I began my 'Dark Monday' posts almost 5 years ago, to celebrate music that is near and dear to my heart. The phrase 'dark Monday' refers to a time when all the Broadway shows would take off on Mondays, leaving the lights on Broadway off for the day. Monday was the official 'weekend' for theater types, even those of us who worked off-Broadway. We would do eight shows a week, performing 6 nights a week, plus two matinees on Wednesdays and Sundays.
The second official 'Dark Monday' post was about a show I really enjoyed, 'Rent'. The hit musical addressed issues of drug abuse, greed, love, and sex for straight, gay, and transgendered people. The story was a retelling of Puccini's 'La Bohéme', telling the stories of young bohemians living in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s. Jonathan Larson updated the show to the 1990s in New York's Lower East Side, facing the issues of the time. "Seasons of Love" became a hit, for it was a beautiful melody paired with lovely lyrics. It was part of the show when it opened in 2996, and again when it made it to film in 2005. This is the official music video from the film. Please enjoy "Seasons of Love".
You can purchase "Seasons of Love" from iTunes and Amazon.
Honestly, I missed this episode of GLEE as I was at a high school soccer match, and am beginning to think the athletics program at Smyrna High didn't take the GLEE schedule into consideration when making the soccer schedule. Once again, I thought I'd continue to do my coverage of the show, in my own special way. I use the original artists when possible of the songs from the show, but in relationship to the GLEE storyline. Hope you enjoy.
Well, once we dispense with the recap, we find out that Brittany wants to help Kurt in his bid to become senior class president, for she sees him as a unicorn.That is, no matter what he has gone through, Kurt has never forgotten how special he is. She'd like to help him win, since she doesn't think she is smart enough to hold office. We also learn that since Vocal Adrenaline has fired their coach, and I am sad no more Cheyenne Jackson! Mr. Schuester wants to focus on the Glee Squad winning this year, so he puts Coach Beiste and Miss Pillsbury in charge of the school musical, West Side Story. Rachel is not happy. Mr. Schue offers Artie the chance to co-direct the musical with the teachers. And he has Mike instruct Finn, Mercedes, Kurt, and Blaine on their dancing skills, in hopes of winning Nationals.
Shelby Corcoran, aka Rachel's birth mother and adoptive parent of Quinn and Puck's baby (Beth), comes to McKinley High to head up a second Glee club, featuring the talentless Sugar Motta. The club is funded by Sugar's wealthy and indulgent father. Shelby realizes she needs to reach out to the kids. Meanwhile, Quinn and Skanks are busting kids for their lunch money, and Sue steps in to make Quinn an offer. If Quinn agrees to be part of a campaign video as the girl who lost everything because of "The Arts," Sue will make her popular once again. Quinn agrees.
Brittany is at Kurt's house, showing him her ideas, including a swag bag she plans to call "Kurt's Bulging Pink Fun Sack." Including in the sack are ruby red heels, a teletubby, rainbow flags and a unicorn, among other things. Kurt tries to be nice, but he is worried what Brittany has done is just too, well, gay. Brittany is a bit hurt, but tries to listen. He wants something more understated, less, well, gay. More Judy Garland glamor....
Quinn and Puck see Shelby, and Corcoran offers Quinn the chance to be a part of Beth's life, provided she cleans up her life. Quinn has her say, and leaves. Puck looks at the camera, and my heart melts. Dance camp begins, and we find out Blaine is auditioning for West Side Story, and Kurt suddenly realizes that Blaine would be perfect for Tony, but Blaine reads the situation, and will audition for Bernardo, or Officer Krupke. After all, he is just a junior, and the lead should go to a senior, right? This can not end well.
As Rachel rehearses for the auditions, Shelby stops in. There is great discomfort, and she tells her to audition with Somewhere.
Rachel starts to sing, and soon Shelby is singing at her side. Cut to the auditions, and she receives a standing "O" from the directors. Sue is shooting her scripted documentary about Quinn, and has her go in to Mr. Schue's office to blame the arts and the glee club for her problems. For once, Mr. Schue has a backbone, and tells Quinn to quit playing the victim, and blaming the people who stood by her time and time again.
Puck stops by Shelby's apartment, eager to prove to her he is doing whatever he can to be able to see Beth. When he does, it is a beautiful moment. It is Kurt's time to audition, and he performs I'm The Greatest Star from Funny Girl.
