long way in this already. Could you come far enough to open as Maria by October? I’m not sure.” And he worries that “Baby Maria” Katie doesn’t have the maturity to play the woman that tomboy Maria becomes over the course of the play.

It is when Simon brings up the “clear, light soprano voice” that is his sine qua non for Maria that we know who will be saved. Tamara is still in the competition. Kyla and Katie are gone.

Canadian Idol - Episode 12

2008-07-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry I missed last week, but moving the family took all my time from Sunday to Wednesday.

Yeah, I’m as shocked as you by Paul’s eviction. Paul Clifford was one of the top three voices in the competition, the favorite of even other contestants. Canada is the poorer.

So we’re down to the final 16. By the end of the results show on Wednesday we’ll be down to the top 10.

Paul Clifford fan Martin Kerr does Coldplay’s Fix You. A strong vocal, as always, but he makes the mistake of trying to spar with the judges when Jake and Zack question his star power. You can’t ever win a star power argument about yourself, Martin. Ever.

Theo Tams does Bubbly as just what it is – bumble gum sweet enough to cause major tooth decay. He has the band surrounding him onstage and it is a comfortable yet compelling number. Zack didn’t care for the performance, but every other judge did.

Amberly Thiessen suffers a bit by coming right after Tams. In the first place, she’s not near the singer Tams is, and in the second, she sings Jason Mraz’s You and I, Both, a song with a lot of stylistic similarities to Bubbly. Ah, well. Nothing anybody could do about it. She takes some criticism, but Zack advocates for her to make the top 10.

Adam Costelli updates the Tim Hardin chestnut If I Were a Carpenter. Great arrangement, but poor Adam goes flat on the money notes and he just cannot generate any charisma. I’m picking Adam to be eliminated this week. Remember the van, Adam? Get some good blues players behind you and get out on the road.

Marie-Pierre Bellrose tries Piece of My Heart, using the Big Brother and the Holding Company arrangement. Jake thought it, “Shouty.” Duh. And John Phillips Sousa is “Marchy.”

I finally realized who Omar Lunan reminds me of vocally – Stevie Wonder. Why, then, is he doing Garth Brooks’ If Tomorrow Never Comes? Bad song choice, and the timing was all over the place. The judges aren’t all that impressed, particularly Zack.

We now have a huge Gillette product placement bit to get through; essentially a 90 second ad presented during the show as a look behind the scenes at what the contestants go through getting ready for the performance.

Take a Look at Me Now is Mark Day’s attempt to crack the top 10. I think it cracked him, instead. He won’t be around after Wednesday.

Mookie Morris does Valerie. He is nice and loose but for my money he’s getting more mannered all the time. But what do I know – the judges love him. Zack calls him, “the redemption of the evening;” Sass says, “You kill me. You’re a star.” Farley tells him,

I’m picking Adam, Mark and maybe Marie-Pierre Bellrose to lose out from this group. Of the three, I’ll miss Adam the most.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria - Episode 7

2008-07-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaack.

Really wish I could have recapped episodes 5 and 6 last week, but there was no way and nobody volunteered to cover it for me (Cyprus Hill, I’m looking in your direction.). The move took forever and we won’t be truly settled-in for weeks yet, but the new neighborhood and neighbors couldn’t be nicer. And boy did it ever feel good to see Sudbury and the sister-in-law from hell in the rearview mirror. If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, where are sisters-in-law from? Uranus.

I am still in a bit of shock over Allie’s elimination. I expected her to be in contention right up to the final three. I guess what shocked me the most was the fact that Simon could have saved her and he decided to go for Jayme instead. C’mon – Jayme may be a fine performer, but she’s no flibbertygibbet: Allie is (or was).

Now to the recap.

Host Gavin Crawford informs us this is musical theatre night on HDYSAPLM. Thank goodness. Last week’s mud wrestling theme was such a blatant ratings grab. The eight remaining contestants do Do Re Mi for the show opener. We then get a montage of the women working with dancers and it seems this – singing while dancing – is what is meant by “musical theatre week.” We also learn that the bottom three vote-getters will face elimination with two contestants ultimately getting pink slips.

A few of the women address the camera about their feelings regarding the elimination process. The general attitude seems to be one of group camaraderie, with the voting process seen as more an impersonal force than a critique of contestants’ individual talents. The exception is Donna, who starts her monologue with the phrase. “I’m not going to be bitchy, but….” We get a couple of candid shots of Donna and for the first time we see that she has a grim, hard cast to her mouth when she doesn’t think the camera is on her.

I sense a nickname lurking in the bushes. There it goes. KABLAM!!! Got it!

The first two contestants are Kyla and Prima Donna. This week we get individual evals from Andrew Lloyd Weber before the performances. Of Donna he says that while she’s a great belter, Maria is not a belter and Donna needs to show the judges a softer side. As for Kyla, she must pay attention to her acting as well as her singing.

Kyla does All That Jazz. She starts on the staircase with two male dancers. They do a lift and carry for several steps, allowing Kyla to show off her nylon-sheathed (and rather thickly topped) legs. She has an almost-stumble when they put her down, but recovers well. In general, though, her movements are cautious and hesitant. Worse, she is flat on the money notes at song’s end.

Donna’s Out of My Dreams is a good choice, demonstrating the tenderness that ALW had questioned. But what’s with the dancing? It consisted of a guy dancing behind her and, at one point, touching her outstretched hand has he passed. Gimme a break.

Barrowman reminds us that he played Billy Flynn in Chicago (anybody else notice that this guy never misses a chance to run his resume by us?) and Kyla’s performance didn’t have the snap All That Jazz requires. As for Donna, he loved her singing and mentions nothing about the absence of any dance moves. I guess I’m confused – are the women being judged on their dancing or not?

Overholt agrees with Barrowman regarding Kyla’s performance. She also agrees that Donna finally showed the world her achingly clear, sweet soprano. But then she feels compelled to mention that “all of us” have problems with Donna’s behaviour. Evidently Donna is a bitch who whines over every note from her directors and always has someone else to blame when anything goes wrong. Whoa. That didn’t take long, eh, Prima?

And this is where the weakness of the format chosen for HDYSAPLM is most evident. By focusing on performance only, we miss all the backstage tensions that could have made this series a lot juicier. Less Idol and more Next Top Model, I say.

In any event, Barrowman interjects that he’s never known a good leading lady who wasn’t a bitch, undercutting Overholt’s critique. It’s a stupid crack that gets the cheap laugh he’s looking for. In defense of leading ladies everywhere (even you, John), it’s simply not true. Sure, some are c****, but most of the ones I’ve worked with are too generous and smart to try to make a career out of being a bitch.

Simon says Donna’s money note was “mini and unsatisfying,” and Kyla’s performance seemed tired.

Marisa and Jenna square off. ALW tells the camera Marisa needs to get the vocal side down so securely that she is able to lighten up and enjoy the performance aspects more. As for Jenna, his only complaint is that she squints when she smiles, narrowing her eyes to slits, which won’t work in a large theatre.

Marisa does If I Were a Bell. Unfortunately for her, I grew up on the Diana Washington version and whenever I hear someone else do it, all I notice is it’s not Diana. I know it’s not fair, but that’s how my ears work. On the plus side (or the it-doesn’t-matter-a-whit side), Marisa works with 3 dancers and shows a relaxed, comfortable step.

Jenna, on the other hand, performs Defying Gravity solo and dances not at all, unless they count holding out your arms to let the wind machine catch your Tinkerbelle goes Goth cape. Maybe it’s musical theatre optional night?

Overholt calls Jenna’s a star-making performance. All 3 seem to consider Jenna to be a top contender; which is not to say they weren’t pleased with Marisa’s performance. The difference was that Jenna confirmed the judges’ already high opinion of her skills, while Marisa raised the bar slightly on some rather average expectations. And, again, nothing said about the dancing (or lack thereof).

Over to ALW. Of the next two, Jayme and Tamara, Weber says the former’s “weakness is that because she is so professional she may come over as a little bit brassy,” and of the latter, “The acting side of it and seeing if she can be that free is going to be the difficult part.”

Tamara (wearing the evening dress version of the shiny body suits we will all wear in the near future as we zip about in our flying cars) delivers a passionate rendition of You Must Love Me. Unfortunately she chooses to show her passion by lowering her volume to a whisper that at times confounds the dynamics of her mic. Oh yeah – this musical theatre extravaganza included (for all of one 3 second shot) a poorly lit man of mystery standing off to one side, wearing either a train conductor or an SS officer’s uniform. No dancing allowed.

Jayme’s Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend is most fully realized piece of musical theatre of the evening. Nothing spectacular or new or fresh – but the usual done at all is the exception tonight.

Simon finds Tamara uninteresting and calls Jayme a triple threat. Gavin asks Barrowman if he thinks either of the women could fill a house night after night. John says yes (Jayme) and no (Tamara). Overholt agrees that Tamara doesn’t have it, but she, like yours truly, admits a difficulty in seeing brassy Jayme as will o’ the wisp Maria.

And we are onto the final pairing of the episode. AWL says this about Elicia: “We like her voice but she got a little bit lost as time went on.” Thanks for clearing that up, m’lord. Should we mount a search party, or does she generally just come wandering home on her own? As for the night’s final contestant, Katie, Weber points out that though she would make a convincing dreamy young woman, would we believe her as a woman who could capture the heart of a man like the Captain?

Katie pulls out all the stops on Easy to Be Hard, doing the full one-act play reading so beloved of musical directors everywhere. The staging includes men with their faces grease-painted white, wandering around aimlessly, like pre-I Am Legend zombies.

Elicia does Life is a Cabaret. Like Jayme’s Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend, it is an unspectacular but competent and fully realized production number.

The judges eat Katie alive and slobber over Elicia. Simon outright dismisses her as a serious contender. Barrowmore (“I did Hair in London for the Mirvish’s, so I’m quite familiar with the song.” Oh, yeah? Well I was the first kid in my class to buy the Three Dog Night version, so there.) agrees that Elicia’s was the performance of the evening.

Jenna! Oh, Jenna, this is a little awkward. Might we get that Performance of the Evening award back? Well, yes, we know we just gave it to you several minutes ago, but, you see...

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 9

2008-07-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

NOTE: LB, the usual recapper, is moving his family to a new city from June 30th - July 2, so the Canadian Idol recaps for this week are being done by Crazyady7.

So tonight we have 10 of the 20 contestants left performing. With only 6 of the 20 being ladies, the women need to step it up.

Show starts with Mark Day, who tells Ben he’s funny because he was bullied. Blah Blah. He sings Gavin DeGraw’s In Love With a Girl. The guy’s got a goofy kind of rhythm I enjoy. Nice voice but kind of fell apart a few lines in. Jakes says he doesn’t see him singing rock songs. I think, are you blind man, he’s right in front of you. Farley concurs with Jake and Zack wants to see him more extroverted.

