Top 10 Live Performances
50 Top 10 Lists of 2007
- News
- Arts & Entertainment
- Top 10 Movies (Richard Corliss)
- Top 10 Movies (Richard Schickel)
- Top 10 DVDs
- Top 10 New TV Series
- Top 10 Returning TV Series
- Top 10 Non-fiction Books
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Live Performances
- Top 10 Theater Productions
- Top 10 Museum Exhibits
- Top 10 Graphic Novels
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Science
- Business, Tech & Sports
- Pop Culture
#1. Paul Potts
Nessun Dorma
Wales Millennium Centre
March 17, 2007
Paul Potts sells mobile
phones at a Carphone Warehouse in Wales. He's pudgy and insecure, almost
invisible precisely the kind of person who harbors a secret,
unrealizable fantasy like singing opera. He gets in line to try out for
a stupid TV talent show, Britain's Got Talent featuring the ubiquitous
Simon Cowell, opens his mouth and... oh, my God. The judges choke up. The
audience leaps to a standing ovation well before he takes a deep breath
and kills the famous coda. This performance may well provide the tiny
bit of validation that fuels another decade of meaningless talent show
crap, and Potts, who was singing for the Queen by year-end, is
threatening to break records for overexposure. But so what? This was
the most pure and hopeful moment in entertainment all year.

Dressed Not to Be Killed
America's Busiest Poet
Randy Pausch Life Teacher
Cartoons of the week
Obama's Private Prayer 'Leaked'
Beijing's Complaint-Free Protest Zones
Israel's Debate Over an Iran Strike
Turning Up the Heat on Polygamists
Hasbro's Legal War On Scrabulous
A Pope Who Engages Secularists