American Idol Fans Give Carly Smithson the Boot

Popularity or Fan Base Again Determines the Fate of Technically Superior Idol Contestant

Carly Smithson fulfilled the wishes of many watching American Idol Tuesday night. It was Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber night and the musical teaser at the beginning of Tuesday night's Idol show titillated many with hints of songs from the rock super classic - Jesus Christ Superstar.

As the show progressed those waiting for one of the remaining American Idol power singers to belt out any of the classics' tunes got progressively disappointed. There are many great songs in Lord Webber's rock classic to choose from but none of the Idol's seemed willing to step up to the plate and show witness to any of them. Much to the delight of many Carly took the advice of Lord Webber and it paid off.

Born in Ireland, Ms Smithson chose the main theme of "Superstar" to sing. The song is primarily the voice of Judas lamenting the way things have turned out. Judas the zealot had been one of the Christ's disciples and expected Christ to do so much more with the power Judas knew that he had.

Idol is primarily a secular show and Lord Webber is certainly not known for being a particularly religious personality. Never the less Carly showed her courage and range by doing justice to one of the best songs in, arguably, the best rock musical ever written. Throughout the night various Idol's sang songs originally sung by members of the opposite sex, much to the surprise of Lord Webber. Carly continued that trend with excellent results.

Some viewers would have also been most pleased had she sang "I Don't Know How To Love Him". Carly might have gained even more praise from the Idol judges had she picked the Elliman version to sing on Tuesday night. The song was sung brilliantly by Yvonne Elliman in the original score. Elliman played the Magdalene role in the 1973 film version of Jesus Christ Superstar and won a Golden Globe award for her performance. She also went on to sing backup with Eric Clapton.