Next up we have Paul Clifford singing Apparition by Matt Good. On a personal note, I abhor this song. It is quite possibly the most depressing tune I’ve heard. Taking this into account, Paul does a good job. Sass thinks its terrific. Farley wants him to come next week with something different. Zack thought it was predictably good but lacked energy.

Next song is The Grace by Never Ending White Light. Drew Wright is up to the task. Great song, great voice. Farley and Zack both think good vocal, kind of boring. Sass says congratulations.

Drew is followed by Marie Pierre singing Beautiful Goodbye. Again, nice voice but so boring … until she hits those high notes. Girl’s got chops. Zack says the high notes were killer. Farley thought there were moments her voice was spectacular. Sass said it wasn’t her strongest performance. Wait, was that … did Sass just fall of the always positive feedback bandwagon?

Mookie Morris is up next. Love this kid. Totally unique and bizarre. He is singing Naïve by the Kooks. Starts off by rocking a great riff on the guitar. This guy seems born to rock and front a great band. I’ve never heard this song before but think it’s great. Jake thought it was risky but he did well. Farley says that Mookie totally has an understanding of self and Zack thinks the kid is the coolest guy in the history of the show.

Sebastian Pigott sings Daydream. Pretty good, totally old school. Farley thought it was the best performance of the year and Zack said that hetero to hetero, it turned him on.

Up next is Martin Kerr. Does anybody else think this dude looks like Bowie in Labyrinth, just with better hair? No? He sings Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes . His falsetto is freakin’ awesome, a great pure voice. Farley thought the performance kind of dragged, Zack thought the chorus could have been better. Jake said Peter sings that song with despair.

Singing Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay by the amazing Otis Redding is what Lisa Belle is singing. Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay is one of the best songs ever. Lisa does a nice arrangement that quickens the beat a bit and makes it a little more up tempo. Zack didn’t like it, Jake thought the opposite of Zack. Farley thought she had some good characteristics in her voice.

Gary Morissette is on deck. This kid has so much energy, I love it. He takes on Mr. Bojangles. What an awesome richness to his voice. Husky yet smooth if that makes any sense. Jake thought he had good presence, good song choice all around.

Finally we have Amberly Thiessen singing Everything I Own by Bread. She is quite sweet and pure with a genuine vulnerability about her. Great harmonies on the chorus with the back up singers. Sass thought it was phenomenal. Sass also thinks Amberly is secretly tricking them and that she is probably already a star in the UK or something. Zack thinks the exact same. Zack warns that the boys need to watch out for her if they think its their year.

Great way to finish the show. Pretty awesome song selections by everyone. So far I don’t really see anyone that doesn’t deserve to be there … which makes this show more interesting by the episode. Even if I do have to see Ben Mulroney.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 8

2008-06-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

A top 24 showcase performance was taped last week and for the first results show of Canadian Idol 6, we get to see the performers in a small-group concert. This will be interesting.

Linsay Robins, Shaun, Paul and Martin do Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Exquisite. Great harmonies. I’m floored by what I’m hearing. Afterwards Ben asks Martin how the group came together and he says he, Shaun and Lindsay all wanted to work with Paul because they like his voice so much. High praise.

Adam and Lindsay Barr do Midnight Hour. He's on electric, she's on acoustic. The electric is right up front. Its tinny tone grates on you and the acoustic is nowhere to be found in the mix. A wasted opportunity.

Mookie, Earl, Mark and Jessica do Old Time Rock and Roll. The guitarists, Mookie and Earl, are at opposite ends of a four-person line and play as if they can’t hear each other; which is quite possible, considering the shitty mix we just finished listening to. Lots of enthusiasm, but the sloppy rhythm sabotages the number. The best part was when they stopped strumming and all 4 sang over handclaps.

Mitch, Amberly, Katelyn and Jesse do Yellow. Nice; real nice. For the last refrain they repeat the star line four times, bringing in the singers one line at a time until they do the last line in true four-part (nobody doubling up) and the blend of the four voices is extraordinary. The air shimmered, I swear.

Drew, Gary, and Omar do I Heard It Through The Grapevine. Just this side of transcendent. Unselfish harmony singers, all. But Gary does a Michael Bolton his-head-is-going-to-explode job on his solo lines and it keeps them bound to the earth.

Tatiana and the Pigotts on an amazingly intricate arrangement of Fly Like An Eagle. What is going on here? Does anybody know how the arrangements are determined for these group-sings? Are they coached or is it communal or what? Some of what we are hearing here tonight is outrageously good.

But now we are down to it. Bottom two from each night go home. Ben reads the names without any tricks. Tatiana and Lindsay Barr from Monday night, Lindsay Robins and Shaun Francisco from last night. Barr’s reaction was the best. She berates the crowd, “What’s up with the votes, eh?”

With 3 of the 9 women gone, it is now a 12/6 M-F ratio. Of the eliminated, who might we hear from in the future?

Canadian Idol - Episode 7

2008-06-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

Part 2 of round 1.

Jesse Cottam
Billy Idol’s In the Midnight Hour

Now 23 year old Jesse is a sweet kid, a decent pop singer and not a bad performer. But for this song to work the singer must reek menace and no matter how much grease he puts in his hair, Cottam is way too Bay City Roller to pull it off.
Jake: “I personally don’t know if that was the right song for you.”
Sass: “There was an ease and a confidence in the performance.”
Farley: “Try to find songs that let you to fill the room all the way through the song.”
Zack: “That was as wrong as could possibly be. I don’t know what to say except, ‘Next.’”

Shout out to Zack: You wear a wrinkled shirt unbutton to reveal a standard white cotton undershirt and it makes us think maybe you don’t care. If you don’t, why should we?

Mark Day
Heart’s Alone

This song is tough on singers. Mark hits the first chorus in full throat and nails the notes dead center. But he wavers on one of the long notes going into it the second time and he can’t get back as quick as he should. You’re no stud, Mark, so you gotta get it perfect every time to have a chance. Love you when you’re on. The crowd does, to.
Jake: “When you hit the chorus, Zack at I looked at each other and got chills.”
Sass: “Stumbled a bit near the end, but there were some fantastic moments in there.”
Farley: “Good song choice.”
Zack: “Back in the day they would have given you your own show on CBC and it would have been “Mark and the Happy Fisherman, or something. A half hour comedy show.” lol

Jessica Sheppard
Vanessa Amorosi’s I Need You, Right Here Right Now

She goes with a tinkly piano for most of the song, and you still can’t understand most of what she’s singing. Yeah, I know: “I can’t understand a word they’re singing in them there rock and roll songs, dagnabit,” said the old fart. But we are talking major marble mouth, here, not some picayune imperfection. Even the judges notice it.
Farley: “The beginning felt like you were suppressing your natural tone somewhat.”
Zack: “I think you’ve got to be careful with paying attention to your diction and the choice to purposefully mispronounce some words.”
Jake: “It’s interesting, because I think we all sort of heard the same thing. You were almost singing affected at the top.”
Sass: “I think it was a bit over-controlled. You’ve heard that four times now.”

Not often the four are this unanimous.

Shaun Francisco
Coldplay’s Yellow

At his first audition (this season) Shaun looked like a clerk in an adult video store. Now he looks like a clerk in a video and dvd boutique that specializes in festival, foreign and Michael Moore films.

We’ve all heard this song a million times and we all know it’s a mumbler. This is not a song to be singing live in your first performance before a national audience, which gets to respond with its votes. Damn. Hope you didn’t screw yourself, Shaun. I’d like to see you stick around long enough to do some Neil Young with Crazy Horse. Think Cinnamon Girl. And remember – they don’t give out prizes for arranging on this show. Nonetheless, Zack gives him a B+ on the cool meter for the way he handled the rockstar part of the performance.

Lindsey Robins
Tina Turner’s River Deep, Mountain High

She sure looks the part of chick rock singer. If the song had been pitched a semi-tone lower she would be a star right now. That said, check out Sass’ comment below. Do people sometimes move their lips just because they are contractually obligated to do so?
Jake: “Some of the chorus parts were a little screechy, but I really liked the performance.”
Sass: “There’s more energy in you than you’re letting out. Maybe it’s a song thing? Maybe there’s another song that would have worked better at that?”
Farley: “I heard some moments of some real female rock and roll singing in there, and that’s refreshing.”
Zack: “Pretty good and pretty awful. There were a couple of great notes, but you’ve got to learn to play the game.”

Note to Lindsey – you better learn Nutbush City, because that is the only song in this universe that allows one to let out more energy than River Deep, Mountain High, n’est pas?

Omar Lunan
Every Breath You Take

Great job. He drops the threatening tone of the original, but he gets in all the longing. His vocal embellishments are sooo sweet.
Sass: “Wow. Wow. Wow. Omar, that, that was transcendant.”
Farley: “I liked the phrasing big time. When you got up in the upper registers, a little bit uncomfortable for me.””
Zack: “It was either the kind of transcendant thing that Sass says it was and people are either going to love it or they won’t. It’s going to be an interesting vote.”
Jake: “I can’t see how people won’t.”

Marie-Pierre Bellerose
Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good.

The song with the famous, “Sniff me out like I was Tanqueray,” line. Tough to cover Winehouse. You can’t top perfection. Ms Bellerose doesn’t grab me.
Sass: “Amy Winehouse has such a distinctive voice, when we hear it we can’t help but do a comparison.”
Farley: “I missed some of molasses and the sticky stuff that Winehouse does so well.”
Zack: “Compared to what else has come tonight, I thought that was really good.”
Jake: “You need to have a little more edge if you are going to sing that song, but you sang it well.”

Sebastien Pigott
Amanda Marshall’s Dark Horse

Sebastien has gone through quite the transformation. He started off looking and singing like a busker. Tonight, his mop of curly chestnut hair has been trimmed, he’s wearing a suit and tie and he’s sitting on a riser. He sounds like a bit like Don Henley, which is perfect for the song..
Zack: “The weakest singer here was possibly the best performance.”
Farley: “You are a movie star.”
Sass: “You take the weakest part and make it a strength.”
Jake: “You look like a movie star, man.”

Sebastien is not impressed, telling the judges, “These are incredibly back-handed compliments.” The judges assure him that’s not the case, and they are right. Zack says it best, “You don’t have to be Ceyline to be a rock singer.”

Theo Tams
Timbalan’s Apologize

He accompanies himself on piano, and gives the best performance of the night. His voice is exquisite, sliding into and out of falsetto almost seamlessly. He does what the CIA only wishes it could do – executes a perfect rendition.
Zack: “Canadian Idol starts here.”
Farley: “That was a great performance.”
Sass: “Redonkulous, you know what I’m saying?” No.
Jake: “Of the 21 performances so far, that was, without a doubt, the best we have seen.” (he means heard)

Amberly Thiessen
Nora Jones’ What Am I To You

She has her long hair swept to one side and is wearing a necklace. She looks like the dance hall girl in a Glen Ford western.
Farley: “Exceptional.”
Sass: “A sweetness and a purety in your voice.”
Jake: “Felt really honest and natural.”
Zack: “You could be one of the great discoveries we’ve had on this show one day.”

