American Idol: Doolittle does it again while Sanjaya does just enough
03/20/07 10:51 PM
By ED BARK
Show-stopper, show-ender.
Melinda Doolittle had it both ways on American Idol Tuesday night. She was both the last to perform and the best of show. Who's gonna stop her from being the Fox starmaker's sixth big winner? No one will and no one should unless America collectively blows it. Of course that's happened before.
Doolittle is shaping up as the most likable and talented performer in Idol history. So much so that judge Simon Cowell just had to ask, "Are you really as nice as you sing?" after she knocked 'em dead with "As Long As He Needs Me" on a British Invasion-themed performance show.
OK, so what else is new? Well, mega-maligned Sanjaya Malakar actually didn't blow. His active rendition of The Kinks' hard-rockin' "You Really Got Me" had more entertainment value than at least three of the night's other acts.
"You shocked me tonight . . . You came out of your shell," opined judge Randy Jackson. Cowell deferred to a wee, weepy blonde girl in the audience, who seemed to think she was seeing the first American performance of The Beatles.
"I think the little girl's face says it all," said Cowell, who perhaps didn't realize he was spewing a compliment. Then again, Idol's cameras showed her crying in ecstasy over a couple of other contestants. She then was summoned onstage to hug as many of them as she could while the closing credits kicked in. The kid's gold.
San Antonio's Haley Scarnato had the dreaded lead-off spot, which last week claimed former University of North Texas student Brandon Rogers. Wearing short brown shorts and a halter top, Scarnato sexily pranced through "I Know Somethin' About Love" before she shook, rattled and rolled her other crowd-pleasers.
"You naughty little thing . . . I think people are going to be talking about a lot more than your singing," said Cowell.
Malakar only needs to survive Wednesday night's vote-off to make the cut for the annual 10-member Idol death march, otherwise known as a punishing, multi-city concert tour after a champ is crowned. He now seems a very good bet to do so, with Scarnato, Phil Stacey, Gina Glocksen and maybe even Stephanie Edwards looking like America's most vulnerable.
Tuesday's two-hour show also included "coaches" Peter Noone and Lulu. She may have been a one-hit wonder ("To Sir With Love"), but seemed like tons of fun otherwise. Her raspy, shot-to-hell singing voice made it sound as though she'd recently swallowed a shot glass. But Lulu threw herself into the mentoring gig, and some of her advice seemed spot-on.
Of course it's always nice to play on America's biggest stage, especially if you've been pretty much out of the limelight since before Ryan Seacrest was born.
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