Of course, he had Rachel's permission to perform Barbra. He sings and swings his way around a scaffolding that was build specifically for this audition. And he gets a huge ovation from all there. Puck stops in the see Quinn, and tells her she needs to get her act together. He saw their baby, and she is beautiful, and looks like the old Quinn.
Kurt overhears Artie, Miss Pillsbury and Coach Beiste talking about casting, and how he might be "too delicate" for the role of Tony. He goes to find Rachel for help, and finds Brittany and Santana hanging pink posters of Kurt riding a unicorn. He melts down a bit, shouting for them to come down as he pulls Rachel in for the emergency audition meeting. Brittany fears she has failed her unicorn, but Santana tells her it is a great campaign, and Kurt doesn't deserve the campaign or Brittany as a manager.
Rachel and Kurt take the stage to show his ability to play 'straight', as they do a scene form Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. everyone is laughing at him, and he leaves the stage at a run. Quinn goes to see Shelby, who is finishing up a lesson with the delusional Sugar. Shelby shows her a picture of Beth with Puck, and Quinn starts to cry. Shelby tells her she needs to figure out who she is, and stop blaming herself for what she did as a child.
We get to see Finn at work in the garage, and Rachel is visiting. She is talking about being nervous about casting, and he assures her she will get the role. He talks about staying in Ohio, and working as a mechanic, and she tells him if it makes him happy, sure. But she thinks he is better than that, destined for greatness. Kurt is there as well, and we get our first Burt Hummel sighting. Kurt is complaining that he is too gay, and will never get cast as the romantic lead he wants to play. Burt tells him to get over it, he is gay, and if the roles aren't there, he needs to write them. Like Quinn, he is basically told to stop playing the victim.
Dance camp is back, and Finn is struggling with the moves. He gets a pep talk from Mr. Schue, and miracle of miracles, he does the dance. As the cheers from everyone die down, we see Quinn standing there, looking all blond and sweet. She wants back into Glee, and everyone is more than happy to welcome her. Puck tells her how proud he is, only to be cut off, and told she wants full custody of Beth, and if pretending to be her old self is what it takes...
In the teacher's lounge, Sue comes up on Miss Pillsbury, Coach Beiste, and Mr. Schue, and tells how she is making her hatred of the arts of brand, and she is selling it big time. She is leading the field of candidates, and the teachers want to figure out what to do to stop her. Kurt is in the hallways, hanging up his new posters, much like the ones Brittany suggested in the beginning. He see her, and apologizes. She is thrilled, but tells her she is running as well. Blaine has his turn to audition, and sings Something's Coming.
He is, of course, brilliant. Kurt looks down from the balcony, smiling proudly at the talent of his boyfriend. The directors applaud and Coach Beiste even wipes a tear from her eye. Then Artie notices he is auditioning for Bernardo. He ask him if he would audition for the role of Tony. Blaine stumbles for an answer. The color drains from Kurt's face, and he leaves the theater.
End show. I enjoyed this episode. There were fewer songs, and we got a whole lot of story going on. I like that. At times, this show can get lost in the music, and forget to tell the story of the kids. In this episode, no one was doing it better than Quinn, Puck, and Kurt. Well done!
What will Blaine do? How will Kurt handle it? Will Brittany be the next class president? Will Quinn do anything to get her daughter back? Guess we'll have to tune in to see.
Scott Huver of People Magazine Online is reporting about some plot twists and guest stars, making me very excited about what could be coming once the show heads back to the air in the spring. Some of the highlights include:
CASTING SEARCH FOX executives have revealed that in February, the network will begin scouring the country for undiscovered talent between, ages16 to 26, to fill three new roles in the show’s newly announced season 2. The search will be documented in a multi-part reality special, which will culminate in the unveiling of the new cast members on Glee’s season premiere in the fall.
“We were going to do a nationwide search regardless,” FOX president Kevin Reilly told reporters Monday, noting that some of the original cast, like Chris Colfer, were discovered that way. “So we decided to let the audience in as a part of that. There will not be formal voting. The audience will not decide, but the audience will certainly participate. They will give us their opinions on who they want and who they like.”
READY FOR ROMANCE? When Glee returns April 13, will choir director Will (Matthew Morrison), who was distraught after discovering his wife Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) faked her pregnancy, be on a fast track to romance with guidance counselor Emma (Jayma Mays)? Not so fast, says Mays, who attended FOX’s Winter TCA party. “[Series creator] Ryan Murphy said that it’s his job as a writer to keep us apart,” she says.
