Adventures in the World of Travel and Entertainment™ / Fans, Residents, Insiders
Glee: 19 things you don't know about the new Fox musical series
Glee, the edgy comedy about a struggling glee club set to debut in September on Fox, was the subject of a panel discussion at Outfest. In May, the series pilot aired after the penultimate episode of American Idol to rave reviews and good ratings.
With obvious gay appeal thanks to the subject matter dealing with both musicals and high school outcasts, Outfest goers filled the auditorium to get a sneak peak at the second episode and learn more about the show.
Some things they shared:
1. Glee started as a movie screenplay written by Ian Brennan. Producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (best known as the creative team behind TV’s Nip/Tuck) got ahold of the script and realized the potential for a TV series. They contacted Brennan in March 2008 about rewriting it as a TV series and things started happening quickly.
2. Matthew Morrison, (pictured right) best known for his roles on Broadway in Hairspray and The Light in the Piazza, stars as Will Schuester, the optimistic glee club advisor who is determined to transform the ragtag group into national champions. Morrison has been cast in a TV pilot for each the last 5 seasons, but none ever got picked up until Glee. He commented that Will is perfect for him, saying, “If I could have written a role for myself, this would have been it. This has everything I do well. I feel like it’s me out there.”
3. Openly gay actress Jane Lynch stars as Will’s rival, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Lynch was already committed to an ABC pilot when tapped to play the ruthless Sue, so in the first few episodes she is billed as a “Special Guest Star.” When the ABC pilot wasn’t picked up, she officially joined the cast. Lynch was relieved when that pilot fell apart, saying Glee is “where she wants to be.”
4. 19-year-old Chris Colfer auditioned for the part of the wheelchair bound Artie. During the audition, Ryan Murphy asked him if he’d ever been in The Sound of Music. Colfer was taken aback but said yes, he had played youngest son Kurt in a high school production. “I do have Von Trapp written all over me,” Colfer admitted. He was wrong for Artie, but producers created a part for him and named the character Kurt.
5. 27-year-old Cory Monteith (pictured right), best known for the series Kyle XY, had an impressive acting audition tape, but when producers asked to hear him sing, he didn’t think he could pull it off. Yet producers liked what they heard and cast him as the jock singer Finn Hudson. Monteith dropped out of school in 9th grade, so he says Glee will end up being his “high school experience.”
6. After starring in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening, Lea Michelle was easily cast as heroine Rachel Berry.
7. Producers are confident Glee will be a success, even though musical TV series have a spectacular failure rate – Cop Rock and Viva Laughlin both were cancelled within a few episodes. They feel the key is that characters don’t suddenly break into song for no reason. One of their rules for musical numbers is that they must be based in some sort of reality, usually a rehearsal or a performance, or at least being in the rehearsal space.
8. While the success of High School Musical helped get the series on the air, the producers and the network wanted to avoid the saccharine sweetness of HSM. They want the series to “push the edge.”
9. Part of pushing the edge will be avoiding political correctness at all costs and the assurance that everyone will be the butt of jokes. Producer Falchuk promised Glee will be an equal opportunity offender. “As long as you know nobody’s safe [from being the butt of a joke], you’re OK,” assures Falchuk.
10. While the show is being hailed for its diversity
– black, Latino and Asian students and an Indian principal are represented – that’s purely by accident. They ended up casting ethnic actors because they were right for the roles.
11. The only gay character on the show, so far, is Kurt, (played by Chris Colfer, pictured right) who will come out to a fellow glee club member in an early episode and then to his father in the next episode.
12. When someone questioned whether Jane Lynch’s butch character was a lesbian, Lynch immediately quipped, “What makes you think Sue Sylvester is gay?” However, producers wouldn’t comment one way or the other.
13. Glee will not be performing any original songs, since glee clubs traditionally perform someone else’s songs. As Falchuk said, “there’s an endorphin rush seeing a song you already know performed.” They’ve had little difficulty getting the musical rights to songs, so far securing 95-98% percent of the songs they’ve wanted.
14. A soundtrack album will be released in November.
15. The pilot episode was shot in 17 days, but now that it’s gone to series, they only have 8 days to shoot an episode.
16. Colfer relates to his character of Kurt very well, explaining that he was at the bottom of the food chain in high school. He said he ran the writing club that consisted of one member – him. He put out the school literary magazine that was filled with his short stories.
“My friends were the lunch ladies. So I could definitely relate to the glee club because that was my life.”
17. Matthew Morrison on the other hand, was president of his class and voted prom king at the performing arts high school he attended in Orange County, California.
18. An upcoming episode will feature Leah Michelle (pictured right) performing a Barbra Streisand song. And another episode will be a feature a smack down between Morrison and Lynch’s characters.
