Grease Semifinals

Tonight we will see the top 6 contestants perform, and next week will be the Finals! I'm assuming this means of the top 3 in each gender, the winner will be announced in one final episode next Sunday. So, it's the last night to vote!

The group opens with "Grease is the Word" using a row of lockers as props (and stage entrances!).

Tonight's guest panelist is Rob Marshal, nominated for 6 Tony Awards, director of Chicago, and brother of Kathleen!

The two guys who will be in the sing-off later are... Austin and Chad. Austin has the lowest number of viewer votes.

In tonight's performances the girls are to show the emotions of Sandy, while the guys are doing Elvis songs to show certain qualities of Danny... I missed the exact wording, but you get the idea.

Allie sings "Natural Woman" and before I comment I have a disclaimer. I'm currently watching Idol Rewind and this week had Kelly's "Natural Woman" performance. Now, for most people, "Stuff Like That There" was her breakout. For me it was "Natural Woman." Rewatching it I still thought it was amazing, and I even got a little choked up thinking about how she was 'making her mark' at the time & how successful she is now & all that. So... back to Grease. It's possible Laura could've done a version that compared to Kelly's, but Allie cannot. Every time Allie sings "You" (...make me feel) I cringe because she just doesn't hit it. The rest wasn't bad, it just wasn't great.

Derek sings "Look Like an Angel" and it's his best vocal performance in weeks. Which makes me nervous for Max & Austin since I want them to be the top 2. I still don't love Derek (but I know people who do! You know who you are!) but this was a good performance.

After each pair sings we get video clips from their friends & family at home! Fun and Idol-ish. Derek gets all teary & Billy's trying to be all supportive, saying "real men cry" & such. Hee!

Laura is up and she sings "Don't Leave Me This Way." I'm not familiar w/this but it's upbeat & has a lot of high parts and she does very, very well! Since Kate left Laura is easily the best female vocalist remaining.

Max... gets "Suspicious Minds." I start to swoon just thinking about it... ;-) He does a great job, totally acting all of the story & emotions of the song. I still wish he would project more but the band was rather loud too & maybe that was part of it. I wish I could put his look & style with Austin's vocals; that would be the ideal Danny!!

Max's 6-year old brother was the highlight of his video clip. The kid totally knows all the moves from Max's "Summer of '69" routine!! Too cute.

Jim was asked to comment on these two performances and just said he was "speechless."

Next we have a group performance of "All That Jazz" in honor of Rob. It's really, really good! He was impressed as well. (Seriously, I think all of the remaining contestants could get jobs on Broadway after this, not leads yet, but definitely work.)

The sing-off is "Rock & Roll Party Queen," and Austin says backstage that he's ready to "fight." The song doesn't allow a wide range, but he shows what he can, as does Chad. The panel says they've decided to keep the best all-around triple threat, the better dancer, singer, and actor, which is Austin. Yay! Billy asks Chad to say which guy he'd pick to win of the 3 left, and he says Max.

Now for the last 2 performances.

Ashley sings "You Keep Me Hanging On," known for getting contestants kicked off of Idol. She does a very good job w/the acting.

Austin gets "I Can't Help Falling in Love" and is just... wow. This is the perfect song to showcase his voice in his best range. Knowing the contestants don't pick their own songs, it makes me wonder if the panel want him to win (or at least get more votes) by giving him this. No choreography to allow him the chance to go over-the-top; just singing and walking around.

I think it's a tough call, but I still prefer Max to win. Any of the girls could do Sandy, but I guess I'd pick Ashley.

The panel give their favorites of the night: All 3 regulars choose Laura (Rob refuses to say!), and for the guys Kathleen picks Max and Jim & David pick Austin (they were the ones complaining he was too OTT before, so you know they really liked tonight's!). I've heard speculation that if Austin doesn't win he'll be asked to play Kenicky & understudy Danny. Either way I think he & Max will have plenty of opportunities in the future. For selfish reasons I'd prefer to see them in a touring show or on tv, since I'm not in NYC!