Last Night's Idol: Showing Heart in Texas
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Tuesday was the final night of national auditions, and although it wasn't lacking in talent, the process from city to city was beginning to lose steam. Ryan, maintaining his post outside the judges' room like a courtier whose dream is to be called in for a royal consult, kept invoking the Alamo with jokey references to either remembering or forgetting it. There also was a long segment, shot in scratchy sepia and scored to suggest a spaghetti Western, about the number of contestants who had trouble figuring out whether to exit through the left or right door. Why didn't someone on the production crew just unlock both doors, eh, amigo?
The only drama came when Paula and Randy passed on an extremely promising girl, Ashlyn Carr, because of her vocal and physical affectations. Her lips, it's true, tended to stretch out in the manner of a Wallace & Gromit character. But her phrasing was top-notch, and she was beautiful, and her presence was theatrically solid. Good judgment prevailed – maybe Randy and Paula couldn't sense how telegenic she was – and Ashley was summoned back and sent on to L.A. Considering the number of non-musical heads of lettuce sent on in past rounds, her rejection would have constituted a crime against the faith of the viewing public.
One more night – a catch-as-catch-can of auditions awful and good – and then next week we're off to Hollywood with the Golden Ticketers.
