Ohioans bounced from ‘American Idol’

Ohioans bounced from ‘American Idol’

LOS ANGELES — Ohio’s two semifinalists on “American Idol” both have been sent packing by viewers.

Twenty-nine-year-old Brent Keith from Blanchester in southwest Ohio did not make the cut to the final 12 during Wednesday night’s show, and neither did 26-year-old Stephen Fowler from the Cleveland suburb of Beachwood.

A night earlier, Keith’s performance of the country song “Hicktown” was called “forgettable” by judge Simon Cowell. Fowler did not impress with his rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.”

Keith and Fowler might get another chance after viewer votes finish whittling the field of 36 semifinalists down to nine of the final dozen. The judges will pick the last three finalists after a wild card round March 5.

Injured Turner returns to comedy Saturday

NEW YORK — The show will go on again Saturday — with Kathleen Turner wearing a leg brace and using a cane in the off-Broadway comedy “The Third Story.”

The play’s spokesman, Rick Miramontez, said Turner injured her knee Tuesday at the Lucille Lortel Theatre where “The Third Story,” written by Charles Busch, is playing. Since the production does not have understudies, three performances of the MCC Theater production were canceled.

Said MCC co-artistic director Bernard Telsey: “Kathleen Turner personifies the attitude of the Broadway trouper. Against any odds, she must — and will — make her performance.”

Today’s birthdays

Actor Sidney Poitier is 82. Jazz and soul singer Nancy Wilson is 72. Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is 68. Actress Sandy Duncan is 63. Guitarist J. Geils of The J. Geils Band is 63. Singer-bassist Walter Becker of Steely Dan is 59. Actor French Stewart (“Third Rock from the Sun”) is 45. Model Cindy Crawford is 43. Actor Andrew Shue (“Melrose Place”) is 42. Singer Brian Littrell (Backstreet Boys) is 34. Singer Rihanna is 21.