The cast of Glee, coming to Fox this fall
I was a choirgirl. From sixth grade until I started grad school, I was in some kind of singing ensemble. When I was a teenager, I was in all of my high school’s musicals and hoped to one day be on Broadway. Chamber choir. Church choir. Pop choir. Texas All-State Choir. Concert and Sight-Reading. Solo and Ensemble. Voice lessons. Recitals. Running clinics for my mom’s junior high ensembles. E-T-C. This was my life.
It’s perhaps no surprise that I have a bit of a vested interest in Glee, Fox’s new TV series that focuses on a high school glee club in Ohio. The network ran the pilot after American Idol last night. Here are my thoughts.
First, the pros:
1. I will watch Jane Lynch in anything. She’s awesomely funny and brings some butch swagger to every project. She’s already my favorite thing about the show. I love her take on the tough, unimpressed cheerleading coach.
2. I love that Mercedes, the full-figured African American glee clubber, demands to sing lead and refuses to be in the background. The actress, Amber Riley, can really sing! I also like that she’s quick to announce whiteness, referring to the ensemble’s jock ringer as “Justin Timberlake”. Oh, and she wears cute outfits. I especially liked her sailor outfit at the end of the pilot when she insists on managing the glee club’s wardrobe. I was in charge of our choral program’s wardrobe senior year. I anticipate hilarity to ensue.
3. I think Kurt, the gay boy in glee club, has potential. He is stereotypical, but shows promise as a complex character. Some might think it’s cliched to have a gay teen in glee club but, eh, I knew three gay guys who were in the musicals, including my first boyfriend. It’s a safe space for some of them. Also, I liked Kurt’s rendition of “Mr. Cellophane” from Chicago because a) it’s ironic, as he’s totally not — he’s out and proud and b) it’s poignant, because he’s bullied and unpopular.
4. They totally nailed the characterization of Rachel Berry, the glee club’s aspiring ingenue. She’s determined, alert, ruthlessly perky, consumately professional, and more than a little insecure. And actress Lea Michele, a Broadway veteran, has got pipes!
And then the cons:
1. I can do without director Will Schuester’s totally unnecessary love triangle between his materialistic, castrating wife and Emma Pillsbury, the perfectionist guidance counselor with the cute haircut and wardrobe. UGH. SO OVER LOVE TRIANGLES. If they cut this, Mr. Schuester could actually be shown directing the glee club.
2. Since this is TV, the characterization of glee club is a little far-fetched. These kids have a full band, which seems too expensive. Our pop choir was accompanied by our harried choir director on piano. And a fancy rival school has the girls in a flirty polka-dotted dress when they sing Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” that seems too expensive and flashy for the average high school show choir. Especially since I’m imagining the girls in this emsemble to have multiple outfits. We just had one black and gold dress and jacket, bless us.
3. I doubt the average high school show choir could get away with singing a song like “Rehab” anyway because of the “mature” subject matter. Again, TV is fantastical.
4. While I like Mercedes and Kurt, they’re pretty broad and tokenistic. As is Tina C., the Asian American girl who, apart from a stutter, has absolutely no defining characteristic. Oh, she does sing Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” for her audition. I can do with never hearing this song again.
5. Finn, the football star with the gift of song is even more boring than Chris Klein in American Pie. But these guys usually are.
6. Speaking of Finn, I don’t remember choir membership being such a form of social suicide. We had male and female jocks in choir. Several members of our cheerleading squad were featured dancers in the musicals. It wasn’t so much the refuge for the school’s social outcasts as the show chooses to depict it.
7. I don’t love the singing. Overall, it’s very pop. Too nasal, too pinched, too thin. Breath support should come from the diaphram instead of the chest. The singers should drop their jaws and round their mouths. But, it came on after American Idol, so it doesn’t surprise me. Singing has to be commercial here.
Still some work to do, but I’m willing to spend a bit more time with it in the fall.
great entry on glee – a promising show with some definite flaws. while i agree that katy perry’s “i kissed a girl” needs to die and be buried 6ft under, i think that tina c’s performance of the song offers a more “butch” take and possible lesbian reappropriation of the song. for one tina c doesn’t dress like perry – moreover there was that crotch gesture AND correct me if i’m wrong but she doesn’t sing (or isn’t shown singing) the part about “hope my boyfriend doesn’t mind it . . . ” basically she could be owning and actually unabashedly enjoying the fact that she’s kissed a girl – something perry only mines for hipster cache and publicity.
i’m also interested in learning more about the rachel berry character. as this double x post notes, the influence of tracy flick (the reese witherspoon character from election) is everywhere – especially in the rachel character for glee. however, whereas i read tracy flick as working-class (or at least not rich) i can’t quite figure out the class status of rachel berry. while her voice could be the result of “natural talent” – her singing capabilities and the flashback of her at ballet suggest an upper-class background. i wonder if this will come into play as the season carries on.
here’s the link to the double x entry:
http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/tracy-flick-never-rests
Good points all! I can see Tina C.’s possible lesbian reappropriation of the song. I can at least hope for it. It’d be really awesome if a running joke in the show is that she only sings (actual) lesbian love songs and anthems. Maybe she can do a duet with Jane Lynch.
I’m not sure about Rachel’s class status, as we haven’t seen her parents yet (I’m dying to meet them). She has two gay dads and appears to be an only child, which is very interesting. It could mean she comes from privilege. It could also mean that, as an only child, her parents have more resources to devote to her. There may also be the impulse from the parents to make a “better baby” (as my mom would call it — Patty, Rick Moranis’s kid in Parenthood, for example). It would be really interesting if Rachel’s parents are spending outside their means to ensure their kid has a bright future.
I just started watching Glee, trying to catch up on the hype, but I have to say I found it bewildering that a group of conventionally attractive trendy-looking teenagers are sold as “geeks”…
I totally agree with you Carrie. This is a disconnect I’ve had with Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life as well. A movie like Welcome to the Dollhouse did a better job of casting “average”-looking actors to play pubescent characters, but I’m sure much of this is to do with different mediums and different restrictions on network television and independent cinema. I’ve often thought of Glee‘s conventionally attractive cast as analogous to the protagonist of Fox’s hit medical procedural House. The main character is supposed to be unattractive, but he’s really more “TV unattractive.” He may be unpleasant and walk with a cane, but Hugh Laurie is dashing in the conventional sense.