The anatomy of a “Gleek”: who really watches “Glee”?

Coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) and Mr. Shuester (Matthew Morrison). Courtesy of www.thepostgameshow.com

I do.

A “Gleek” myself, I am consistently shocked at the amount of people who aren’t watching “Glee.” That is, until I realized that “Glee” is a very polarizing show.

Like “Cheerios” coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), “Glee” is in your face, over-the-top and outrageous. Watching an episode requires suspense of disbelief and a propensity to enjoy show-tune(y) covers of popular, contemporary music. Which, let’s face it, isn’t everyone.

While watching the first comeback episode last week and nearly peeing my pants when Jonathan Groff and later Idina Menzel came on the screen, I realized what “Glee” is. Porn for musical nerds. It totally, completely is.

“Glee” gives us what we want and then rips it right back away, leaving us drooling for more. For instance, letting Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith) be together for, oh say, about 15 minutes and then RIPPING THEM APART once again! Jesse (Jonathan Groff) soon saunters in with his gorgeous stare and his hairdo (which I admit, though a bit ridiculous, sort of, kind of, drives me wild).

That’s right, I’M ON TO YOU, “GLEE” EXECS!

Then we have Mr. Shuester (Matthew Morrison) who lives up to all our husband fantasies, as perfect as he is. Though much of it is the crushes we develop on the perfectly concocted male leads, “Glee” is not just a hormone-feeding machine.

I can’t talk about “Glee” without, at least, giving a hats off to Jane Lynch. This woman is incredible. I would challenge anyone to try to find one moment when Jane Lynch is looking at a camera in any show, movie or commercial, and not being completely hilarious. She is wildly inappropriate and totally ridiculous yet somehow manages to bring subtle humor to her character.

Well hello there, Finn (Cory Monteith). Glee poster (2009).

There are no weak spots to pick on in the show overall. There aren’t any holes in the plot, nor are there any characters that weaken or don’t add to the show’s punch. School faculty and students that could be innocuous or dull somehow always manage to blow us away.

Now, as promised, the kind of person that likes “Glee”:

1. Likes to fantasize about a relationship (that could definitely happen) with Finn, not Cory Monteith, Finn. (yes, we know he’s a fictional character). For many, the fantasy love life now includes a brief (or not so brief) interlude with Jesse, the bad boy who will break your heart. Finn will definitely be there to save you.
2. Is convinced that he or she is meant to play a very specific, very pivotal role in a Broadway musical. I am Maureen from RENT. Case in point.
3. Has spent countless hours in his or her car (alone or accompanied by equally as geeky friends) singing along to all, some, few or one of the following musical soundtracks, more often the O.B.C. (Original Broadway Cast, of course) version CD: Legally Blonde the Musical, Wicked, RENT, In the Heights, Spring Awakening, Les Miserables, Evita, West Side Story, Sound of Music, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream coat, South Pacific, Phantom of the Opera,  Hairspray and so on and so forth. (Really, it could take me all day.)
4. Would, if they had the talent, been apart of every high school activity related to singing, dancing and/ or tomfoolery.
5. Is or was a relatively minor part of their high school. “Gleeks” are not necessarily from the bottom of the barrel, nor were they the cream of the crop of their high school. Most of them felt like they got by being mostly unnoticed and had less of the “shining moments” that the “Gleeks” have in the privacy of their studio. Hopefully, most of them didn’t get “slurpies” thrown in their face on the daily.
6. May or may not have had a viewing party at their house for one or more of the High School Musicals, or maybe, also Camp Rock.
7. Remembers very clearly their first or favorite stage musical, and hopes to someday see something that surpasses its glory. For some, this happened at Spring Awakening; and they now can relive this moment weekly, watching both Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff in their living rooms.

I think, for many of us, the show (like High School Musical) provides not only perfect weekly entertainment for a people who love musicals, choreographed dance and Cory Monteith, but also something that hits close to home. The glee kids at McKinely High are like we were, and still are today. They’re relatable and as talented as we wish we could be. Also, who doesn’t love Lea Michelle?

