Tonight was the first night of Hollywood auditions. By tomorrow night, we’ll know the top 24. In the past it seems like they’ve spread this out over more time. Tonight we barely saw anyone sing.

The initial round was groups of 6 singing individually– first for the girls, then for the boys. The girls were a distinct disadvantage since twice as many girls as boys made it to Hollywood. At the end of the 6 singers, some were chosen to go through. Some weren’t.

The first group included Jory Steinberg. Jory was an early favorite of mine, and I thought she sounded really good. Unfortunately, the whole first group was cut. They became the first of 56 whose trip to Hollywood was incredibly short. Others who were cut included Rachel Jenkins (the soldier with her husband in Iraq), Sarah Burgess (who lied to her parents to go to the audition), Porcelana Patino (American Idol’s very own Rocky) and Ashlyn Carr (the girl who got the second chance in San Antonio).

The boys got off to a much better start, and we got to see lots of them make it through. The only individual who was singled out to showcase going home was Navy sailor Jarrod Fowler. Those who made it through included Chris Sligh (the Jack Osbourne look alike), Nick Pedro (who left last year), Sundance Head and Sean Michel (the young Fidel Castro).

That brought the numbers to 92 and brought us to the dreaded group performance day. For the first time that I can recall, the groups could be mixed, so many had guys and girls singing together. Picking a good group, in theory, should have little bearing on an individual’s chance of making it through to the next round, but truly it makes a huge difference. This was really obvious in two groups in particular.

One group was made up of Chris Sligh, Blake Lewis, Rudy Cardenas and Thomas Lowe. TWO of their members (Rudy and Blake) make a living singing in acapella groups. In my opinion, this gave them a distinct advantage. Their group actually sounded like a group. The performance was unique. The music sounded great. And all four made it past the group round.

On the other end of the spectrum was the group made up of Baylie Brown (commercial with a capital C) and best friends Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba. You would think that two best friends would be able to work together fairly well. They really didn’t. It took them forever to choose a song. Then after they finally chose a song and started working, Amanda took off to fraternize with a group of guys, leaving Baylie and Antonella to go to bed. Baylie’s lack of experience left her to pick up the tab for this when she forgot most of the lyrics the next day. She went home, while Antonella and Amanda progressed to the next round.

Thirty-six more were cut on group day. One of them was Sean Michel– no, not for refusing to cut his hair. We didn’t even get to see him perform, but he was the face we saw when Simon said something like “none of you impressed me”. Sundance Head made it past group day, but really it was a gift. He had a so-so individual performance and a so-so group performance. He was well aware he had not been performing well and that he needed to step up or he would be going home.

This left 56 to perform again individually before the dreaded room cuts. We didn’t get to see any of those performances, so who knows who was good. When the groups were divided into rooms, Antonella and Amanda were put into separate rooms, as were brother and sister Sanjaya and Shyamali (pronounced Shamalee). When the dust settled, Antonella had made it through, as had brother Sanjaya. Amanda and Shyamali were headed home. I thought it was very sweet that Sanjaya went to find his sister to give her a hug and cry with her.

Tomorrow night is the final Hollywood night. If it’s like last year, there will be one more individual performance, then each person will be called up singly to take the long elevator ride upstairs to learn whether they are in the final 24, or not. What did you think of tonight’s show? Did any of your favorites get cut?

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