Adam Castelli
Ray Charles DoThe Mess Around

I go back and forth on Adam. He has zero charisma and the same amount of humour. But the guy has great taste in music and an intensity when he performs that pulls me in every time. He rips up Mess Around
Zack: “”You’re a man, man.”
Farley: “Wicked performance.”
Jake: “It felt like I was watching you with your band at a real concert, and we haven’t seen that before.”

Katelyn Dawn
Cohen’s Halleluiah

If you’re going to do this song, you better be able to sing harmony, and unfortunately I don’t think harmonies are Katelyn’s strong point. She (or whoever did the vocal arrangement) has a really weird four part thing put together for the chorus and it disappoints just when you’re hot to hear that grand swell on the halleluiahs. And I think the weird four-part was done to give Katelyn (a ringer for a young Elizabeth Shue) the simplest harmony possible.
Zack: “Going to that harmony note in the Buckleyesque version of the chorus felt a little uncomfortable to me.”
Farley: “The choruses were shaky.”
Sass: “Next time try something a little more up.”
Jake: “I thought there were some pitch issues.”

So that’s it for round 1. It’s all over but the crying. Catch you tomorrow with the results show.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 4

2008-06-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

All ten parade out on stage singing I Have Confidence In Me. Not a bad production number. The Conan O’Brian marionette introduces the judges. He asks them if they have anything to add to what they had to say last episode. Barrowman tells the woman they must “Turn the Maria dial up tenfold.” To 11, John? Elaine advises them that how they handle the pressure of live performance that will be the determining factor. We learned that, as musical director, Simon Lee will be the only vote on which of the final two returns to life she knows it.

We cut to Austria and clips of ALW walking the woman around Salzburg. I still don’t get why they are doing this – if it was a musical written by an Austrian, maybe.

After a brief recap of last night, Crawford lines the contestants up dressed in their Maria outfits and starts announcing the results.

He tease Elicia, Donna and Allie with long pauses that are finally followed by the announcement that all three have made it through to the next round.

Janna and Tamara and Marisa are called. The first two make it through as well. Marisa is told to remain where she is.

Jayme and Kyla are safe.

We are left with Katie, Alison and Marisa. Only one is safe and it’s Katie. Crawford tell them they are the least favorite based on viewer voting, but this being Canada, the viewers are very sorry.

Marisa and Alison will do a duet on Webber’s Trouble in Paradise. They go right into it, which is clearly tough on the two women. Both stand stiffly but sing well. There is absolutely nothing in the performances to distinguish one from the other.

Lee first tells them that he agrees with the Canadian public – they are the two weakest. And I have to say, we are all in agreement. Marisa’s Jolene and Alison’s I’m Every Woman sucked. With no build up, he sacks Alison.

Almost cruelly, she must join the others and perform as the subject of So Long, Farewell and sing her final good-bye. Guess they are going to do this to all but one of finalists. Ouch

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 6

2008-06-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ben and the judges having a little heart-to-heart. They touch on the 15 male/9 female ratio in the final 24 chosen last week. Jake gets a compliment from Ben on his recent weight loss. Jake responds with the opinion that this year’s is a more experienced crop than usual.

Burning Love is the first song. The band smokes. Love the drive of this tune. Back-up singers are pitch-perfect. That I notice these things probably isn’t good news for whoever that chick is doing the singing. Oh, it’s Lindsey.

Jake calls it “bad bar singing.” Sass puts her finger on the problem: good energy, but the key was too low. Farley thinks the energy came through. Zack calls it a perfect example of what not to do.

The hell with them, girl. You picked Burning Love. You get some of my quota of votes tonight.

Matt Kerr does Blue Rodeo’s, Lost Together. He’s never bad, but tonight he seems like he’s forcing it a bit. What does impress the hell out of me is the way he handles himself after the song is over. Wise cracking, ad-libbing: the guy’s a born host.

Gary Morisette belts out Good Golly Miss Molly, accompanying himself on guitar. Unoriginal but well controlled blues shouter voice. Alright for a white boy, but the first judge to tell him he needs to find his own voice agrees with me. Where he breaks the mold is actually taking a 12-bar lead guitar break. And he smokes. And he is sooooo out of place here. Don’t know how long he’ll last in what is, at heart, a singing competition. But hey – if you haven’t already got a band together, Gary, after you get dumped here, I’m available. And I got a van, man.

The first thing I notice about Tetiana is that she is looking particularly well endowed tonight. In fact, after doing a version of Feelings that no doubt delighted cocktail lounge acts all across Canada, Tetiana slips a hand inside the neck of her blouse as if to adjust something that is not quite in place. The camera cuts away to Zack. Their exchange is great:

Zack: It’s a bizarre, bizarre song choice.
Tetiana: I took a shot at trusting myself. (as Zack advised her to do last week)
Zack: Well, sometimes you’re right, sometimes you sing Feelings.

Sorry, Tet. You know I love you, but it was funny. And Jake called you the best thing of the night so far, right? It’s not like I’m gonna point out that you reacted to that faint praise with a bit more emotion than is probably warranted considering random chance gave you a 25% probability of being the best so far, you know?

Mitch MacDonald sings Gavin DeGraw’s Follow Through, and for the first time in the competition I enjoy his voice. It must be the song that does it. Mitch has a late Sixties British Invasion type of voice, I realize, and Follow Through has that Herman and the Hermits/Monkees kind of bouncy insouciance.

Paul Clifford is one of two finalists with a British accent (Kerr is the other). He is also the guy who has made the top 200 three years running now, but is in the top 24 and competing live for the first time. He does Broken, a song I haven’t heard before, by a band named Seether. Last week Paul sounded like an unmannered John Fogarty. This week he channels Cobain (don’t we all?). The judges treat him like an old friend. Don’t they know that they have crushed this man twice and now stand between him and his life’s ambition? Watch him, guys. Paul will slice your spine in half, the long way, first chance he gets, don’t you know? Farley tells Paul his voice can be recognized over the radio, and that’s what’s important. Maybe Paul will spare him when the time comes.

Earl Stevenson does Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower. This kid continually surprises me. He sings his own melody for this song and knocks me out, as he did with the harmony singing and as he did in his first audition. Blue-eyed soul at its best. The judges love him.

Lisa Bell tries the Doobie’s Long Train Running. Zack called it, “okay, but not enough.” Jake disagrees. He thinks she needed to show Canada that she has a good, strong voice and she has done that. I say she didn’t win any fans, but I don’t think she lost any, either.

Mookie Morris tells us he is named after Mookie Wilson. While he regales Canada with the story of how he came to be named after a player for the Montreal Expos, I remember the them in their prime, back when they had Mookie and Steve Rogers and Bill Lee and Warren Cromartie and Andre Dawson and Gary Carter and they broke my heart when they lost the play-off to LA.

This Mookie almost makes up for that with a version of Twist and Shout banged out on a Red Rickenbaker. Mookie’s voice is in great form and he’s got a good slide going in his Beatle boots. Star Power. And the judges see it.

Speaking of star power, Oliver Pigott shows the first sign of weakness in the Pigott Brother’s assault on Canada. After a series of flawless performances, he has chosen tonight to do I Hear You Knockin’, an up-tempo rocker that is quite a change of pace from the ballads he’s been serenading us with since episode 1. The band kicks into it and Oliver, wearing a hood-up hoodie, embarrasses himself by playing at being sexy. The judges don’t cut him any slack, either. Good. It was getting too easy for him.

Our final performer of the night is Katherine St. Laurent, who has cleaned up real good. A sleeker hair style compliments her fine-boned, elfin face. Her natural shyness makes her seem oddly sophisticated. She does one of my least favorite songs, Total Eclipse of the Heart. She is such a striking beauty, I forgive her. So do the judges. Will the RoC?

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 3

2008-06-23T05:21:00.000-07:00

The competition portion of the initial live show starts with host Gavin Crawford (who looks more like a Conan O’Brien marionette every episode) naming the first two performers. They are Toronto’s Allie Hughes, 22, (how many times will she be referred to as ‘quirky’ tonight?) and 24 year old Dartmouth native, Kyla (I wanna feel) Tingley.

Allie does Christina Aguilera's It's Oh So Quiet. She does it wearing an outfit that makes her look like a eight year old playing dress-up; an electric-blue Danskin dance top (that squashes her boobs flat while showing off her bra straps) with a ratty black tutu that she has hiked up over her belly like old man pants. The performance is great, though. Hammy as hell, but, hey, it’s musical theatre.

Kyla does Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia, and I’m surprised by the choice. The song isn’t like anything in The Sound of Music. Even though Allie’s It's Oh So Quiet was also by a contemporary pop diva, it is a song that drips theatre. Imbruglia’s Torn, on the other hand, would fit right in at either of Dartmouth’s Tuesday night open stages.

The girls stand together on the stage and Crawford goes to the judges; Barrowman, Overholt and Lee. We get the obligatory patronizing pat on the head (“Canada should be proud”) from Barrowman and the crowd embarrasses us all by applauding in gratitude. He calls Allie quirky (that’s 1), but can’t take his eyes off Kyla. Overholt felt Allie “took the stage by storm,” and Kyla “was on fire.” Lee agrees that Allie is “quirky, as John mentioned,” (that’s 2) and was pleased with Kyla’s “hidden depths,” which I took to be a reference to the way her dress showed off her bosom.

Next up; Windsor’s Katie Kerr, 19, and Janna Polzin, 24, from Woodstock. Katie tackles Cindi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. They are using a live orchestra, but the backup vocals are taped. Katie appears thrown off balance when the harmonies come in loud and she goes briefly off key.

Janna, dressed in the first evening gown of the evening, does My Baby Just Cares for Me, which she opens from the top of a staircase. The entrance is a classic and she sings the tune like it’s a show-stopper. Unfortunately, it is really only a pleasant diddy that can be fun when Louie and Keely goof it up, but can’t hold the weight of the staging it gets here. We later find out that musical director Simon Lee is to blame for the night’s odd song selections. Overholt gives Janna a bravo and kind of glosses over Katie’s problems. Lee alludes to “improvements” that he hopes to see in Katie’s performances as the series progresses. Barrowman bluntly tells her that her performance was unacceptable. Ouch. The segment closes with Crawford doing a bestiality joke about lonely goat herders.

