The initial pilot for Glee a few months back was good enough to get me somewhat excited. Here was a potential series that was seemingly going in the opposite direction to recent successful franchises like High School Musical, and instead actually embracing Broadway. It cast Lea Michele (Spring Awakening) in the lead role with future guest stars such as John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys) and Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked).
Needless to say, there was a definite contemporary angle but thats a given in any circumstance. This obviously meant that although there would be Broadway renditions, the majority of the material would be popular music….much of it being less than favorable. This was fine though for the large part. If Michele’s early rendition of Rihanna’s Take A Bow was any indication, I couldn’t complain. The insertion of material like Queen and Journey was also a refreshing surprise as well.
Overall though, the personal draw for the show was its potential to serve as an outlet for Broadway stars in guest role capacities. This and possibly only this was the major reason why I found myself following a a rather dull and incredibly derivative high school melodrama. Thus I faced growing disappointment as the episodes progressed.
John Lloyd Young’s appearance probably marked the pinnacle of this disappointment. Here is the man who quite skillfully captured the awesome range of Frankie Valli’s voice in Jersey Boys and had a role specifically written in for him….and he doesn’t get so much as a solo or any sort of musical attention for that matter. His appearance was brief and his musical activity even briefer being relegated to a small snippet of supporting vocals. Its almost mind boggling how they put possibly one of the most talented singers in the episode, into the smallest singing role. Its moronic irony to the nth degree. Maybe he will re-appear, I can only hope so, but it honestly didn’t seem like the case.
Ultimately this led to a rather drastic drop in anticipation for Kristin Chenoweth’s own appearance last night. If they so royally f*cked up Young’s episode, I didn’t really expect anything different here although thankfully, that wasn’t the case. She was given the guest star treatment she deserves in addition to getting countless musical numbers that did not fail to impress.
The most significant moment from the episode was easily a duet between Chenoweth and Lea Michele of a rendition of Maybe This Time from the musical Cabaret. Its basically exactly what I wanted, Broadway stars doing Broadway numbers, or at least close to it. Music aside, seeing Chenoweth at all on-screen post-Pushing Daisies is an automatic plus. She definitely has a certain charm in front of the camera which is flawlessly matched to her incredible vocals.
Chenoweth doesn’t just sing her lines rather performs the song with complex texture, of which none of the other regular cast has been able to replicate (Michele excluded). Its possibly telling of why the inclusion of actual Broadway blood into the series will be its saving grace instead of simply relying on “singing actors”.
Maybe This Time (Kristin Chenoweth & Lea Michele)
Alone (Kristin Chenoweth & Matthew Morrison)
Tags: broadway, cabaret, glee, john lloyd young, kristin chenoweth, lea michele, musical
