Written by Even Simon Cowell would have been impressed with The Finalists Live! at the Andy Williams Theatre.
If you’re not familiar with the name of the show, former American Idol finalists are in Branson performing what amounts to “mini-concerts” of songs. Each Idol is in the opening and closing of the show and they each have a small set of individual songs.
Instead of a typical overview review, I’m going to take each segment piece by piece.
The show begins with the only “headline” performer to not have been on American Idol: Pete Peterkin.
Pete came from one of the other 1,487 reality TV talent shows, America’s Got Talent. His big schtick was an impersonation of President Obama. As you can imagine, that impression wasn’t a big hit in Branson but Pete did a good job with it. (Some folks really need to lighten up a bit…it’s a comedy routine!)
Pete whipped out a range of other impressions that went over better with the audience like Chuck Berry including playing guitar like Chuck. Pete had better chops that I expected from an impressionist. Someone clearly went the extra mile prepping for that one.
And as for the impression many of us expected?
He nailed it.
Well, he moonwalked it.
Considering he had a bit of a disadvantage coming in because he wasn’t an “American Idol” Peterkin represented himself very well. There were times he seemed a little nervous on stage when he was bantering with the audience but overall a solid job.
Then the Idols roared out. READ MORE »