An odd video is now inserted in the show – evidently all 10 finalists were flown to Austria, dressed in traditional outfits and filmed dancing and singing to The Hills Are Alive in a variety of picturesque settings. Simon Lee says he felt it was important for the women to experience the actual setting of the play. I can’t imagine Rodgers and Hammerstein doing field research, but maybe I’m wrong.

Elicia MacKenzie, a 23 year old from Vancouver, and Donna, a 22 year old dog groomer from Oshawa are next. Elicia, in a purple empire dress, does the old Petula Clark chestnut, Colour My World. The voice is excellent, but the performance isn’t – stiff, boring, no emotional dynamics. Donna (who looks like she has lost weight) rips up I Am Changing and brings down the house. For the first time in the competition we get the sense of a singer working with the orchestra and the result is stunning. All three judges have nothing but praise for both. C’mon, guys: judge! No way should Elicia have been on the same stage as Donna.

Kitchener’s Marisa McIntyre, 25, who has appeared in Momma Mia, another Mirvish production, and Guelph’s Alison Jutzi, 29, are up. Marisa does Dolly Parton’s Jolene. There is nothing in her performance to distinguish her from a Canadian Idol contestant – no command of the stage, no emotional dynamics. My least favorite turn of the night. And if that weren’t enough, her hair style and colour have been changed and not for the better. She looked like a teacher doing chaperone duty at the prom. As for Alison, there was a mic malfunction that should give her a pass to the next round – no way to really evaluate her. And what was Simon Lee thinking when he assigned her the atrocious disco version of I'm Every Woman? Do not vote this woman out this week – she was sabotaged.

The judges are not impressed with either of them. All three complain about Marisa’s surprisingly one-dimensional performance, while the best they can say about Alison is praise her cool in handling the mic snafu.

The final two contestants are 24 year old Jayme Armstrong, from Richmond, BC, and 21 year old Tamara Fifield from Truro, NS. Tamara does Somewhere Over the Rainbow. She makes non-traditional melody and timing choices, which can be dangerous when working with a standard. But when it works, as it does tonight, it revives a beautiful song.

Jayme pulls out all the stops in a vamping, soulful turn with Son of a Preacher Man that, good as it is, is hurt by the failure of the orchestra to put the signature horn lines (especially the two-note octave drop accent in the chorus) out front where they belong. I guess that’s why this is an orchestra, not a band.

Overholt is ecstatic about both women. Barrowman, on the other hand, thinks Tamara is “dead behind the eyes.” Nobody has anything bad to say about Jayme. Lee is happy with both.

See you tomorrow for the vote tally and the sing-off between the bottom two, who should be Marisa and Katie.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 5

2008-06-17T22:01:00.000-07:00

We start with Mookie Morrison addressing the camera. He talks about not making the final 22 last year because he wasn’t focused, about taking his career seriously for the first time, about keeping busy building a home studio, writing and “trying to mature.” He was only 17, only 17; he’s aged a year since then.

Mookie’s is the first of 23 performances we will see on the final day of auditions before the judges decide who moves on to the live portion of Canadian Idol 6. The majority will do Maroon 5’s She Will Be Loved or Rihanna’s Umbrella. It is a business like episode, so here we go:

Omar Lunden tells the judges about last December, when his 25 year old little brother became another Toronto homicide, another young black man shot to death. He does Break It To Them Gently and leaves not a dry eye in the house.

The Pigott brothers dial it in, looking tired after 3 days of playing and, one hopes, enjoying the perks of staying in a fine hotel in downtown Toronto while young, unattached, good looking and on a TV show.

Kristina Lankinen has lost it. The judges’ little head game last episode has convinced her she is doing something wrong, but she doesn’t know what it is. Her performance is shrill and desperate. I grieve for her and hope she returns next year with a deeper confidence than what’s been revealed over the past 24 hours.

Vince Vorkpor does a nervous, shaky She Will Be Loved. It is clear he doesn’t understand the tune and has no feel for it whatsoever.

Ramil Omosura is a new talent for me, if that’s the right word: based on his strained, mugging performance, it (talent) may not be.

Jade Padua isn’t bad, but her reaction when she exits the stage makes it clear she is deeply disappointed with her performance.

Mitch MacDonald, who came to Toronto on the basis of a version of You’re No Good that I thought spoke for me, surprises with one of the better turns at what I am now abbreviating to SWBL.

Drew Wright is another singer who is new to me. SWBL couldn’t have been a better choice – he sounds so much like the Maroon 5 lead singer it’s eerie.

We now get a 6-singer run of performances that show how stress, long hours and a circus-like environment can wreak havoc on short-term memory. Each of these final performances is timed. The singer sings for 2 minutes – no more, no less. Katelyn Dawn, Earl Stevenson, Nicholas J. Gordon, Katherine St. Laurent, Adam Castelli and Tetiana Ostapowych all vapor lock and spend a portion of their stage time staring blankly, praying for lyrics that will not come.

Gary Morisette, one of the 11 online applicants invited to Toronto, gets some profile time. Nice rock voice but not much finesse.

Mark Day is too grateful to be nervous and is the happiest looking performer we’ve seen all episode. His SWBL is a little flat in places, though.

Carly Campbell looks like her head’s going to explode. Effortless is not in her vocabulary. Jesse Cottam and Amberly Thiessen don’t hurt their chances. Paul Clifford is here for his 3rd year. We met him for the first time in the group performance last night and I mentioned I like his voice. John Fogerty but less mannered.

Shaun Francisco (have I mentioned what a great name that is? If it’s on his birth certificate, even better.) impresses even arch-enemy, Jake. Uninteresting no more.

The judges deliberate. The envelopes, please.

Sass tells Mark Day she thinks his true calling is as a comedian. He is about to cry and she hurries to the punchline: “But we all like a singer who can make us smile,” and baby face is in the next round. Once off stage he drops to his knees and weeps.

We watch several nameless contestants come to the end of their season. We then watch Ramil Omosura go quietly into that good night. Joe Nolan (?) and Mookie are next. Joe isn’t ready yet, Mookie is. Mitch MacDonald and Earl Stevenson go through together. Omar gets kudos for not being afraid to show his heart (remember this is a guy who started with the judges freakin’ on him for being too musical theatre) and gets a pass the live shows. Nicole, Charlie and Kristina are sent home.

Katherine St. Laurent is the first female in the top 22, after 4 guys. Katelyn and Amberly make it 3 females. Lindsey Robinson and Martin Kerr are in. Tatiana makes it (big, long hug from Oliver). Marie-Pierre and Lisa Bell both make it. Adam Castelli, who spent a long time staring into space after forgetting the lyrics to his song, gets a good grilling, but gets a pass. The guy doesn’t know when to shut up. He keeps trying to explain his failing even after they’ve passed him and they have to tell him to shut up.

Gary Morisette gets a pass, but I wonder if he got points just because they wanted at least one online applicant on the live show. Shaun, Theo and Jesse are next. There are already 8 guys in the final 22, so I’m figuring there are only 3 slots for males left and am surprised when all three go through. There’s no way the Pigotts aren’t going through so what’s it going to be: more guys than girls, more than 22 selected or both?

Vincent is finished for the season. Both Pigott brothers make it. That’s 13 guys. Lindsey Barr becomes the 8th girl and there’s only 1 left for 22. Jade and Carly are both told thanks but no thanks.

Drew Wright is the 14th male and the 22nd member of the top 22. They bring in the final two, Paul Clifford and Jessica Sheppard. The last two eliminated at this point last year, become the final two members of Canadian Idol’s first Top 24.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria - Episode 2

2008-06-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

The final 20 arrive in London for their concert before Andrew Lloyd Webber and some friends. They have had 2 days of preparation in Canada. They go straight from the airport to the Palladium and immediately start their third and final day of rehearsals, this time under the watchful eye of musical director Simon Lee as well as vocal coach Elaine Overholt, who has been working with them all along.

The girls get the night off. They have had little sleep and, after a walking tour of the West End theatre district, turn in early. The next day the invited guests arrive. They include the Canadian High Commissioner and Toronto producer David Mirvish.

Before dressing for their entrance the top 20 wander wide eyed on the Palladium stage. They make their formal entrance, all dressed in black cocktail dresses, from the rear of the cavernous theatre. Webber and his posse of a dozen or so theatre professionals and twice that many hangers-on are already seated at the back of the stage. They will watch the girls perform facing them as they face the empty theatre. Feels like bad ju-ju to me. As the performances begin we get cutaways to various performers addressing the camera.

Samantha, a young woman of East Indian descent, views Stacey, the lisper, as tough competition. Am I the only person who can’t see Samantha as an Austrian nun during World War II?

Amazon Andrea tells us she doesn’t know where she is ranked, but she herself thinks she’s in the top 3.

Amy, stand-out Marissa and Webber favorite Allie all identify Janna as the one to beat.

Webber surprises the girls with personal congratulations after the concert. The girls then retire to a waiting room set up with food and wine to relax and await their fate.

Meanwhile the judges deliberate. Casting director David Grinrod likes young Katie or quirky-perky Allie and thinks Samantha was flat in her singing. Producer Mirvish, who isn’t part of the judging, is happy with the caliber of what he saw.

For the first time in the series, the judging takes center stage. Kyla and Michelle are asked in first. Hair model beautiful Kyla is moving on, Michelle is not. Leslie and Jayne are next. Leslie is out, tall blonde Jayne continues. Amazon Andrea, Amy and Janelle are shown in. All three get the boot. Two of the biggest personalities, Donna and Stacey, laugh their way in, as if each is trying to out-personality the other and it has escalated to hysterics. Webber tells Stacey she is too brassy, more a Chicago type. She never stops smiling, even when she is losing the part. It makes me think of her desperate confession to the camera in the previous episode about having to always hide that she is only holding on by her fingernails. I fear for her. Donna gets complimented by Webber and stays.

Tamara is brought in alone. She will be singing for us live on Sunday. Allie and Alison follow. Both pass. The judges have a discussion about Jennifer versus Katie. They have lumped the two together based on the fact that both are small. Webber is concerned that small actors can get lost on big stages, but on TV all actors are reduced to the same size. Simon says if they are going to consider a short leading lady, they should only promote one of the type to the final 10. Jennifer loses out and Katie is in. They break the news to Jennifer alone; they let Katie know in the company of Julia, who is let go.

We are down to three spots for five girls. Marissa and Janna are asked in. In an aside to the camera we learn that Janna always watches what Marissa and Stacey are doing. Interesting that she didn’t mention Allie. Webber tells Marissa right off that she could be Maria (just drop the ss). He cruelly toys with Janna and finally lets her off the hook. Both girls will be with us Sunday night.

That leaves 1 spot for 3 performers. Samantha, Stacey and Elicia are the final group. I think it has to be Stacey and am surprised to a cutaway of Webber stating that he can’t get past her lisp. He dumps Samantha and Stacey (who looks like she’s been gut-punched) and takes Elicia. While she accepts congrats from Samantha and Webber, Stacey stands still as a doe, thunderstruck by her failure.