19. Glee will air on Wednesday nights on Fox. The pilot episode will re-air on Sept. 9 with additional footage that didn’t wasn’t seen during the May broadcast.
All photos by James F. Mills
With obvious gay appeal thanks to the subject matter dealing with both musicals and high school outcasts, Outfest goers filled the auditorium to get a sneak peak at the second episode and learn more about the show.
Some things they shared:
1. Glee started as a movie screenplay written by Ian Brennan. Producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk (best known as the creative team behind TV’s Nip/Tuck) got ahold of the script and realized the potential for a TV series. They contacted Brennan in March 2008 about rewriting it as a TV series and things started happening quickly.
2. Matthew Morrison, (pictured right) best known for his roles on Broadway in Hairspray and The Light in the Piazza, stars as Will Schuester, the optimistic glee club advisor who is determined to transform the ragtag group into national champions. Morrison has been cast in a TV pilot for each the last 5 seasons, but none ever got picked up until Glee. He commented that Will is perfect for him, saying, “If I could have written a role for myself, this would have been it. This has everything I do well. I feel like it’s me out there.”3. Openly gay actress Jane Lynch stars as Will’s rival, cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Lynch was already committed to an ABC pilot when tapped to play the ruthless Sue, so in the first few episodes she is billed as a “Special Guest Star.” When the ABC pilot wasn’t picked up, she officially joined the cast. Lynch was relieved when that pilot fell apart, saying Glee is “where she wants to be.”
4. 19-year-old Chris Colfer auditioned for the part of the wheelchair bound Artie. During the audition, Ryan Murphy asked him if he’d ever been in The Sound of Music. Colfer was taken aback but said yes, he had played youngest son Kurt in a high school production. “I do have Von Trapp written all over me,” Colfer admitted. He was wrong for Artie, but producers created a part for him and named the character Kurt.
5. 27-year-old Cory Monteith (pictured right), best known for the series Kyle XY, had an impressive acting audition tape, but when producers asked to hear him sing, he didn’t think he could pull it off. Yet producers liked what they heard and cast him as the jock singer Finn Hudson. Monteith dropped out of school in 9th grade, so he says Glee will end up being his “high school experience.”6. After starring in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening, Lea Michelle was easily cast as heroine Rachel Berry.
7. Producers are confident Glee will be a success, even though musical TV series have a spectacular failure rate – Cop Rock and Viva Laughlin both were cancelled within a few episodes. They feel the key is that characters don’t suddenly break into song for no reason. One of their rules for musical numbers is that they must be based in some sort of reality, usually a rehearsal or a performance, or at least being in the rehearsal space.
8. While the success of High School Musical helped get the series on the air, the producers and the network wanted to avoid the saccharine sweetness of HSM. They want the series to “push the edge.”
9. Part of pushing the edge will be avoiding political correctness at all costs and the assurance that everyone will be the butt of jokes. Producer Falchuk promised Glee will be an equal opportunity offender. “As long as you know nobody’s safe [from being the butt of a joke], you’re OK,” assures Falchuk.
10. While the show is being hailed for its diversity
– black, Latino and Asian students and an Indian principal are represented – that’s purely by accident. They ended up casting ethnic actors because they were right for the roles.11. The only gay character on the show, so far, is Kurt, (played by Chris Colfer, pictured right) who will come out to a fellow glee club member in an early episode and then to his father in the next episode.
12. When someone questioned whether Jane Lynch’s butch character was a lesbian, Lynch immediately quipped, “What makes you think Sue Sylvester is gay?” However, producers wouldn’t comment one way or the other.
13. Glee will not be performing any original songs, since glee clubs traditionally perform someone else’s songs. As Falchuk said, “there’s an endorphin rush seeing a song you already know performed.” They’ve had little difficulty getting the musical rights to songs, so far securing 95-98% percent of the songs they’ve wanted.
14. A soundtrack album will be released in November.
15. The pilot episode was shot in 17 days, but now that it’s gone to series, they only have 8 days to shoot an episode.
16. Colfer relates to his character of Kurt very well, explaining that he was at the bottom of the food chain in high school. He said he ran the writing club that consisted of one member – him. He put out the school literary magazine that was filled with his short stories.
“My friends were the lunch ladies. So I could definitely relate to the glee club because that was my life.”17. Matthew Morrison on the other hand, was president of his class and voted prom king at the performing arts high school he attended in Orange County, California.
18. An upcoming episode will feature Leah Michelle (pictured right) performing a Barbra Streisand song. And another episode will be a feature a smack down between Morrison and Lynch’s characters.
19. Glee will air on Wednesday nights on Fox. The pilot episode will re-air on Sept. 9 with additional footage that didn’t wasn’t seen during the May broadcast.
All photos by James F. Mills
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