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"Glee" anybody?

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Kelda:
Would they have had a segement called is tv to straight though? I doubt it.

Aloysius J. Gleek:





http://nymag.com/arts/tv/upfronts/2011/chris-colfer-2011-5/

Babe in the Woods
Glee ’s Chris Colfer has his day in New York.
As told to Jada Yuan.
Published May 15, 2011


Chris Colfer on the way to Wicked, May 6, 2011. 
(Photo: Brian Finke)

T he first time I came to New York was right after Glee ’s pilot was shot. The cast had all come from different parts of the world, so when we got to [Los Angeles], no one knew anyone but each other. And then we were all so sad because we didn’t know if the show was going to get picked up or if we’d ever see each other again. So I made plans to go see Lea [Michele] and Jenna [Ushkowitz] as soon as we wrapped. They were doing Spring Awakening  on Broadway, and I slept on Lea’s couch. It was my first big trip by myself. I was terrified. Clovis [California], where I grew up, is very flat, very farm-driven, very conservative, and very spread out. I remember thinking New York was so claustrophobic. I just wanted to go home. Now I come four times a year, and every time, I fall in love with the city even more.

That trip, I saw seven Broadway shows in six days—Hairspray, Shrek, Gypsy, Avenue Q, Mary Poppins,  and Spring Awakening  a couple times. I was 18, and I had my Fresno City College I.D. to get discounted tickets. Lea and Jenna would drop me off at one theater, perform, then pick me up. It was like day care.

Once the girls called and said to meet them somewhere and to grab a cab. I had never gotten a cab in my whole life! I didn’t know what to do: How do you know which ones are working? It was so stressful. I pretended that I was staying at a hotel, and had the doorman get me a cab! Now, even if something is three blocks away, I have to take a cab. It’s a safety thing so no one follows me.

This trip was insane. We filmed the episode where the glee club goes to nationals, and thousands and thousands of fans showed up to our locations.We shot a scene on the TKTS bleachers, and they had to get on the loudspeaker and say, “Please don’t scream.”

I got to see Wicked  and Sister Act,  though not The Book of Mormon,  because we couldn’t get tickets. There are situations where I could pull the “I’m on a TV show” card and, you know, use my accomplishments for evil instead of good. But, I hate to say this, it really is almost dangerous for us to go out now because it gets so intense. It becomes a stampede. I’ve had to call the police. The minute Ashley Fink [who plays Lauren Zizes] and I sat down at Wicked,  people started asking for autographs. A choir teacher said, “We have a group of about 300 choir kids behind you.” And I was, like, “Oh, no! [laughs] We’re going to get attacked!” But they were very sweet. They just wanted us to wave. But when we were leaving, a guy wanted us to take a picture with his daughter. We tried to explain to him, “It’s going to be crazy. We have to get out of here.” And he started screaming profanities at us!

[Everyone in the cast] agrees that I get it the worst. They invite me places and then go, “Actually, never mind. You ruin it for all of us, because after you’re recognized, we’ll all be in trouble.” I’m just so distinctive—my voice, my awkward features. You can’t hide me. I think it has almost everything to do with Kurt being one of TV’s first positive portrayals of a gay character. Sometimes people say, “Kurt helped me come out of the closet to my parents.” But the fans who come up most are dads—I think because Glee  makes them think about what they’d do if Kurt was their son.

It’s insane who actually watches the show: Meryl Streep and Tina Fey and Courtney Love, whom I met at the Thor  after-party at the Boom Boom Room. At the Time 100 dinner [Colfer was honored as an “influential”], I probably took a picture with the future curer of cancer. The entire night, it was, “Why am I rubbing elbows with the free world? I’m just a little actor kid.” I didn’t meet Michele Bachmann, but she got a picture with Darren [Criss, who plays Kurt’s boyfriend], which is a little hypocritical: “I don’t believe in your rights, but can I have a picture with you?”

Kelda:
Awww... I liked the ending tonight on Glee's prom episode! And Kurt looked good in his kilt getup!