See you and Alison, Allie, Donna, Elicia, Janna, Jayme, Katie, Kyla, Marissa and Tamara Sunday night.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 4

2008-06-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

The top 200 episode opens with a 3 minute scene-setting montage. Over the course of the first 3 episodes we have watched 28 contestants get their golden ticket to the top 200.

TORONTO
Taylor Abrahmse
Tetiana Ostapowych
Omar Lunan
Oliver Pigot
Sebastian Pigot

CALGARY
Jesse Cottam
Theo Tams
Brianne Chalifour
Earl Stevenson

MONTREAL
Amberly Thiessen
Philippe Langelier
Katherine St. Laurent

VANCOUVER
Shaun Francisco
Pat Melito
Vincent Vorkpor

WINNIPEG
Kayla Luky
Katelyn Dawn
Steve Porter

OTTAWA
Jonny Whitehead
Dan Young
Kristine Lankined

HAMILTON
Rufus
Nicholas J. Gordon
Jade Padua
Jessica Sheppard
Adam Castelli

HALIFAX
Mark Day
Lindsay Barr
Mitch MacDonald

We open with the four judges addressing the assembled 200. Over the course of 3 days this group will be whittled down to the 22 contestants who will appear in the live competition that starts this Sunday night. Over that time each performer gets one solo chance and one shot as part of a group to convince the judges that they deserve to continue.

Hamilton construction worker Adam Castelli starts us off, wearing black leather and playing acoustic. He gets the crowd clapping along to Ray Charles’ What’d I Say?

Philippe Langelier, he of the demon voice, plays it straight with Meat Loaf’s, I Won’t Do That and should have stuck with what he does best. He wouldn’t have survived day one, regardless, but now the guys in his speed metal band back in Montreal will never let him live this down. Hell, after this they may not even take him back.

We get our first new faces. A warm hello and quick good-bye goes out to Alex Simpson (hellish music hallish rendition of I’m Going Crazy), Regan Hiebert (his I Heard It Through the Grapevine suffers badly when compared to the version Earl Stevenson did in Calgary), and Mark Masztalerz (Dylanesque interpretation of Sinatra’s That’s Life would have worked much better if he’d sung in the same key that he played guitar).

Mark Sparks (great name) gives two not bad bars of Fly Me to the Moon. Greg Von Euw, a baby-face to give Mark Day competition for that much coveted distinction, plays the same supper club with a version of I’m Stepping Out that Jake calls, “A perfect example of not knowing when to stop.”

The competition breaks while the judges compare notes in preparation for the first cuts of the day. When ready, they call out a group of 11 or 12. It is unclear how many are eliminated, but we know that Adam Castelli makes it through, as does Amberly Thiessen, who we remember vaguely from the Montreal audition segment in Episode 2.

On his way out, demon-master Philippe tells us he knows he is, “too extreme for Canada.” Yep. That Meat Loaf, he sure is radical.

Next group, Dan, the kid with the mother who died of cancer April 14th, doesn’t do justice to We Are All Innocent and still gets through. C’mon, guys. This pity pass thing – okay once, but twice?

Oliver Pigot, looking like Henry Rollins and singing like Sting, blows the house down with Field of Gold. The judges join the crowd in a standing ovation. We learn that performances like Oliver’s that truly impress the judges earn the performer an immediate pass.

Katelyn Dawn, whom we met in Winnipeg, makes her first Toronto appearance. She does a country number and doesn’t seem to make much of an impression on the judges. Omar Lunen, from episode 1, does a great soul number that I wasn’t familiar with. Jessica Sheppard, back for her second attempt to break out of the top 200 and make it to the live performances, doesn’t help her case with an off key attempt to get growly on a soul tune and Lindsey Barr, the rocker from Halifax who did a great job on It’s Alright, Mama, does (I think) a Sass Jordan tune. Nice job of brown nosing. West African immigrant Vincent Vorkpor flat out butchers I Want You To Want Me by, “Cheap Tricks.”

The judges consider and decide. The entire group makes it through. Too bad. Sheppard and Vorkpor are going to waste more of out time.

New group. First up is Martin Kerr, from Edmonton with a British accent and bright red hair. Sounding a bit like James Blunt, he does something called Bleed Myself Dry and he is the first guy since episode 1 to really impress me. He impresses the judges as well and gets a pass.

Carly Campbell, a Vancouver bartender, does the Temptations nugget, Too Proud to Beg. Not great, but she gets the pass, too.

The next group starts with Kristine Lankined, another bartender, albeit one with a shiny new BA. She does Every Time I See Your Picture and doesn’t quite have the Luba’s pipes. The judges tell her to try another song and send her off to decide which one. I’m telling you, the producers want a young female and they are doing what they need to do to see to it that happens. Oliver Pigot is going to get screwed this season.

Corporal Whitehead is in the next group. He changes his song choice at the last second, does one of those Superman songs and gets himself a ticket back to Petawawa.

New face Lindsay Robins does an Alanis song. Because they show her sing and give her a name tag, I’m assuming she’s in. Take your time, Ms Lankined. You still haven’t got any competition.

Theo Tams, the 22 year old from Lethbridge who sweats like a pig, accompanies himself on piano and sings like an angle on In the Arms of an Angel. He shakes up everybody, including me. Beautiful.

Kristine comes back out and does Heart’s How Do I Get You Alone. The judges are disappointed, but pass her nonetheless. I think they just wanted to wipe the smirk off her face. She leaves relieved but confused, which may be just what the judges wanted.

Day two sees the contestants grouped in quartets and trios, except for Nick Gordon, the 16 year old trapped in a man’s body from the Hamilton audition and Taylor Abrahmse, the Juicy Fruit kid from episode 1. They are the day’s only duo.

Group 1: Three faceless, nameless guys who would be wearing red shirts if they were on Star Trek. The do Creedence’s Have You Ever Seen the Rain (warning: we are going to hear several versions) like they were drunk, singing around a campfire.

Group 2: Shaun Francisco, who we met in Vancouver. Martin Kerr, the red head James Blunt. For the first time, Paul Clifford, a 25 year old who looks like a 19 year old spiky haired, pierced eyebrow couch surfer. Paul has a killer gravelly voice, by the way and sings for far too short a time. And there is a woman as well, but I couldn’t put a name with the face. In any case, they were exquisite. Four part country harmonies with four great voices on a John Fogerty ballad: fuggedaboutit.

Group 3: A 19 year old from Winnipeg named Dominique Vouk with 3 nameless crewmen are as lose as the red shirts in scene 1.

Group 4: Four nameless guys shouting over the worst sounding electric guitar since I sold my Kingston.

Group 5: A quartet doing Creedence as interpreted by the choreographer for Showboat.

Group 6: Kristine, Carly Campbell from earlier tonight and a long haired blonde (Tetiana Ostapowych?) glorious on Taking the Long Way Home.

Group 7: Jen Dell Unto (haven’t got a clue), Jade Padua and 2 other women I can’t put names to.

Group 8: Omar (who did the arrangement, I gather), Rufus from the Hamilton auditions and 2 stranger white guys are sound like butterscotch tastes on Wishing Well.

Groups 9-12: we get a montage of Back Horse in a Cherry Tree as done by four groups; 1). duo Nick Gordon and Taylor Abrahmse, 2.) new girl Jenna Rae Walker and three friend, 3). our old bud Earl Stevenson with Kayla Luky and two others and 4). Theo Tams Katelyn Dawn and somebody else.

Group 13: Marie-Pierre Bellerose, Lisa Bell and some guy named Doug do Black Horse. Jake wants a sing off between the women, and Lisa kicks some Quebecois butt.

Group 14: This is gonna be great, the Pigot brothers, a guy named Mooky Morris and Tatiana, three of whom have impressed us and all of whom, Ben assures us, have impressed the judges. They do Ever Seen the Rain, with the brothers taking the first line and Sebastien Pigot taking the second. The other 3 jump in with a repeat and they’ve got this great swing to the 3-part they do on top of a lazy four-four rhythm on a six string. Mooky takes a refrain, then Tatiano, then Oliver. They do a chorus in four part and close out with some call and response. Magic.

Those who go through that I am sure of:
Vincent
Theo
Katelyn
Brandon
Omar,
Matt
Taylor
Nicholas
Sebastien
Oliver
Tatiana
Mooky
Shaun Francisco
Martin Ker
Paul Clifford
Lisa
Yeah, I know – they left us hanging about who Jake liked from the sing-off, Lisa or Marie-Pierre. Big suspense. It was Lisa

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Episode 1

2008-06-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

The CBC’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? is a reality TV talent competition unlike anything seen before from a North American television network. In the first place, the competition is in musical theatre, with the winner getting the lead in the Canadian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Ian’s version of the classic The Sound of Music. In the second place, we are told in clear language what the producers are looking for: a light, natural sound.

What, I gotta ask, does Andrew Lloyd Webber (or anybody in musical theatre, for that matter) consider a “natural sound”ing voice? If the answer to this question keeps you up at night, you are in for one hell of a ride. If not, how involved can we get with a group of females, aged 18 – 30, who are naturals at acting like charismatic novice nuns?

But, hey, - natural sounding voices have dominated pop music since Sinatra dropped his Bing Crosby imitation, influencing young Robert Zimmerman to sing in Bob Dylan’s natural voice (that has never sounded anything like anybody else in Minnesota, even on Nashville Skyline), which made John susceptible to Yoko’s whispers, which took the heart out of the goofiness that is pop music’s greatest strength (Monster Mash is of higher artistic value than Smells Like Teen Spirit) and left the carcass ripe for the indignities of rap.

So I figure I’ll give HDYSAP a chance (as I already mentioned in the prologue, it’s shortened to Maria by some, which I don’t get at all. A perfectly valid reason for typing HDYSAPLM and I’m gonna go for Maria? I don’t think so.).

The Sound of Music musical director and HDYSAP judge Simon Lee is a grey haired British gentleman in his sixties with a Vanilla Ice hair cut and a face that combines the vulnerability of Marty Feldman in his prime with the animal magnetism of a young Don Knotts.

Mr. Lee knows what he’s doing and is a pleasure to watch because of it. Compared to the “I can’t tell you what it is, but I know it when I see it,” critiques characteristic of the Idol franchise, Lee and vocal coach/judge Elaine Overholt interrupt their charges with specific instructions during the auditions. For their part, the contestants are of a level of professionalism not typically encountered in the early stages of these types of things.

The editing is focused on the performances, with “getting to know the contestant” segments nearly non-existent. We are cutting down from 200 to 48 in the first five minutes of the show, so there’s really no other choice. Nevertheless, personality did come through. Here I’m thinking of the brunette with the bob in the black dress who, after learning she was moving on to Maria boot camp, came off stage flashing heavy metal hand signs. And, as a group, I am thinking of the dresses.