CHOIR DRAMA Meanwhile, the show choir’s internal dramas will continue to heat up McKinley High. Dianna Agron tells PEOPLE her ex-Cheerio character Quinn is “still pregnant and just focusing on moving past the ‘woe is me’ moments of being pregnant, so it’s fun again! She’s back to her old spunky ways and we’re learning so much more about all the characters, whether it be at home with their families or in the school.”
GUEST STARS GALORE In addition to more of Kristin Chenoweth, who appeared earlier this season as former glee-club star April Rhodes, the cast is excited to be joined by Idina Menzel and Olivia Newton-John. Of former Wicked star Menzel, Cory Monteith says, “I haven’t gotten to meet her yet but she’s around. I could sense her extremely talented presence somewhere on set today.” But will Menzel being playing the birth mother of Rachel, as has been speculated due to her strong resemblance to series star Lea Michele? “No, not Lea’s mom,” declares Gilsig cryptically. “It’s going to be interesting.”
And Jane Lynch reveals that the show’s arch villainess, Cheerios coach Sue Sylvester, will perform a duet with another amazing guest star: “I have two songs this season,” Lynch says. “One is ‘Let’s Get Physical’ with Olivia Newton-John.”
In an earlier report, I mentioned that Jonathan Groff, who had co-starred with Lea Michele on Broadway in Spring Awakening, is joining the cast as the singer in Vocal Adrenaline, mentioned at the end of the fall finale as the main competition for our Glee kids. it was said he will be in 5 or 6 of the remaining nine shows of the season, starting in April 12. I was luck enough to see both Jonathan and Lea on Broadway, and they were not only fantastic, but they had great chemistry together. Might Rachel be getting a new love interest on Glee?
Now we have even more news to give you. The Hollywood Reporterreleased the talented Idina Menzel will be joining the cast as the adviser of Vocal Adrenaline, and will be appearing in all nine of the remaining episodes. Menzel won a Tony for her performance in Wicked on Broadway, and rave reviews for her lead role in the Chess in Concert opposite Josh Groban, so she is no stranger to hit shows. And in real life, she is married to the amazingly gorgeous Taye Diggs,and in fact gave birth to a handsome son 3 months ago. With parents like Idina and Taye, that child can't help but be gorgeous and gifted.
Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth starred in the Broadway musical Wicked. They were both beyond spectacular. Wicked essentially gives you the backstory to The Wizard of Oz. But it is much more than that, for it is about being different, not fitting in, and how the majority can injure the minorities.
Idina Menzel play Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and shows how a green young girl goes from innocence to wicked through life's trials. Idina must have really had to act here, since that lucky woman is beautiful, has a gorgeous voice, and is married to Taye Diggs, who she met while both were in the original cast of Rent on Broadway. She gave girth to a son in September. Here she sings the amazing song Defying Gravity.
Kristin Chenoweth played Glinda, the Good Witch. Glinda's path is one of redemption, as she starts out a rather shallow and self-involved character and grows to become so much more. Kristin is immensely talented, as could be seen on both Pushing Daisies and Glee. She won the Emmy this season, and just went to Washington, DC, to participate on the March for Equality. In this clip, she sings Popular.
The show is an incredible show, and has opened throughout the world. In the Melbourne production, Anthony Callea [a favorite of mine] played Boq, the munchkin in love with Glinda, the same role American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert played in the American touring company. It is still running on Broadway, as well as touring. To find out if it might be playing near you, you can check out the official website here.
In 1996, a little musical opened that might very well have changed the landscape on Broadway forever. It was named 'Rent', starring a cast of relative unknowns, most of whom went on to much more. They were Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker. The show ran for 12 years, until 2008.
To quote Wikipedia, "'Rent' is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera 'La Bohème'. It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side in the thriving days of Bohemian Alphabet City, under the shadow of AIDS."
The first video clip is video of the opening night performance of "Today 4 U", featuring Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Angel. The quality isn't great, but it was the opening night!
The second clip is when the entire original cast flew to Chicago for the 1996 Democratic National Convention to perform "Seasons Of Love", a truly great song. The lyrics are so beautiful I used them at my sister's wedding when I made the toast at the reception, as I was her 'maid of honor.'
Chess In Concert is playing on PBS on Wednesday night, and I will be glued to the TV. Besides Groban, it also stars Adam Pascal [of Rent fame] and Idina Menzel [the lucky beyatch married to Taye Diggs].
OK, I ordered this on DVD because Josh Groban is spectacular. When he sings 'Anthem,' it sends chills up my spine.
