Gleek

Jona Mata

Music is created like an artistic masterpiece. Notes are mixed with the perfect chords to create a symphony of appealing sounds. High and low C’s blend like puzzle pieces placed in the correct order. Symphonies, orchestras and musicals have these abilities to create beautiful pieces of harmonies, but in the most surprising of places, the latter is present.

Glee is a series on Fox that had a successful season with four wins at the Golden Globes this year including Best Comedy or Musical, with its popularity spreading over different age sets and escalating demands for another season. Yet not only in its comedic performance did it win the hearts of many viewers, but in its flawless performances of song covers done usually in a harmony. Songs from each episode topped iTunes and music charts, and the soundtrack also sold numerous copies.

“I’m such a gleek,” sophomore Mariah Mercier said. “I just love everything about it, and the music is just spectacular. They never have a bad episode. The singers are really talented as well.”

The Glee cast is led by a powerhouse of performers. Lea Michele, who plays the female lead, is a former Broadway singer, with the role of Eponine in “Les Miserables” on her resume. Michael Morrison, who plays the director of the glee club, is also a Broadway graduate, with nominations for the Tony awards and a Grammy win for his role as Link Larkin in “Hairspray.”

“The cast is great,” Junior Alex Fuston said. “And the fact that they can act too and make the show hilarious is what adds to ‘Glee’s’ magic.”

“Glee” Magic. What is it that creates magic in Glee? It is merely a show wherein people sing. A show that uses a story outline based on the familiar hierarchy present in all high schools. A show where the reassertion that there is actually a distinction between the cool and the non-cool is not at all suppressed. A show where the non-cool find a niche of their own, similar to patterns in teen shows and movies such as “High School Musical” and “Grease.”

“It just feels as if we can have our own glee club,” Mercier said. “It’s just so realistic in a way, that it touches people. We face the same problems that [the characters] face, and it’s not like ‘Gossip Girl’ or ‘90210’ where it’s all Upper East Side and overflowing wealth.”

The parallels are what bring people closer to “Glee.” The idea that the star quarterback can fall in love with a gleek in the magic of song, is what connects the show to its main teenage audience. It is the wonderful things that happen in the horrible state of reality that attracts viewers to “Glee.”

“Wholly, the show is awesome, but the music is the best,” Fuston said.

The music is the cherry on the top that complements the storyline and the comedic and talented cast. The harmonic pieces that wowed audiences in each episode revived Broadway classics, such as “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” and old feel-good songs such as “Somebody to Love,” to market to young ears.

Adding to the talented cast is the guesting of Kristin Chenoweth, a Broadway veteran famous for hitting extremely high notes, infamously known as the “Cheno Note.” Another power-punch hit by the show is the future enlistment of Tony award-winning actress-singer Idina Menzel in the next season, as either another Glee club teacher or as Lea’s long lost mother, with the similarities in looks and voices of Idina and Lea.

“Because of all these Broadway crossovers, the music is going to be ten times better,” Mercier said.

As Glee continues to rise, the “Glee magic” spreads to school environments, where the real nastiness of life, real life, ensues. Glee clubs and show choirs are gaining popularity in schools.

“I think it would be cool [if we had a glee club similar to the show]. We already have one that’s similar, actually, Ovation is doing something along those lines,” choir director Steve White said.

With the “Glee” hype fed more and more each passing day as the new season, scheduled to premiere April 13, approaches, “Glee” has become a show that battles the status quo and celebrates unity that is found in music.

“You see, everybody can sing,” White said. “To have a situation where people can gather and sing together, that’s cool.”

 

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