and 6 of them praise the lord...

It's Andrew Lloyd Webber night, as the final six sing the songs of the Lord in a halfway salute to Broadway and a full-on salute to one of the most brilliant composers of our time. The kids even score a free trip to Vegas to work with the Lord, who admits he's been an idol virgin until last week when he caught his first episode.

The Lord's music wasn't kind on most of the kids, but, again, they're trying out to be pop stars, not Broadway legends, so at least none of them got criticized for being too Broadway. They just got criticized for being crappy. Or forgetting lyrics and expecting an entire band to stop and start over.

So here they are, my impressions as I'm watching, complete with the occasional typo but as always, from worst to first:

Jason Castro (Memory from Cats). Okay, so Jason didn't know that this song, from the musical Cats, was sung by a, uhhh, cat. We should have known what we were gonna get. His breathiness is distracting. And I think he misses more notes than he completes, he's so far out of his comfort zone he just got a new zip code. Randy calls it a trainwreck. That pretty much sums it up.

Brooke White (You Must Love Me from Evita). After a mini-lesson in Argentinian history, Brooke says she "gets" the message behind this song, but unfortunately she doesn't "get" the start, decides to stop the band and start over. Again. She is the only contestant in the history of the show to stop and start, and now she's done it twice. And Paula justifiably crawls her butt for it. The other judges crawl her butt for her vocals and defend her decision to restart, even though she admits that she "lost the lyric." But continuing in a string of weak performances, Brooke may have just written her obituary.

Syesha Mercado (One Rock & Roll Too Many from Starlight Express). Syesha gets stuck in the fatal opening spot. And she gets points for the bare feet and the guts to start standing on the piano and in 90 seconds shows more personality than she has in the last two months. Randy calls her performance her best to date, and despite a handful of really sour notes, I can't help but agree.

David Archuleta (Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera). Andrew Lloyd Webber tells Archuleta to open his eyes. Thank you Lord Lloyd Webber. And he chooses a snoozer of a song. Randy and Paula drool all over him, but I'm siding with Simon. It was bland, simply pleasant, but certainly not memorable. What young David could have done with another choice.

Carly Smithson (Jesus Christ Superstar from Jesus Christ Superstar). Brooke could take some lessons about missing lyrics and moving on, as she fluffs (or intentionally altered?) many of them at the front of the song. Simon calls her a bit screechy at times. But when hasn't she been. I like Carly when she's having fun. And it didn't hurt that she was the only one to choose from my favorite ALW work.

David Cook (Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera). David plays this number straight, even through being told to look longingly into the eyes of the 17-year-old beauty Andrew Lloyd Webber. And, despite some rough patches that are common with his lower register and a final note that could have been avoided, he wraps up the show for the second time in the finals with the best performance of the night.

So who is leaving? I don't know anything but the fact that the two Davids are safe. So I will just flip a metaphorical coin.

Who I want: Brooke, Jason, Syesha
Who should: Brooke, Jason, Syesha
Who will: Brooke, Jason, Syesha

Jason could be in some real trouble, and Syesha seems to have a significant fan base, so there might just been a flood of tears on the stage. Brooke says goodbye.

So, who's in your bottom three?