Boca student makes it to American Idol’s final 24

Brett Loewenstern fans had to sweat it to the last minutes of Thursday’s “American Idol” before learning he had been given the final berth in the round of 24.

The 16-year-old student at Spanish River High in Boca Raton had to sit in the holding room as all 12 female slots and 11 of the 12 male positions were handed out in the show that had been taped weeks ago.

Loewenstern had been virtually invisible this week, seen only in the background. He was not shown performing in Wednesday’s’s show, taped in Las Vegas, at all.

Loewenstern finally went before the judges with two other hopefuls, 15-year-old cutie Jacee Badeaux and Colton Dixon, who had earned generous praise from Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.

Jackson broke the news that Loewenstern would be the one to advance to the semifinals.

The 12 boys will perform in a taped program on Tuesday. The girls will follow on Wednesday. The final 12, whose fate from then on will be determined by the audience, will be named on Thursday.

Loewenstern has been impressive but he will really have to be at his best to get to the main stage. The talent this season is extraordinary, maybe the best from top to bottom the show has ever had.

The geeks who “vote for the worst” will have a hard time coalescing around a choice.

At this point, any of the remaining 24 would make a deserving tenth American Idol.
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