Brett Loewenstern

Mosaic Theatre received numerous contest entries from area high schools, and finalists were chosen based on votes cast by Facebook friends and by a panel of celebrity judges including: Brett Loewenstern (semifinalist, American Idol Season 10), Emmy Award Winner Louis Aguirre (of WSVN's Deco Drive), and award-winning playwright Joe Calarco. The finalist videos were shown to audiences attending the World Premiere of Calarco's acclaimed play "A Measure of Cruelty" which ran for four weeks at Mosaic Theatre and garnered significant critical praise. During its run, audience members were invited to vote for their favorite student video.

The Florida based Heavy Pets were joined live on stage by former American Idol semifinalist, Brett Loewenstern in a rousing performance at the Pineapple Grove in Delray Beach, Florida last weekend.

This week on American Idol, the top 24 sang for their lives in attempt to secure a top ten spot. And in this first official results show of the season, an additional two contestants were picked from the loser bunch to round off the top 12. Ryan quickly revealed that this week's shows picked up more votes than ever this early in the American Idol process- so clearly the new online voting is working out.

After having to endure hours of exhausting, prolonged, and almost completely performance-lacking episodes last week, American Idol fans have plenty of reasons to rejoice, as the official competition kicked off tonight. Now that the best of the best have been filtered from the rest, expect episodes to include a lot less deliberating and a lot more singing!

Three-Night AMERICAN IDOL Event Begins This Week When Top 12 Guys Compete Tuesday, March 1; Top 12 Girls Compete Wednesday, March 2; First LIVE Results Show Airs Thursday, March 3, on FOX

Auditions concluded tonight for the 10th season of AMERICAN IDOL, and the judges' remaining picks for the Top 24 semifinalists were revealed. The Top 24 semifinalists are: Males - Casey Abrams, Jovany Barreto, Jordan Dorsey, James Durbin, Clint Jun Gamboa, Tim Halperin, Stefano Langone, Brett Loewenstern, Jacob Lusk, Scotty McCreery, Paul McDonald and Robbie Rosen; Females - Naima Adedapo, Lauren Alaina, Kendra Chantelle, Ashthon Jones, Thia Megia, Haley Reinhart, Karen Rodriguez, Pia Toscano, Lauren Turner, Tatynisa Wilson, Julie Zorrilla and Rachel Zevita.

Auditions concluded tonight for the 10th season of AMERICAN IDOL, and the judges' remaining picks for the Top 24 semifinalists were revealed. The Top 24 semifinalists are: Males - Casey Abrams, Jovany Barreto, Jordan Dorsey, James Durbin, Clint Jun Gamboa, Tim Halperin, Stefano Langone, Brett Loewenstern, Jacob Lusk, Scotty McCreery, Paul McDonald and Robbie Rosen; Females - Naima Adedapo, Lauren Alaina, Kendra Chantelle, Ashthon Jones, Thia Megia, Haley Reinhart, Karen Rodriguez, Pia Toscano, Lauren Turner, Tatynisa Wilson, Julie Zorrilla and Rachel Zevita.

In a last minute switch by American Idol, Wednesday night's episode featured just one hour of Las Vegas Beatlemania instead of the scheduled two. Because of the change, Idol fans got an early taste of the ever dramatic and always bittersweet Green Mile portion of the show, when each contestant took the long and painful walk to their impending doom.

There's good news for Idol this week: for the first time in the show's history, American Idol went up against CBS's megahit Survivor. In fact, while contestants were shakin' it in group numbers last night, the rival reality show's most recent adaptation, Redemption Island had its season premiere; and rating results were mortifying. Fox crushed CBS with more than double the viewers, marking Redemption Island as the lowest rated premiere in Survivor history. That's embarrassing.

In tonight's episode of American Idol, the Hollywood Round continued with perhaps the most dreaded and challenging level of the entire competition. For the first time in this season, mere talent wasn't necessarily enough to earn a spot to the next episode. This time around contestants had to deal with choreography, harmonies, and egos. That's right, tonight contestants had to endure their biggest test yet- group performances. Tonight was this is one of the only times that contestants will be judged based on their performance as a group.

Last night's season ten premiere of American Idol dominated primetime television as only American Idol can. But will 2011 treat the series as well as the last seven years have? Can the show maintain its appeal sans Simon Cowell? Well, if last night's ratings are any indication, yes and no. While Idol ratings surpassed all other major networks combined ( including Idol alum Paula Abdul's Live to Dance), last night's 26.2 million viewers were down 17 percent from last year's almost 30 million. So Idol still achieved outstanding numbers, but they didn't quite hold up to those of past seasons.