What was with the dresses, girls? I haven’t seen so many women in dresses since my high school graduation. You looked like sixties housewives. It’s like this weird twist in time. The movie came out in the early sixties and you guys unconsciously dressed like you would have been dressed if you were auditioning for The Sound of Music, season 1.

Four and a half minutes in, we get a 30-second montage of people auditioning, losing, winning and boom, we are down to 48 from 200. An establishing shot of the stone Victorian exterior of an abbey and we are inside Maria School. Ms. Overholt greets the finalists: “Welcome to the Olympics of singing.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Lee has returned to England, tapes in hand, to go over what they have so far with the capo di tutti capi. Mr. Webber is not impressed by the theatrical movements of many of the contestants, complaining that “someone has taught them that.” I find his reaction odd. I’ve seen some of your work, Mr. Webber. They are only doing what you had your heroines do in Evita and Phantom, don’t you know? I’ve got no problem with you wanting to do something different, but please – the person you suspect has “taught them that” is you.

We watch Lee and Webber go through the tapes and see Webber approve some and dismiss others. Inexplicably, the director (of the show, not the musical) fails to utilize this opportunity to start showing us some name tags. It robs us of our first opportunity to put an identity to at least a few of the many faces that are flashing across our screens. In the end, Webber says he sees 4 potential Marias out of the 48. He also uses this segment to do what a good producer does when he has handed the final casting decision on his leading lady to the general public: he prepares his defense.

“The one thing that an audience at home, when it comes time to vote, has got to remember is that it’s not necessarily the girl that they think is great on TV: are they actually going to be able to deliver the role of Maria on stage?”

Back at Maria school we finally start getting some names.

Curly haired Megan does Son of a Preacher Man for all of two lines before Overholt is all over her to “Stop performing,” meaning drop the Ethel Merman big Broadway moves.

Angle, a ringer for Valerie Bertinelli before she met Eddie, is next. She mugs her way through “For Papa, I will stay,” and is stopped by Overholt for, “acting: bad acting.”

Blonde Robin gets busted for not knowing the character to which her song is addressed. “Everytime you get up to sing,” Overholt instructs, “you must know who you are singing to. You have to know what this song is all about. If not, we do this…” Overholt smiles pluckily and swings her arms, “because we want to be loved.” Now that’s a good coach.

Overholt thinks Allie, who was one of the ones Webber said he liked, is “quirky and fun to watch,” and she is. But so is a good daycare teacher.

An inset with Robin talking to the camera says of Overholt’s coaching, “From the beginning of one song to the end you can see the changes. This is like a master class in singing.”

Stacey has a bit of a lisp. She tells us that in 2003 she had reconstructive jaw surgery that involved getting her jaw broken in 10 places. Poor Stacey – all that and she’s still got the lisp. If it had been up to Mr. Lee, she wouldn’t have made it to Maria School, but Overholt has assured us she can cure the lisp. Stacey wants to believe and gets kudos from Overholt for trying a song with a lot of S sounds.

Katie is an 18 year old ball of energy who does Let’s Hear it For the Boy and I think of Chris Penn, dancing to the song in Footloose, and what it must have been like to look good in your first big teen movie and then to get fat and ugly before the next one and to never look that good ever again. I probably would have drank and drugged myself to an early grave, too. Better to start ugly and stay ugly than be beautiful and lose it, I say. But that’s what all of us beautiful people say. Getting back to Katie, Overholt tells her, “You’ll never be bad. You’ll either be good or great.” Nice ANTM cut to a couple of catty looks from other competitors.

Kyla, maybe the prettiest girl in the bunch, is told to sit down after failing to convince Overholt that she understood her song (Cozy, Calm and Cool).

Dana tells the camera, “Not to be catty or anything, but you look around the room and say, ‘How could they be Maria?’”, then starts Son of Preacher Man off key, loud and harsh. How, indeed.

Frizzy haired Christina was another Webber favorite. We get no more than 15 seconds of her singing and it’s not enough to make much of a judgment.

After a bit from Overholt about letting go of the fear and stepping outside your comfort zone to find the magic, Day 1 of Maria Camp is over. Next morning, Lee is back from London. He introduces John Barryman, a.k.a. Dr. Who, an English matinee idol in the Tom Cruise mold. Barryman is the girls’ acting coach (when does their permanent coach arrive?) and the third and final member of the panel that will determine who goes on to the top 20.

His critiques during the acting segments are actually quite accurate. He spots that Nichole (to whom we have not been properly introduced) is indecisive with her hand movements and illustrates the importance of definite, clear movements on stage. With ball-of-energy Katie, Barryman dings her for mugging so much with the line, “Captain Von Trapp’s children,” that she sounds like she is implying that the children are prostitutes and available.

Janna is a plain woman who puts me in mind of the nuns that taught me throughout grade school. For the part of Maria, this is not a bad thing. She was also picked by Webber as one of his favorites. We get to listen in as she tells a group of the girls what the part means to her, and it’s more than a little creepy. “This is the perfect role for me. I grew up with this woman, learning about her. I want so much to be her and play her and come to understand her. I feel like I have the right look, the right age; everything they are looking for. If I don’t get this, what am I good at?”

Her performance opposite Barryman is a revelation. They play the scene as if they have been doing it for weeks. Amazing. If she doesn’t get the role, there will be stalking.

We cut to the girls sitting on the hardwood floor in a large, sunlit room. A pianist is at an upright and Mr. Lee sits beside him. He is informally running the contestants through their paces. A girl named Donna does a showboat turn, grabbing a song and singing it from the floor. Cut to the girls on chairs in what may be the same room, but this time Overholt and Lee and some folks we haven’t met yet are present. Lee is having the contestants do songs from Cabaret.

Stacey, Alyssa and Janel all try the title song and all fail to attack it the way Lee wants them to. But then something happens. Lee is working with Nichole and Marisa. He reminds them that it’s not just what he is telling them now – it’s what he has told the others before them. He pushes Marisa to “sound atrocious on some of it. You’re outside a strip joint.” It clicks. She hammers it out the way Joel Gray did, an invitation to join the damned. By song’s end she is in tears and so are we. Lee tells her, “Electric,” and it was.

At the morning meeting at the start of day 3, Lee asks ten girls to stand up. The eliminated ten are:
Nicole Glover
Rebeckah Gubbles
Kayla Robinson
Megan Skidmore
Larissa Bathgate
Amy Hodge
Sarah Putnam
Sarah Harries
Katherine Patrick
Sarah Gibbons

Boy, this show does not focus on the suspense element of the eliminations in the slightest. It's like the anti-Deal or No Deal.

Day 4 the survivors work on harmonies. They are working as a 38 member choir in no time. God I love humans when they do something they know how to do.

On the 5th and final day Dana, the catty one who didn’t have the chops to back it up, has somehow made it through and Overholt has her working at being real. To the camera later, Dana admits that she feels like she is hanging on by her fingernails and we finally see the vulnerability Overholt was trying to pull out of her. A girl named Jennifer is less well prepared than the other girls and when Overholt calls her on playing the whole thing as one note, Jennifer is the first contestant we’ve seen try to make excuses. Overholt isn’t sympathetic. “I know you’ll get over this and do the song well. Now let’s try it.”

The elimination down to the final 20 is the closest the show has come to building suspense for an elimination. As the girls sing The Hill Are Alive, Simon Lee walks among them, his hand on a shoulder breaking a heart. Again the director misses another chance to help us identify with the girls, sending anonymous girls back to their anonymous lives. And even with that, they don’t even name all of the ones who stayed. In voice over we are only told the names 7 of the top 20: Dana, Donna, Jennifer, Kyla, Tamarra, Jayne and Stacey.

All told, my only complaint so far is the show’s unwillingness to use last names. These WASPs are hard tell apart.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? - Prologue

2008-06-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

In London in 2006 Andrew Lloyd Weber and David Ian set out to mount a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. Open auditions were held for the lead role of the young governess and novice, Maria. Once the field of thousands of hopefuls was winnowed to 10, the BBC produced a reality series out of the final selection process, with finalists eliminated on the basis of viewer voting. In the end, Connie Fisher was named Maria.

This October Mirvish Productions brings The Sound of Music to Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre and CBC is producing a live talent competition reality series out of Canada’s own search for Maria, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. The 7 week, 14 episode series premiers June 15th.

Open calls for HDYSAPLM (it’s shortened to Maria by some, which I don’t get at all. A perfectly valid reason for typing HDYSAPLM and I’m gonna go for Maria? I don’t think so.) began January 25th in Toronto and ended 6 cities and 2 weeks later in St. John's. Out of the thousands that auditioned, 200 were brought to Toronto for callbacks in front of celebrity judges. Out of the 200, 48 were selected to attend "Maria School," which is where the TV series joins the search.

By the end of the hour long premier the 48 will be narrowed to 20. The following night, Monday the 16th, the top 20 perform at the London Palladium in a private concert before Andrew Lloyd Webber and his guests. Between them, they select the final 10.
From Episode 3 on June 22, we are live. Sunday nights are performances, voting follows and Monday nights are the results. The Episode 1 recap will be up by 11 ET

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 3

2008-06-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

The third and final audition show starts with a bunch of 8 year olds playing the judges. The get-ups are great and the dialogue mocks the adult versions with a surprising amount of wit. Much funnier than last night’s visit from Lloyd Robertson.

The first Idol wanna-be is Jonny Whitehead, a 23 year old corporal stationed at Petawawa and from nearby Wilno. He gets a profile, so we know he’s going through to Toronto. In it, the corporal tells us that when they go overseas they are “ready for anything they’re gonna throw at us.” So the stories about the Canadian Forces being woefully under-funded and poorly quipped are all lies? His Afghanistan veteran bio is compelling enough that you just know all he has to do is not go ape-shit with a flashback in the middle of Hootie’s Let Her Cry and he’s in the top 200. I mean, hell, before he’s sung a note Zack has already thanked him for serving his country on behalf of all of us. He doesn’t go ape-shit, but I can’t hear this voice beyond the top 100.

Kelsi Schauerte is a 20 year old pillow of a girl from Hay River in the Northwest Territories. Clarkson’s A Moment Like This is out of her range and Kelsi is out of the competition.

Port Perry’s Lisa Closs begs the question: if you could go back in time and kill Hitler or Whitney Houston at birth, who would you pick? I’m not even sure the song she tried to sing was a Houston song, but for all the warbling she did (missing probably half of the 260 note changes she tried to pull off in the first 2 bars), it might as well have been.

