And on the lighter side - Dorothy!

Okay, I admit it, I've been sucked into following the CBC Over the Rainbow competition for choosing Dorothy for Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical.

Down to the top six - they are all great in their own way.  I've favored Cassandra over the weeks, as she's a strong singer, spunky, and good on stage, but I wasn't convinced by her performance last night - I still voted for her, but didn't give her the bulk of my votes.  She's outstanding, but I'm not sure she's a Dorothy.  Jessie has a fantastic, strong voice - maybe one of the best in the upper range, but her low range is weak.  I gave her votes to keep her in a few weeks ago when she was in the bottom two spot two weeks in a row, but because of her difficulty with the low notes, I didn't support her this week.  I did give Stephanie a good portion of my votes. She wowed me with her performance this week, and I think she is quite versatile.  She was in the bottom two last week, and I wanted to do what I could to keep that from happening again.

So what happened? Tonight Jessie and Cassandra were in the sing-off!  The judges saved Cassandra. Sad to see Jessie go...  but in the sing off, Cassandra was stronger.

I'm not a big fan of this kind of contest where the audience chooses.  I think they really are largely popularity contests.  Early on, the judges were clear that two people who didn't deserve it were the bottom two in the sing-off. Probably it would be more fair if the judges narrowed it to two and the audience saved one of those two.  I think one reason I decided to participate in watching and voting was because I did not have any allegiance based on family, friends, location, etc., and would offer a "real" vote!

Jessie did give what I think was the best parting "Somewhere over the Rainbow" performance so far on her way out tonight.  It IS good to have shows like this to give exposure to the great young talent out there!