American Idol's Jason Castro Performs Memory

It was Andrew Lloyd Webber night on American Idol. The composer of so many renowned Broadway tunes served as a fabulous mentor to the six remaining contestants, but for a musical genre not fit for a pop idol. Jason Castro made this especially apparent.

The dreadlocked Castro choose to sing "Memory", the theme from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats". Jason Castro choose what could be one of the most well known Broadway songs, since "Cats" was the longest Broadway running show in history. It is also important to note that "Memory" is best known as being sung by the great Barbara Streisand. Castro had some gynormous shoes to fill!

In the pre performance footage shot during Castro's one on one time with Andrew Lloyd Webber, he revealed that he recognized all of the song choices, but admitted he had never seen any of the musicals. Castro said he did not realize "Memory" was sung by a cat. Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that he thought this was a brave choice for Castro and that he would probably forget about any advice he had given him, but his performance would still turn out to be quite good.

Jason Castro, dressed in a light colored casual suit, took center stage seated on a stool, a darkened starlit background behind him. Jason Castro definitely had to step out of his comfort zone for this performance. I waited anxiously to hear a new rendition of "Memory" from this bohemian/raggae style singer. Castro's unique sounding vocals did make this performance more of a pop rendition than Broadway, however his timing was all off. There were times when he seemed to be a measure ahead of the extensive band brought on the show for this particular night.

Randy Jackson considered Castro's performance to be "a bit of a train wreck" and "too big of a song." Paula Abdul thought is was "a wise choice" allowing Castro's style to give "Memory" a different spin. Simon thought is was "the longest 2 minutes of his life", "like a young guy being forced by his parents to sing a song."

Jason Castro is a performer who was not profiled or featured at all during the initial stages of American Idol and it is probably a surprise he has made it this far. Castro definitely has a unique sound to his voice, and I have to admit I did vote for his after his performance of "Somewhere over the Rainbow", but he is not in any way a front runner in this competition. He will more than likely appear in the bottom three this week and may even get voted off if fans give Brooke White a break for forgetting her lyrics.