Celene Donnelly is a skinny 17 year old from Prescott whose chipmunk voice is perfect for Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. At least, that’s what I thought: the judges didn’t agree. I mean, yeah, she didn’t know how to use her diaphragm and she needs a couple of lessons, but the judges offered her nothing but complaints about her tone. C’mon, guys: Lauper is a chipmunk on Girls, but it works and then she breaks your heart on Time After Time, right? Hey, Celene; learn how a singer breaths and do Time After Time at next year’s audition, okay? Trust me on this.

Dan Young gets a profile. He is doing the audition at his mother’s insistence. She is in the final stages of cancer. The Ottawa 22 year old does a song about a guy whose head was found in a driving wheel, which is more than can be said for the fellow’s body, which is still missing. It would have worked better as a campfire story. Locals say the body is sometimes seen, stumbling through these very woods, searching for its missing head.

Farley, heartless but honest, tells Dan he’s not unique enough and passes. Zack makes something up about Dan being a “genuine” singer and he (Zack) tries to error on that side (huh?). And error he does. Farley sees where this is going (one of Zack’s pity passes) and hands Dan a ticket. But it’s in a good cause. The camera follows Dan to the hospice and we get to meet his mother, Carolyn Annette Wells. The segment closes with a white on black memorial to her.

Kristine Lankined, a sexy blonde 23 year old from Kanata, is a 2008 Ottawa U graduate with a BA in business. She’s also the episode’s first attraction with a hope in hell of making it through to the live shows. Currently working as a bartender, on Friday nights Kristine is the bar’s main attraction for Rockin’ Country Nite. Sometimes the girls dance with her and “sometimes we spray water.” Guess she doesn’t want the folks to know she’s into wet T-shirts. She tears up Heart’s How Do I Get You Alone and is the first female we’ve seen who is top 10 material.

Ryan Mawla, a transgendered 17 year old from Almonte, is auditioning to send a message about being yourself. Ryan is a girl trapped in a man’s body and on May 1st he began his transition to a complete sex change. So much for accepting yourself the way you are. He takes a shot at Winehouse’s Rehab. The voice isn’t bad, but Ryan has absolutely no rhythmic flow, which is what soul is all about.

We head for Hamilton and the producers oddly choose to start with another singer doing Rehab. Nicholas J. Gordon is a bearded 16 year old who looks like he’s in his 20s. A kid trapped in man’s body. He’s got an affected harshness to his tone, but he’s also got the flow. With reservations, they give him a ticket.

Rufus, a 26 year old from Kitchener, does the first disco song of the night, KC and the Sunshine Band’s Get Down Tonight. I know, sounds like a disastrous choice, but damned if doesn’t pull it off. That’s 2 gold tickets in a row

Barbara Griffore has a Minnie Mouse squeak for a singing voice and does From This Moment On, a song guaranteed to show off her bad side. She is followed by Bill Smith, a long haired 23 year old who sings so tunelessly he almost makes Barbara look good. You’d think after these two they’d give us somebody worth listening to, but we get 18 year old Sarah Dillon instead. Actually, Sarah showed some potential and Zack’s. “You are the worst singer we’ve seen so far this year,” was completely gratuitous. Maybe there’s an insult quota in his contract.

When she comes out she says, “I was good, but I guess that my voice was a little too strong.” Hey Sarah: #1, don’t lie to people when you’ve been caught on camera and, #2, get a couple of lessons and keep working at it. I’d like to hear you next year.

Jade Padua, a 19 year old theatre student from Pickering, has had her lessons. She gets a profile that includes a segment of her dancing in silhouette and she’s terrific. She does When I Fall In Love and she’s actually been over-trained. The performance is musical theatre, not pop. She gets the ticket, though. We’ll see if she can find her own voice.

We get a clip of Jessica Sheppard’s elimination last year. She was the last female eliminated before the live shows. She auditions this year with Killing Me Softly and I’m of the opinion she looks and sings worse now than then. But the judges put her through.

Twenty-six year old construction worker Adam Castelli is the last auditioner from Hamilton. He does a song I don’t recognize. He actually uses some dynamics and emotes without shouting. A well deserved gold ticket.

Before heading to Halifax we get a montage of some of the online auditions (a first for the global Idol franchises) and learn the process yielded 11 of the top 200.

In Halifax we meet Mark Day, a pudgy baby faced 19 year old with a great attitude. He does You Are My Lady. Farley tells him he gets breathy on the low notes and asks him to try again. He does and bangs the first low notes right in the center. He slips the next time through. Farley stops him, has him do it again and the kids gets them all. Nice to see an intelligent singer who understands what the producer is talking about and applies it right away. Jake and Zack say no with “no star power” used as the euphemism for not cute. Farley and Sass overrule them and Mark is headed to Toronto.

Lindsay Barr, 26, is a good looking rocker in black who kicks ass on That’s All Right, Momma. Everybody but Zack thinks she’s awesome, and Zack gives no reason for his rejection. Now I’ll have to read back through the other episode recaps to see if this is true, but right now I’m wondering if Zack is passing on people over 22-23.

Mitch MacDonald, from Port Hood on Cape Breton does You’re No Good. The judges were more impressed than I was.

Luke and Jock close the show with their submission for the Canadian Idol Original Song, I Got Turned Down By Canadian Idol. They’re a couple of good ole boys; clean nice pickin' and sweet harmonies. But daddy selling the farm to buy you a six string? Couldn’t have been much of a farm, boys.

Next week – Top 200 begins.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 2

2008-06-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

We open with Lloyd Robertson doing As Time Goes By in a passable baritone. They give him a pity ticket to TO.

The Montreal auditions segment starts with Philippe Bournival, a bespectacled 22 year old from Tracy, PQ. He’s dressed in black and does Alice Cooper’s School’s Out, but no, he has nothing of the Goth about him. Too bad. Goth’s have the best uniform, don’t ’cha think? As soon as he starts singing you gotta figure he was listening at the door during Lloyd’s audition, ’cause he does the song in the same music hall baritone Lloyd used. But when he gets to “school’s been blown to pieces, school’s been blown completely,” he does the first phrase in a speed metal monster voice and the second in a soft, drawn out romantic retard (it’s a musical term, honest) and I start thinking about Columbine and Marc Lepine. If they’d given him a ticket to Toronto I would have called the 416 Crime Stoppers line and warned them.

Next up is Adam Olszewski on his red accordion, doing Cohen’s Alleluia. Zack and Farley laugh at him. I hate these guys when they laugh at somebody who is seriously trying their best. But no, Adam isn’t Idol caliber (now there’s a phrase we can all laugh at).

That makes 3 baritones in a row. Is there a baritone trend in pop music and I missed the memo? Maybe they sent it out using a bulk mailer and it landed in the spam folder I delete every morning.

Ralph Zeidan from Laval is totally certain he will get a golden ticket because he is our next Canadian Idol. He’s a “totally self taught musician because basically I’ve never taken any courses.” He also informs us he plays guitar very well (but not in the audition) and we can tell he’s serious about his art because he doesn’t need a Gibson or Martin or Yamaha like those wanna-bes. A Wal-Mart and a song and this guy is good to go. He thinks, “Canada will fall in love with me for the following reasons: basically I am very talented.” Guess he thought he should keep the other reasons secret. “I take those little pop songs and blend it in with my rock and roll style and make a whole concert out of it every week, baby.”

For a guy with such chutzpah in the lobby, he tightens right up in the audition; eyes closed the entire time, his face turned to the ceiling, his hands folded across his belly as if in prayer, he’s a shower singer. Not even Sass doing her silly arm sway can help. When they give him the boot he’s astonished. But he takes the criticism well:

“Well that’s just going to be too bad for them because they just passed on a big talent and that’s very expensive for them and for the competition.”

Hey Zack, Farley: this is somebody you should have laughed at.

Twenty-five year old Khram Sher is the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen, counting the psychedelics. He came to Canada from Pakistan in “2K5.” He is bearded, wearing traditional Pakistani clothes, and can sing, “different things; Hillary Duff, Avril Lavige...” A fan of democracy, he wants the judges to vote on what song they want to hear. While the judges try to get him to just sing, Khram takes their arm motions as votes and starts counting. He finally starts in on Avril’s Complicated and does these slow, cautious club dance moves that have no connection to the tune (moonwalk included) as he sings a chick song in a pleasant tenor. I laugh so hard I split the stitches from my 1992 appendix operation. When he’s done Sass asks him if he’s ever thought about being a comedian and he says, “No. I like hockey.” This guy is a YouTube superstar. Superstar.

Melanie Ouimet is a 26 year old junior web master who loves doing HTML coding. She says she has prepared her voice “and it is perfect.” Heavy set and plain but with a sweetness about her that I can’t resist, I’m hoping she knocks the judges out. Sadly, she does Melilicious in a thin, hurried voice accompanied by stiff, jerky dance moves. Zack tries to blunt the rejection she is about to get by asking, “Do you have a lucky man that you share your meliliciousness with?” The move backfires. “No,” Melanie replies. “I’ve never dated except for prom.”

Amberly Thiessen is a pretty 19 year old from Alberta. She does Wasted and isn’t horrible. I’m thinking that among this bunch, it’ll be enough to get her through to the top 200. It is, but what’s up with the judges? Zack thinks she’s among the best he has seen and Sass thinks she’s top 10. I figure what has gone before has damaged the both of them and hope it’s temporary.

Back from a commercial we get a montage of Mulroney flubs (no, Meech Lake isn’t included. That was his dad). I realize I’m starting to like the guy and hope it’s temporary.

Philippe Langelier is a fat, bald 27 year old bassist in a “speed metal, bar metal, def metal band, whatever you want to call it.” Kind of reminds me of a Goth George Castanza but with a sense of humor. Dressed in black, with aluminum cuffs to his elbows, he does a good Rob Zombie monster voice imitation. His parents are both opera singers. The judges drag his dad in from the lobby and the two of them do a duet, dad singing opera and Philippe doing Zombie. I’m flabbergasted when they pass him on to TO. Looks like the damage may be permanent. God, no – does this mean I’m doomed to become a Ben Friend?

Katherine St. Laurent is another pretty teenager who isn’t horrible. She earns her gold ticket with a version of Love is Battlefield. Zack calls her spectacular. Only in comparison to the spectacularly untalented crop of Montreal auditioners, Zack.

Finally we are out of Montreal and on to Vancouver. Shaun Francisco is first up and from Ben’s “welcome back” I assume he has auditioned before. He accompanies himself on guitar and as his song (don’t recognize it) progresses he creeps forward until he’s almost at the judges’ table. Sass and Farley like his voice but Jake doesn’t find him interesting. For once, I’m with Jake. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s the one time he gets overruled. Top 200, but trust me: no further.

James Thomas Hall, an Australian who has lived on the Island for 6 years, does an original tune that consists of one line repeated over and over: “This songs gonna get stuck in your head.” It was funnier than it reads. He doesn’t get a ticket (hell, he’s got way more potential than Philippe, the Rob Zombie impersonator) but Sass is spot on when she says he should do a kids record. My 16 month old would love him.

