Post by Jonel on Aug 12, 2003 9:57:17 GMT -5
Temptations, Toya highlight Idol Motown show
CTV.ca News Staff
The Cynical Scribe — With special guests The Temptations on hand, Canadian Idol's Motown show rocked the John Bassett Theatre on Monday night, as seen live on CTV.
The unequivocal highlight of the evening from the perspective of judges and the live audience was Ajax, Ontario's Toya Alexis singing "If You Really Love Me" by Stevie Wonder. Toya had reigned in her performances in recent weeks, but took Zack's advice from last week (to "be all the Toya you can be") to heart and put on a phenomenal show.
Kingston, Ontario's Ryan Malcolm continued his momentum with yet another strong performance. His version of Little Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life" had him among the favourites for the third straight week, following up his wildcard and Top 11 performances.
A few of the more unique Idol performers were forced into a different realm with the Motown theme and turned to Stevie Wonder. Carbonear, Newfoundland's Jenny Gear went with "Sir Duke" while Calgary, Alberta's Billy Klippert selected "I Just Called To Say I Love You". Judges acknowledged that the pair may have been out of their element, but both generally received positive reviews.
After being hailed last week as seemingly the inevitable Idol, Ste-Julienne, Quebec's Audrey de Montigny was criticized for the first time in the competition after Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me". While Audrey still ranks high on the Idol scale, the judges made it clear that she has work to do if she's going to stay among the top contenders.
Audrey wasn't the only performer to feel the wrath of the judges on this evening. Boldly choosing a Temptations tune, Edmonton, Alberta's Tyler Hamilton sang "My Girl" and was grilled for not having enough soul to pull it off.
Toronto, Ontario's Mikey Bustos gave his standard emotional performance on Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine". Though he stepped up his fashion, wearing a grey suit instead of his trademark track suits, it wasn't terribly well received.
Closing out the show, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia's Gary Beals had a difficult time with yet another Stevie Wonder hit "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", and was torn apart by the panel.
Now that the Motown performances are in the books, two more competitors will be eliminated from the group this week before the show starts eliminating one at a time next week. Voting lines were open for two hours after the show Monday night and the results, along with a group performance number, will be aired live on CTV at 7:30 ET Tuesday night.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1060683030487_83/?hub=Entertainment
Aren't we missing somebody? Where's Harry Berry?