Aloysius J. Gleek:




Yay!   :D [youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6xYTXQMKME&feature[/youtube]




http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glee/index.html?story=/ent/tv/feature/2011/05/25/glee_season_two_finale

 
"Glee"
celebrates
New York
and itself
The show's fluffy season finale
was a love letter to
Manhattan, stardom, and youth

By Matt Zoller Seitz   
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 04:26 ET


It's a wonderful town: "Glee" takes Manhattan.
The second season finale of "Glee" was utterly charming even though it was dramatically flabby. Series co-executive producer Brad Falchuk wrote and directed. The plotting was strictly from hunger until that moment when New Directions gathered in the hall to see if they made the top 10, and you instinctively realized that they didn't, because if they had, the scene wouldn't be happening eight minutes from the end of the season's last episode.  Beyond that, the episode was about two things, both only tangentially related to the plot.

One was the unique experience of being a cast member on "Glee," which is probably the closest modern equivalent to Beatlemania. The brain-frazzling uniqueness of that experience  might account for the innocent intensity of the performances. Even when the material stinks, the castmembers never seem to be phoning it in -- not even when they're stuck on the margins of a chorus line during someone else's solo. And they perform the romantic scenes with a circa-1955 intensity that would be laughable if it weren't so refreshing. Finn's plea to Rachel, "Take a chance on me," was a genuinely romantic moment, even with three classmates standing behind him crooning "Bella Notte" from "Lady and the Tramp." And Brittany's final speech to Santana by the lockers was sweet, too. That character could never compose such sentences, but Heather Morris' unaffected delivery made me believe them.

The episode's other subject was the adoration that musical theater buffs -- and a good many moviegoers -- feel for New York City. The opening tribute to Woody Allen's "Manhattan" panned slowly around Times Square to George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", then settled on Rachel staring up at the signage like some 1930s movie hayseed. (She should have been carrying a battered old suitcase with stickers on it.) New Directions romped through Manhattan landmarks (Lincoln Center! Washington Square Park!) in an homage to "On the Town." Kurt and Rachel had their own breakfast at Tiffany's while "Moon River" played softly in the background, then did a "Wicked" number on the show's empty stage. (They're not in Ohio anymore.) Rachel said she was moving to New York after graduation: "This is where I belong." Kurt: "I am so coming, too."

These characters were drunk on the city, and on the cinematic image of the city. The fact that they were in town to compete seemed mostly lost on them -- and on their teacher, Will Schuester, who (sort of) realized his dream of singing on a Broadway stage, yet failed to generate a stash of decent original songs before arriving in New York and had the kids writing stuff on the fly. (Will is the "Glee" of musical theater teachers: mostly a mess, with flashes of brilliance.)

Was the episode's bittersweet conclusion cosmic payback for New Directions' failure to take the contest seriously? It seemed that way. Not that I expect long-term consequences from Will's distracted incompetence or his students' scatterbrained tourist mentality; "Glee" is a Big Moments show that's not too interested in follow-through. Nevertheless, I liked that a bill came due.  This defeat turns New Directions into true underdogs again, and raises the stakes for next season. It also pays off this episode's Rachel subplot, which was about the importance of artists forgiving themselves for loving their work more than anything (or anyone) else.

Rachel was right to walk away from Finn on that West Village street. She was there to do a job. She understood that. Then Finn convinced her to unlearn it, to everyone's detriment. The spontaneous onstage kiss that lost the contest for New Directions was just the most outward manifestation of the students' misplaced prorities, and their teacher's failure of leadership. The plethora of reconciliations (Brittany and Santana), declarations  (Kurt and Blaine) and surprise hookups (Mercedes and Sam) suggests that the main characters have yet to learn their lesson -- and maybe won't, because they're too busy being teenagers. (Mentally, Will is a teenager, too.)

But really, now. There's no point pretending that "Glee" thinks about its characters in terms of real world psychology. They're paper dolls with pulses.  The show's plots and subplots are elaborate (often strained) setups for musical numbers, or hamfisted embellishments of a Big Theme. And yet the show's prankish confidence says, "Keep watching, greatness might be right around the corner" -- and sure enough, sometimes it is. Throughout, the cast's enthusiasm never flags. "Glee" communicates a sense of joy that's rare on TV -- so rare that it makes me inclined to forgive it almost anything.

"There's no orchestra," Rachel tells Kurt, standing on the empty stage of "Wicked."

"Make one," Kurt says. "In your mind."

Shakesthecoffecan:
I love their version on NYNY.

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