Glee will be running until June this summer on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. following American Idol on Fox. Tune in, but brace yourself.

Blog ya later,

J – Slice

Cast of Glee. Courtesy of www3.timeoutny.com.

‘Trouble in Tahiti’ opera showcases students, innovation

It’s not every day that while backstage at the Newmark Theatre in downtown Portland, you literally run into Jeffrey G. Beruan donning eyeliner and red flames painted on his chest, in costume as Plutone, before an opera by Monteverdi.

Nonetheless, on Friday, I spent my evening at the Newmark blogging with two college students and one professor for the patrons and staff of the Portland Opera.

After working with Claudie Fisher, 2002 UP alumna and public relations and marketing coordinator for the Portland Opera, on reviewing some operas and musical theater touring shows, the Portland Opera asked me to blog for the opening night of “Trouble in Tahiti.”

The production of “Trouble in Tahiti” was a Studio Artist performance, meaning that many of the performers were straight from the conservatory or other students of opera.

“Many of them have never had opera roles before, and this allows them to get experience that they can put on their resume,” said Julia Sheridan, publicity and publications manager of the Portland Opera.

The opera on Friday was a triple bill. There were two acts by Monteverdi, “Il Ballo Delle Ingrate” (The Dance of the Ungrateful Women) and “Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda” (The Battle of Tancredi and Clorinda). After intermission, the cast performed Leonardo Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti.”

While the Monteverdi acts were written in 1600, Bernstein’s piece was composed in 1952. Though it doesn’t seem to make much sense to push the two operas together, the Portland Opera welded the two operas into a cohesive performance.

The first act, “Il Ballo Delle Ingrate,” began with Venus (Daryl Freedman) and her son Cupid (Jennifer Forni), whose arrows were no longer making people fall in love. Cupid and Venus decide that they must find Pluto (Beruan) and ask him to release the ungrateful dead so that the human race can see the consequence of their sinful, unappreciative living.

Like “Trouble in Tahiti,” the Monteverdi acts were mostly set in the 1950s. While Venus wore a golden toga, Cupid wore a red zoot suit. While the costumes varied, both productions took place on the same descending white platform, ending in a large arch. A projection screen was also used in both productions.

While speaking with the stage director Nic Muni, he told us about the both history behind the Monteverdi and Bernstein pieces and the production that the Portland Opera created.

“It’s a very circular discussion creating a production,” Muni said. “You start out with just throwing some ideas on the table, and then you start to sift through and start to focus on which of the ideas you really feel are central to the piece, both on visual terms and conceptual terms.”

Monteverdi is considered to have created opera with his first in 1607, L’Orfeo.

“(Monteverdi) had to invent certain ways of notating,” Muni said. “A diminuendo, for example, no one had ever notated that sign in music.”

Before it was referred to as a diminuendo and had its own symbol, Monteverdi would refer to a note getting gradually softer by tying two half notes together. He would write forte over the first and piano over the second, and this would create the decrease in sound.

Bernstein was also notable for his innovation. Most famous for his musical, “West Side Story,” Bernstein is referred to by many as the first great American composer. His opera, “Trouble in Tahiti” has an English libretto and themes that are entirely American.

In fusing the two operas together, each character that is introduced in the Monteverdi pieces continues on to the Bernstein piece as a silent member of the stage.

So, housewife Dinah (Daryl Freedman) and husband Sam (Jose Rubio) each have affairs with Pluto and Venus, instead of the originally written affair with Sam’s secretary, Miss Brown.

“This is really a world premiere in terms of these three pieces occurring on the same evening in the same production,” Muni said. “And so we’re all, I think, very curious to see how it will work.”

It was inspiring to see two revolutionary works revolutionized, in a sense, with upcoming performers who are still learning all the tricks of their trade. Ultimately, blogging for the Portland Opera was incredible learning opportunity that I’d be more than happy to do again (and again).

My blog can be reached at www.jessiereads.wordpress.com and The Beacon’s blog is at www.upbeaconstaff.wordpress.com. For more information regarding the Portland Opera, go to www.portlandopera.org.