When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with a revolutionary show about a group of diverse kids coming together to find their place in the world. Absolutely, I’m talking about
Glee. This show quite literally rocked our worlds.
If you haven’t caught on, I was being facetious. While
Glee is most definitely revolutionary, it was a combination of sarcastic, ironic, and subversive. The show, a satire by Ryan Murphy of American Horror Story, is honestly wild.
There are so many off-color jokes delivered by high schoolers and teachers alike that would
not be allowed on air today. But watching Glee was like watching a tragedy happen. In other words, I couldn’t look away.
What’s truly mind blowing is that
Glee ended in 2015, but it’s still gloriously worming its way into headlines to this day. With an original cast that’s riddled in scandal, no one can escape Glee.
Lea Michele As The New Funny Girl
You may remember actress Lea Michele as Rachel Berry in
Glee, the self-proclaimed star of the show who I found to be beyond annoying. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one, as Lea Michele was apparently a terror on set.
The world loved Rachel and Finn (played by the late Cory Monteith). Lea Michele was actually making a name for herself with the show. Until…she wasn’t.
Rachel Berry idolized all things Streisand – Barbra Streisand – especially Babs’ performance as Fanny Brice in
Funny Girl. I’m not going to lie, Lea Michele absolutely kills her rendition of Don’t Rain On My Parade.
In the show, Rachel goes on to play Fanny Brice on
Broadway after training at a fictional version of Julliard, NYADA.
Here’s where the plot thickens…
It seems as though we’re
now living IRL with a real life Glee simulation, whether we like it or not. Real life Lea Michele was recently cast as Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Maybe Ryan Murphy is just plain psychic?
Lea Michele is by no means well-liked by the public. She originally caught fire when former
Glee star Samantha Marie Ware tweeted that Michele made her life a “living hell” on set. However, Ware isn’t the only one to voice her disdain.
Amber Riley (who played Mercedes Jones) responded to Ware’s tweet with a series of gifs that seemed to agree. But that wasn’t all. Quite a few people who worked alongside Lea Michele on multiple projects spoke up.
While this didn’t end Lea Michele’s career, it certainly didn’t help. With the recent passing of her co-star Naya Rivera,
Glee fans noticed Michele didn’t post about her loss. Instead, she entirely deleted her account during the situation.
Perhaps the most ironic parallel between
Glee and reality is a particular scene that foreshadows Michele’s antics today. Jane Lynch (who played Sue Sylvester) sees Lea Michele’s Rachel on Broadway and walks out of the theater mid-performance…
Which leads us to 2022, Jane Lynch just announced she’ll be leaving the cast of
Funny Girl shortly before Lea Michele joins the cast, replacing Beanie Feldstein. Ryan Murphy couldn’t have predicted anything better.
Get Slushied With Glee
All of this buzz around Lea Michele as Fanny Brice has me missing the early
Glee days. You can choose to hate on Glee and the Gleeks, or you can succumb.
For example, one of the best covers from the show is easily
Bohemian Rhapsody, sung by Jesse St. James (played by the spectacularly talented Jonathan Groff) and Vocal Adrenaline. I’m not joking when I say my friends and I listen to this version at least once a week.
Or what about Santana’s version of Valerie by Amy Winehouse?! You can’t have taste and tell me this doesn’t knock your socks off
There are less likable characters with cringe-worthy moments like Will Schuester (played by the viral Matthew Morrison). Mr. Schue gives off truly bizarre vibes for a teacher. Take a step back and imagine if your teacher broke into song with sexual innuendos, you’d throw up. But somehow Glee figured we wouldn’t want to rip our eyeballs out if they did it.
And yet, somehow, I’ll watch it from time to time. It’s lighthearted enough where I can put it on before bed and not waste any brain power.
We can all appreciate how deeply Glee has affected pop culture. While the show was huge, it was borderline offensive and probably should have been canceled when the original cast “graduated.”
If you couldn’t tell, there’s a lot to love – and even more to hate – about Glee
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