If I had an Enchanted "WTF" icon, this would be the perfect opportunity to use it. Because seriously? Those performances blew.

Happy Working Song (YouTube Clip)A disappointment, really. First of all, the complete and utter lack of any sort of staging made it visually boring. Amy was definitely nervous and it showed - you could hear a lot more vibrato in her voice, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was due to the nervousness. She did the best she could singing through it, and that was impressive enough for me! They really put her in a hard place there. She's not a big singer. She has done musical theater, but singing hasn't really been a focus for her. She hasn't done a big live performance before (other than local musical theater productions) and she's suddenly thrown into one of the biggest, most media-sucking shows in the world? She's said repeatedly in recent interviews that she was too nervous, that she really didn't feel she was ready for this. And then every interviewer immediately asked what she thought about singing live in front of nearly a billion people. I think she visibly blanched when they asked her this on the red carpet once. Way to remind her what's at stake, folks. No pressure, right? Add to all that the fact there is no scenery, no props, no dancers, no backup singers, not even a projection on the wall behind her, nothing to take the focus and pressure off of her and, well... you get this. Anyways, that dress that she wore for the number was not right for her (it was not a flattering cut, IMHO), or for the number. Unfortunately, due to that whole combination of factors, the whole number felt like a big disappointment. And I'm certainly not pinning this on Amy at all - I think it was more the creative team behind the show that really missed the boat on this one.

That's How You Know (YouTube Clip) I had high hopes for this one. Kristin Chenoweth is an amazing performer who has a lot of great energy. But my hopes were dashed. The staging was great - I loved that it was a big production number with the dancers, the big set, everything. But while I think Kristin Chenoweth has an amazing voice, it was just completely wrong for the song. Her voice was far too mature and operatic for the "Disney princess" sound. I know she can do it. In my mind, I'm thinking of the way she played Galinda in "Wicked" or Sally in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" ("My New Philosophy" comes to mind immediately) and thinking that would translate well, but she just didn't go that route. On top of that, the number lacked the carefree, spontaneous feel of the original. It felt too rehearsed, surgically precise... and lacking all the magical energy of the movie.

So Close (YouTube Clip)Easily the best number of the night! Jon McLaughlin was fantastic! I did hear one clearly missed note, but it wasn't bad. And he was HOT, that helped. ;) The staging was nice, the choreography was great, and the whole number really felt like it was straight from the film. If I have one complaint, it was the "look alikes" - who, sadly, looked nothing like their original counterparts. The only one even close was the woman playing Giselle. In this case, I just felt like they were a distraction - I spent more time thinking about how little they looked like their characters rather than focusing on the song. It was particularly obvious given the fact that Patrick Dempsey introduced the performance... and then walked away and his decidedly not-so-McDreamy double walked on. And the Edward double nearly made me do a spit-take with his ridiculousness. That being said, I loved the way that they weren't all just dancing, but that they really made an effort to parallel the scene in the movie. It was a very touching number. Hands-down, this number shone as Enchanted's best of the night.

In other random Enchanted-related notes, Patrick Dempsey was gorgeous... E! busted out the Robert doll again on the red carpet, and I don't think he'll ever live that down. LOVED the dress that Amy wore on the red carpet and while presenting. Very understated and elegant. The little bag with nothing in it was funny, too. :D And of course, E! also busted out the Giselle doll. :P Amy seemed a LOT more comfortable presenting later in the evening, which was awesome. :) I was really bummed that Enchanted didn't win for Best Original Song, but sadly not surprised. Even Alan Menken said he wasn't expecting to win, that at best, the votes would be split between his songs and he'd lose out that way. I really did like the performance of "Falling Slowly" and even as I heard it figured that would be the winner. But seeing Enchanted lose was disappointing nonetheless. I was really pulling for "So Close."

Sooo, since I have no Enchanted "WTF?" icon, I use martini!Giselle instead... because methinks there's some fans out there wanting one of them tonight. :P

In happier Enchanted news (or not so happy, depending on your opinion of this issue), both Amy Adams and Idina Menzel have made comments this past week that Kevin Lima (the director) has said there will be a sequel, but it hasn't been confirmed officially and neither of them have been asked yet. I've mentioned before that I'm torn on the issue - I think it more or less kills the "happily ever after" idea from the movie... but I'm really selfish, and I just want to see more of these characters, so I don't care. XD