The moment I heard Adam's first audition in San Francisco, I knew he was the contestant to watch this year. As each week went by, I couldn't wait to hear what he was going to sing next. Adam doesn't just sing a song-- he creates a spectacular event. And the fact that he has the most incredible tenor since Pavarotti doesn't hurt. The power, the range, that incredible ability to hold notes so high that even I, as a soprano, can't reach. UNBELIEVABLE!

As a theater director, I deeply appreciate his theatricality. My guess is that the band and the crew loved working with him (and not just because he so gracefully gave credit where due) because he had such incredible ideas. I don't know how much of what we saw came out of Adam's head, but I bet most of the staging was his own. No other contestant had the kind of elements of spectacle that every one of Adam's performances had. Someone who has ideas like that is tremendously fun to work with.

Adam turned me on to music I had never appreciated in my youth (I'm 55)-- although I knew the songs, I wasn't a fan of Led Zeppelin or Arrowsmith or Foghat. But Adam's amazing take on all those rock songs made me a believer. And when he brought it down for Tracks of My Tears, Mad World, and If I Can't Have You, I just melted.

It wasn't until after the Idol finale that I realized I had become addicted to those performances every week. Honestly, I felt like I was withdrawing from a drug. So I turned to youtube for my fixes, and found all the wonderful stuff he'd done before Idol. Now I can't get through a day without hearing him sing at least once.

Though I am very happy that Adam is going to get the recording and touring career he has hoped for, I hope he doesn't completely abandon the musical theater stage. There is a role he was born to play that I hope he does soon-- Georges Seurat in Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George." It is tailor-made for his voice, and says very important things about life as an artist that, having heard him discuss it, I think Adam understands very well. He would bring down the house. But, so what else is new?