Andrew Hennings does Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (weak voice, limited range and a weird side-to-side hop) and the producers smartly let him do the whole 7 minute rock opera. The editing is hilarious. He doesn’t get a ticket, but he gets more face time than anybody else in the first two episodes.

Pat Melito is a young crooner and we get clips of him singing at his steady gig at the Pan Pacific Hotel with Del Richards, Canada’s King of Swing. In a voice over Mulroney says “He uses more hair product than I do,” and he’s not exaggerating – you could shave in the reflection off his oily black hair. If he ever goes in the ocean I shudder to think of the damage the slick will do to the bird population. But he’s a pro without an ego problem and in this competition that’s saying a lot. He gets a well deserved ticket.

The biggest mistake of the night is the failure of the judges to give a ticket to Mozhdah Jamalzadah, a gorgeous, sexy 26 year old who came to Canada in the 80’s when her family fled Afghanistan and the Russian occupiers. Yeah, she was a bit stiff and her voice is breathy in the lower register, but she hit the notes and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Hey girl – work on the presentation and I’ll watch for you next year.

Next is another new Canadian, Vincent Vorkpor, from West Africa. He does Every Woman and I didn’t care for it, but the judges are starved for somebody with a sense of rhythm and they pass him on to TO.

We go to Winnipeg, where Julie Black replaces Mulroney. Kayla Luky is a 19 year old from Venlaw, MB. She does a dynamite, rhythmic version of Black Horse in a Cherry Tree and gets her ticket. The girl could be top 10, but she’s got to do something about the hippie chick hair.

Laura Gallant is our second Love is a Battlefield of the night. A shower singer. She wasn’t confident going in, with good reason. Zack and Jake laugh at her hysterically. After she’s left, Jake tells the others she is possibly in the top 3 worst auditioners of all time.

Katelyn Dawn, our 4th pretty teenager of the night, does an unremarkable version of Hold On and gets a ticket (if she doesn’t make the top 10, Zack is a monkey’s uncle, which some might consider a step up). Sass gives me hope, though. She thought Katelyn was “totally non-descriptive." Sass says she is the sole voice of dissent, which I spell r-e-a-s-o-n.

You can’t help but wonder if the producers have told the judges they want a pretty teenage girl this year.

Sixteen year old Steve Porter ends the show with “Moondance by Michael Buble.” The judges don’t even correct him, and for that they should be fined or fired or something. The song is a Van Morrison composition, dipshits. Now they’ve really pissed me off. Steve’s version isn’t great, but they are really skewing young and he gets a golden ticket. I could live with that, but the praise they heap on the kid is bizarre. No, Sass, he is nowhere near top 10.

Summing up, there wasn’t a performance in the whole show that came close to last weeks Pigot brothers or Earl Stevenson.

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 1

2008-06-03T23:48:00.000-07:00

Canadian Idol 6 - Episode 1 opens with a Mulroney-narrated 3 minute montage of past seasons before credits have even rolled. There’s no commercial break after the credits so I figure we’re on to it, but no: we cut to a montage of this season’s auditions, followed by a clip of last year’s winner, Brian Melo, serenading the crowd gathered for the Toronto audition, followed by Natasha Benifield doing the same.

Seven minutes in we finally get what we tuned in for: Gary Smeddon (hope I spelled it right, Gary. The close captioning guy wimped out and ignored your last name entirely), Toronto contestant #07023. Gary is so jazzed he gives off sparks. He is, in his own words, “excited, ecstatic, exuberant and nervous. That’s why I’m twitching."), but that’s good ‘cause it looks like Zack has been hitting the Qualudes again. He rubs the sleep crud from his eyes, the drool off his chin and gives Gary a whazzup? (or, as the Queen prefers, “What is, “up”?”). Gary says, “The lights. And me, right now, ‘cause I’m in front of you guys. Hee-haw.” He does Zoot Suit Riot and he’s actually good. But tight ass judge Jake Gold says, “You’re just a really weird dude, man. I just can’t see people voting for you.” Yeah, Jake; God knows there’s way too much weirdness in pop music. Save us. Then Zack chimes in with, “And when you combine that with the atonality, you’ve really got a double whammy going.” Is Gary pissed? Does he freak out because the judges have missed a clearly talented singer? Not a chance. Outside the audition room he says, “I’m too weird, I don’t sing good enough and I’m going home.” Hey Gary – you can sleep on my couch anytime.

Next up, 24 year old Diana Salvatore from Thornhill. Diana is a screamer. She does 8 bars of Piece of My Heart, just in case there’s any doubt about the screamer thing. She scared the baby. No gold ticket for you, Ms D.

No ticket either for Mississauga’s MC (I Can See Clearly Now).

Sixteen year old Taylor Abrahmse does an acoustic version of Tie Your Mother Down. Zack says “The way you sing reminds me of that really bad chewing gum commercial” and Taylor starts playing the Juicy Fruit song without missing a beat. It cracks up the judges and it’s enough to get him the ticket that should have gone to Gary.

Another 16 year old follows, Vanessa Kalala, from Ajax. Vanessa tries to impress them with a long high trill that she misses badly. Next time, girl, remember: simple and solid is better than hard and shaky. She’ll be back.

Toronto’s Tetiana Ostapowych, recently returned from doing “a whole lot of nothing” in LA, nails an Amy Winehouse song and gets a ticket, along with Gold’s advice to show more vulnerability.

After a commercial Scarborough’s Omar Lunan, the oldest contestant so far at 29, is the first contestant to get his own profile. Omar’s a black single dad, raising a son in a neighborhood where the street eats black sons for breakfast (I know. I lived there.) and I immediately put him on my “rooting for” list.

When Omar auditions he has stagy, musical theatre moves and the judges are all over him. Somebody throws him a pen to use as a faux mic. He drops the My Fair Lady moves and earns himself a ticket to the top 200.

Next up are the Pigot Brothers, 27 year old Oliver and 25 year old Sebastian, 2 good looking guys in t-shirts and jeans. Their father, who died when they were 6 and 8, was a harmonica player in a blues band and they grew up with music. Shortly after their father’s death their Bohemian mother took them to Portugal, fell in love with the place and that’s where they grew up. Just kids, they became “karaoke superstars” in the bars and eventually graduated to bar bands. For the past few years they’ve been playing in the UK and they’ve returned to Canada specifically to audition for Canadian Idol.

They audition separately. Big brother Oliver accompanies himself on guitar and sings a folky song I’ve never heard before and now want to hear again and again. He knows what he’s doing, getting right to the heart of the lyric. Gold calls it the best audition they have ever had. Zack asks to hear the brother before they decide.

Little brother doesn’t let big brother down, playing a chunky rhythm guitar to Blue Moon of Kentucky in an assured performance that has Zack exclaiming, “Holy James Dean.” They bring Oliver back in. The judges do everything but offer them BJs. Both get tickets to the top 200. Twenty percent of the top ten has just been determined.

We head from Toronto to the Alberta auditions. Courtney Waldie, from Aux, Alberta tries I Will Always Love You and fails so spectacularly that everybody, judges and contestant, crack up. She starts in on Amazing Grace (“Without the grace,” Mulroney says in a voice over) and the judges are laughing so hard they can’t tell her to stop. They eventually catch their breath and it’s no ticky, no washee, no Courtney.

Calgary’s Franco Baccari, a skinny 25 year old who desperately wants to be an inner city American black kid, does two lines of Sexual Healing, cuts into a improvised rhythmic nonsense syllable thing and refuses to leave when the judges ask him to. He’s still rhyming as he walks out, just ahead of the security guard.

Twenty-three year old guitar teacher Jesse Cottam gets a profile that includes him teaching three 6 year olds (“Sometimes they get energetic and start hitting each other with the guitars.") and fronting his band, 7th Angel. He gets the golden ticket.

Back from a commercial we are introduced to R&B chanteuse Julie Black. She’ll be a part of the Idol cast this season, mentoring contestants in “what it takes to get to the top.” Does that mean we won’t have to endure as many boring guest mentors as in past seasons?

Theo Tams, a 22 year old with the worst case of under arm perspiration I have ever seen, earns a ticket to Toronto with a nice version of Collide.

After a commercial we are on to Edmonton. Aaron Biblow starts. A screamer, he sounds horrid singing heavy metal a cappella. Who wouldn’t?

Jason Morgan needs some seasoning, Alena Cherry takes a swing at I Will Always Love You (can’t they ban songs?) and whiffs, Greg MacKenna does Jack and Diane poorly. When the judges tell him no, he says, “There’s no harm in putting me through.” Gold says, “Yes there is. We’d have to listen to that again.”

The next contestant, Brianne Chalifour, also gets nixed. The judges tell her she needs to get out and see more performers and get some experience singing in front of audiences. She tearfully counters that her graduating class in Leoville, Saskatchewan (pop. 300), had 6 members and the farthest she has ever been is Saskatoon. They cut her some slack and she gets a ticket to TO.

A montage of other, less successful criers follows.

We end with Earl Stevenson, a gangly, soft spoken 23 year old from Lloydminster, Alberta. He been working at Bob’s Backhoe for two months but hasn’t gotten his first pay cheque yet, so he doesn’t know what he’s making. He was a serious snowboarder (has the video to prove it) but hurt his knee. He does a version of Heard It Through the Grapevine that knocks me and the judges on our collectives asses. Beautiful voice, great rhythm. Pigot Brothers, look out.

So maybe the hype isn’t hype. Maybe they do have the best singers yet. Catch you next week.

CANADIAN IDOL 6 - Prologue

2008-05-29T04:46:00.000-07:00

COMING JUNE 3, 2008

After a 12-week cross-country tour that saw 1 in every 3000 Canadians audition, an additional 12 days of online “last chance” video submissions, the cheesy (and not in a good way) third version of the “Media Idol” promo gimmick, and weeks of CTV hype (my favorite: “Season 6 of Canadian Idol Blows the Lid Off Summer.” Take that, Hollywood block-busters, the looming Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facility and the end of the oil age, a.k.a. civilization as we know it), Canadian Idol 6 premiers this Tuesday at 9 EST.

While some Idol franchise members are talking about cutting back on the audition episodes (I mean, come on – would you put a popcorn ceiling in the Sistine Chapel?), Canadian Idol is staying strong. In addition to the June 3rd premier, audition episodes will run June 9th and 10th. Top 200 episodes air the 16th and 17th, leading to the reveal of the Top 22. We don’t see our first live performances until June 23rd, when the show goes to 3 nights a week. Two weeks later the Top 22 will be down to the Top 10, creating the global distraction the Israeli air force has been waiting on since the end of the sand-storm season.

Until then, you can catch up on my Bachelorette Recaps for VPTV.

Fly Guy