Excelsior

Issue date: 11/23/09 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: google images GLEE: Rave reviews and a growing fan base should help the show reach more audiences and grow ever more popular.

Move over 90210 and Gossip Girl; there's a new teenage-themed television show that is taking America by storm. Fox has scored TV comedy/drama gold with its new series, Glee. The show follows the 12 members of a show choir/glee club through their hectic lives as high school students, football players, cheerleaders, and the others, known in high school terms as the "misfits." In only 10 episodes, the show has produced themes of love, disability, cliques, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, and of course, music! The songs on this show are phenomenally performed by the cast and will soon be available on the show's first ever soundtrack to be released this holiday season.

Fans of Glee have begun to affectionately refer to themselves as "Gleeks" - a play on the words "glee" and "geek" - and can buy the songs as performed by the Glee cast on ITunes or can just enjoy them on YouTube. Also, the most recent episodes of Glee were made available via the internet on Hulu.com. The newest addition to the gifts for the Gleeks is the MySpace Karaoke Glee web page. By logging onto Myspace.com/GleeonFox, the fans of the show can sing along to instrumental versions of the songs they heard the cast perform and virtually pretend to be part of the show choir.

So why such a big deal over a television show about high school students? Over the summer, Fox premiered a sneak peak at its new series - Glee - and almost immediately, the rave reviews came pouring in. Not only does this t.v. show demonstrate that it is okay to break high school boundaries and defy the status quo (ie: having a football quarterback sing as the male lead in the glee club) but it provides a full hour of pure, musical entertainment at the same time. The writing of the show is also great and captured audiences right from the start. America was thrust into the lives of the 5 or 6 main characters and was introduced to a confused football star, an overachieving girl with a voice that belongs as a headliner on Broadway, and their Spanish language/glee club teacher with a dysfunctional marriage but with a tremendous talent of his own.

The voices behind this extremely talented cast include Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, and Amber Riley. For Broadway theatergoers, some of these names may look familiar. Morrison was the original Link Larkin in Hairspray and was most recently seen in the Broadway revival of South Pacific as Lieutenant Joe Cable. Michele played the role of Eponine in the original production of Les Miserables at the age of 5 and is most known for her role as Wendla in the Tony award winning Spring Awakening. Therefore, with two of its leads as actors who have graced the Great White Way, it is no wonder that the show about a singing group is vibrant with musical numbers each week.

Songs that have been covered thus far include: "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret, "I Could've Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady, "Sweet Caroline" and even "The Thong Song." There have also been "mash ups" of "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves/ "Halo" by Beyonce and "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi/"Confessions" by Usher. To sum up, the cast has done just about everything and can cover just about anything they want. Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks' "No Air" and Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" will also grace the soundtrack as will the Broadway showstopper "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.

With the amazing talents, fantastic writing, and great guest stars like Kristin Chenoweth, one can only hope that Glee will be on for many more seasons and will continue to keep the Gleeks wanting more! Be sure to tune in next Wednesday night.

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