This year's "American Idol" has featured a number of noteworthy moments, but none were as shocking as what transpired on Tuesday's Andrew Lloyd Webber-inspired show. No one should have been prepared for a joke from "Seinfeld" becoming a reality on the "American Idol" stage.

Though only one of the two was good, at least Syesha Mercado and Jason Castro, who were the first two to hit the stage, can say that they had no involvement in the disastrous moment.

Syesha performed "One Rock 'n Roll Too Many" and appeared as in her element as La Toya London did when she performed "Don't Rain on this Parade" in season three. Controlling the stage and connecting with the audience is challenging enough as it is, but to do so, authentically, during a gimmick week is pretty incredible. The believability of Syesha's performance was enough that her vocals, which were good but not spectacular, did not even really matter. She looked great, and she seemed at home. By showing she has the talent to really compete, she hopefully proved her vast number of doubters wrong. (A-/A)

Jason Castro was far less impressive on "Memory." In many ways, the performance revealed one of the biggest conflicts on the show. Though Castro ran into a number of pitch problems and offered very little vocal power, there was something about the vulnerability and softness in his voice that made this critic optimistic about the song's potential as a recording. And, ultimately, the "Idol" winner will become a contracted recording artist. The problem is that, as a performance, it was incredibly boring and weak. A performance of a musical theatre song needs to be powerful and other-worldly, and this was not that at all. No matter what the end goal, "Idol" needs to be judged as a performance show. Castro just did not get the job done. (C-)

Then came the newsworthy moment. Brooke White, who had already made waves by starting-and-stopping during a past performance, took the idea of a casual stage environment to the next level with "You Must Love Me." Her issue this time was not a key or pitch problem or even a melody issue—she literally paused her performance due to forgetting her lyrics and asked the band to start over! They did. It was an unreal moment. Forgetting lyrics is nothing new, but the idea of becoming so rattled and defeated that the singer cannot continue without a restart is indeed a new concept for the show. And, even on the restart, Brooke once again appeared uncomfortable and was thus very spotty and shaky at times. There were a few good moments, but she could not have been more unlike Syesha in terms of confidence and thus could not have been a bigger disappointment. What transpired early on in the performance is inexcusable enough, but there is simply no justification for not nailing the redo. (D+)

Though David Archuleta was neither as authentic as Syesha nor as vocally impressive as the singer who closed the show, he still did a solid job with "Think of Me." David was the only singer to truly make one of the songs contemporary; it sounded like a modern-day pop song. His vocals, however, were nowhere near as impressive as in past weeks and he did little to control the stage. It was a solid performance for a frontrunner but not one that did anything to further his case. (B-)

Carly Smithson seemed a bit artificial and over-the-top on "Jesus Christ Superstar," but her overall vocal performance was definitely worthy of praise. Smithson felt at home with the vocals and finally captured the rise and fall with attention to emotion and detail. Carly did not deliver the strongest performance, but she made a strong case to keep moving in the competition. (B/B+)

David Cook closed the show with an enormously impressive vocal showing on "Music of the Night." Cook's appeal has been more about offering the whole package than being the best singer, but Tuesday's performance definitely earned him that label for the week. Unfortunately, as Simon Cowell pointed out, Cook appeared to buy into the theatrical component too much—he did not seem like he was putting enough of himself into the performance. There is a difference between being versatile and being an abandoner of self, and Cook's "Music of the Night" flirted with that boundary. There were still small elements of his rocker persona, but he definitely did not try to make this song "his." A comparable performance is Chris Daughtry's season five "What a Wonderful World," which landed him in the bottom group. The performance itself was fine, but in order to make it so great, the singer had to step outside of the very shell that made him a star on the show. (A-)

Performance Rankings:
1) Syesha Mercado
2) David Cook
3) Carly Smithson
4) David Archuleta
5) Jason Castro
6) Brooke White

Elimination Thoughts:
There is no reason to assume Jason Castro and Brooke White will not make up two-thirds of the bottom group, and the elimination should involve one of those two. But, because the other four were all decent, one will have to make a surprise trip to the bottom. Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson have smaller fanbases and could thus still end up in that role, but it would not be unfeasible for either of the Davids to make an inaugural trip to the bottom three. David Archuleta's performance was not very memorable, while Cook's could be perceived by fans as a sellout performance. Their appearing in the bottom group remains a longshot, but if there were a week for it to happen, this is it.

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