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It's one of the most common rejections on American Idol: 'Sorry, but you're better suited for Broadway.' But as we've seen over the past ten years, American Idol and the Broadway stage are not mutually exclusive - not by a long shot! In fact, it's the opposite: every single season of the show has either borrowed talent from the New York theatre or created stars that have rocked musicals on Broadway and/or on national tours across the country.

This week on American Idol, the top 24 contestants sang for America's votes and were reduced to the top 13. Ashton Jones belted out DREAMGIRLS anthem 'And I am Telling You' to secure on of the three wildcard spots. Check out her performance of the Broadway classic below!

This week on American Idol, the top 24 contestants sang for America's votes and were reduced to the top 13. The finalists include: Scotty McCreery, Casey Abrams, Jacob Lusk, Paul MacDonald, James Durbin, Pia Toscano, Lauren Alaina, Karen Rodriguez, Thia Megia, and Haley Reinhart, Naima Adedapo, Ashton Jones, and Stefano Langone. heck out photos of the top 13 in action below!

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.

Last night American Idol's top twelve guys of season ten showed their stuff for the first time in front of a live studio audience. Though this week's performances have been prerecorded, the boys still had to work a crowd of over 700, which is positioned 360 degrees around the stage this year! As always there were a few poor song choices in the mix (Cough. Jordan Dorsey. Cough), but overall the boys put up a good fight. Only tomorrow night's results can tell who will get to take yet another step forward.

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!

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.

In tonight's episode of American Idol, the top 61 contestants tackled one of the vastest song catalogs in the history of music- The Beatles. And where better to tribute the Fab Four than on the set of Cirque Du Soleil's LOVE in Las Vegas.

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.

It's here! It's finally here! No more eccentric old men dressed as pirates. No more delusional teenagers who have convinced themselves that they're not tone deaf. American Idol's Hollywood round has finally begun, and from this point forward performances are legit- for the most part.

Tonight's episode of American Idol marks a turning point in the competition, as judges Randy, JLo and Mr. Tyler made the trek to San Francisco for the final stop in their nation-wide search for America's most promising singers. That's right, starting tomorrow night, Idol will reach it's final destination, where the best auditionees from around the country will duke it out to survive the brutal first cut of the Hollywood round.

On tonight's episode of everyone's favorite reality competition, American Idol made a stop in the entertainment capital of the world, Los Angeles. Boasting a population of over 4.06 million, and culture that thrives on creative industries, surely at least a handful of LA's residents were able to impress the judges, right? Wrong.

On tonight's episode, AMERICAN IDOL auditions hit Los Angeles. Check out pictures from the episode below!

Week three of the revamped American Idol kicked off in Austin tonight, and with this third trip to the Lone Star state marks the midpoint of the initial audition round. That's right, in just two weeks, on February 16, the golden ticket holders will begin the annual Hollywood showdown. Until then, we'll have to stay content with the 7500 auditionees that Texas had to offer tonight.

Week two of American Idol auditions has come to a close, and in tonight's episode Randy, JLo, and Mr. Tyler left Wisconsin and headed for the country music capital of the world- Nashville. In this second trip to Music City in the past ten seasons, the judges set up headquarters at the iconic Ryman Auditorium of Grand Ole Opry fame and were soon met by 17,000 Idol hopefuls. But would any of the 17,000 prove as promising as Nashville native and country music superstar Carrie Underwood? Hmmmm, maybe a few.

Week two of American Idol auditions have officially begun, and with episode three of America's favorite reality series came a trip to the Midwest! In tonight's two hour episode, Randy Jackson and Idol's two still fresh-faced judges, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler took a trip to Milwaukee to seek out Wisconsin's biggest and brightest stars.

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.

It's back! After months of anticipation, Idol fans can finally sit back and enjoy this much anticipated season 10 return of Fox's highly addictive reality competition. With this tenth installment of the series, however, comes more changes than ever to the program that we are all so accustomed. Could such drastic alterations spark a new interest in a show that has been otherwise lack-luster for the past few seasons? I, for one have been very intrigued, but only tomorrow's ratings can say for sure. Have no idea what changes I'm talking about? Been living under a rock for the past six months? Let's review.

Television's No. 1 series, AMERICAN IDOL, will move to Wednesdays and Thursdays this season beginning with a two-night premiere event Wednesday, Jan. 19 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) and Thursday, Jan. 20 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).