Posted by bwayto 2012-12-07 23:55:09
Felt this was just lacking in power. He did an admirable attempt, but I just feel like his voice is not powerful enough to convey the emotion in the song. It was to pretty.
Discuss!
http://youtu.be/Q4ciOjJRYXs
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Wynbish 2012-12-08 00:04:50
It's been discussed
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Posted by Jane2 2012-12-08 00:10:35
I feel just the opposite as the OP.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2012-12-08 00:30:35
I think she sung it beautifully.
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Posted by CurtainPullDowner 2012-12-08 00:57:20
What key was that?
I thought it was pretty good, I'm just glad they didn't show images of his ex and that, I'm squeezin' out a big one look.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Jordan Catalano 2012-12-08 01:22:34
Honestly though, it was horrendous. Like everything he's ever screeched out, it was a seizure enducing exercise in how to ruin a song.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by CurtainPullDowner 2012-12-08 01:55:44
The pants, now, they were horrendous.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by EricMontreal22 2012-12-08 09:08:52
I thought it was alright (pants, I agree with--didn't Rachel in the same episode say he shouldn't wear anything loud?)
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by GatorNY 2012-12-08 09:34:58
Did she get in? I haven't been watching.
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Posted by Tony2600 2012-12-08 10:09:08
So glad that Bobby Baby, Bobby Booby has finally started the hormone therapy.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-08 10:13:55
The problem is that Rachel reminded everyone of Kurt's "I Want To Hold Your Hand" peformance. "Being Alive" didn't live up to that performance.
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Posted by NoHSMisNotAMusical 2012-12-08 13:59:29
The problem is Chris Colfer is a terrible singer.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by wiggum2 2012-12-08 14:02:51
He does not have the acting chops(or singing) for that song. DISLIKE
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by broadwaybabywannabe2 2012-12-08 14:21:29
while it certainly lacked the urgency of many other performers of this great SONDHEIM anthem, i thought Kurt sang it with wonderful yearning, and in it's own way was very effect for that reason...almost like 'someone, anyone hold me too tight'...and i am just very glad something SONDHEIM was sung by the Gleeks...i had almost given up hope...
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Wynbish 2012-12-08 14:34:49
They did a Sondheim-involved musical last season...
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by broadwaybabywannabe2 2012-12-08 14:41:24
speaking about SONDHEIM and everything GLEE...i just love this quote from the talks FRANK RICH had with STEPHEN:
"When Rich asked if it felt strange to see the Glee character Kurt sing the Gypsy showstopper "Roses Turn" so completely out of context, Sondheim quipped, "I saw it completely out of context in productions of Gypsy."
this is why i love this man...:)
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by wonkit 2012-12-08 16:01:36
How to make a complex song sound like someone shouting down a well... empty.
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Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-08 17:18:10
Unfortunately Chris Colfer sings like a castrati, high-thin voice. There's not a lot of music choices for him. It's out of place, but they should have let him sing O Holy Night.
Also, if he had better writing and direction, the song could have been put over better. The tear at the end of Being Alive was manipulative. But it was the wrong song choice for him.
And I can't believe that after all the crap that the Whoopi Goldberg character gave him that she would let him in the school with one of the most overdone audition numbers in the history of musical theater.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by uncageg 2012-12-08 17:31:34
He hit all of the notes fine, there was just no emotion or passion.
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Posted by jv92 2012-12-08 17:42:39
"Honestly though, it was horrendous. Like everything he's ever screeched out, it was a seizure enducing exercise in how to ruin a song."
What he said. Bring back Larry Kert! He'd wear better pants to boot!
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by EricMontreal22 2012-12-08 17:43:05
He sang it fine, I felt. Actually better than I expected. I don't know what made it not work--but the episode was really badly directed when it came to the musical numbers. I know they have four hours (according to Adam Shankman) and two days to film a number. I am by no means a fan of Colfer, but he's so identified as Kurt that I think it's unfair to call into question his acting chops--I'd be interested in seeing him in a different role.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by CurtainPullDowner 2012-12-08 18:07:00
A Big problem is that a 18/19 yr old character doesn't have a lot to bring to that song. One affair? Nah.
But Comden, Green and Styne's BEING GOOD was a perfect song for Lea and her character at this point. A great match of character and song, and she sang the sh*t out of it (with some help, I suppose) but it sounded pretty damn good.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by GavestonPS 2012-12-08 19:54:09
"Horrendous" seems a little strong. Yes, Colfer's too young to act the song and, yes, it sits too low in his range to achieve the desired impact, but I figure Madame Thibodeau is quite accustomed to inappropriate audition choices. I'm sure her applicants sing whatever musical their high school last attempted.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by broadwayjim42 2012-12-08 20:04:00
I'd rather him singing in this key than his godawful falsetto. It wasn't bad but it wasn't Raul. And Lea was not Streisand, by a long shot. If Babs hadn't sent that song down the pike on "Release Me," it would never have seen the light of "Glee."
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Posted by strummergirl 2012-12-08 20:56:53
I actually think Colfer is one of the show's better actors. Problem is that he has to play the role that is the Ryan Murphy stand-in. He was turned from irreverent witty kid to humorless martyr and also he has usually been given song choices that in Season 1 would have been joked about (like the reference to people referring to him as a castratto) or made a plot point like "Defying Gravity" where nobody thought he should sing that song. Luckily the writers sort of moved him back to S.1 making jokes at the expense of Rachel but still very cautious although nothing will ever hit the low of him wanting to ban dodgeball in Season 3.
I'm just glad he is singing at a lower register and not singing songs once sung by Patti LuPone, quite frankly. Overall, I thought he did fine. He would have been helped a lot more if there was no focus on Rachel vs. Cassie and just on him in the NY story line. I could see the whole internalization and emoting for the song being relayed back to his senior year where he came up short in places where validation was necessary (class president, winning the role in West Side Story, and getting into NYADA the first time) rather than just Blaine. But like most Glee episodes it was all over the place but further fractured when there are two different settings.
And Colfer's whole off-screen persona seems very different from Kurt. Not nearly into fashion as one would expect and really into nerdy, genre stuff.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Jay Lerner-Z 2012-12-08 21:02:06
I thought it was bad. I'm still a fan of the show, just about...I don't actively dislike it, but I just don't care anymore.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by perfectlymarvelous 2012-12-08 21:31:33
I actually would rather he sing in this register of his voice than in the strange castrato-sounding falsetto which got old after about 2 episodes.
Also I haven't watched this show in ages but from the couple of clips I've seen it seems to still be as overwrought and unbearable as it was when I stopped watching somewhere around the end of season 2.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by EricMontreal22 2012-12-08 22:19:39
Well said Strummer. Particularly "But like most Glee episodes it was all over the place but further fractured when there are two different settings. "
My one (other) complaint, is that he has an apparently insanely priveledged internship at Vogue.com It's a bit hard, I feel, to root for him to get into NYADA when he seems to be doing so well already. (Maybe he should start a kickstarter campaign to get money for school...)
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by strummergirl 2012-12-08 22:35:11
That's why I had so many issues with this episode just being about Kurt trying to impress Carmen Thibodeau and not feeling a little bit conflicted. Even if he did fail he had a fall-back option and support system at Vogue.com (and maybe think about applying to Pratt or FIT) as it had been established in previous episodes. I get maybe if you have a SJP in his boss role it would be nothing other than a sort of 'fairy godmother figure' and great atmosphere for Kurt to grow, so then why make NYADA the next step?
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-09 10:58:51
My nitpicky, crazy person problems with the execution aside, I just never ever needed to hear this song recorded with autotune.
As is obvious to most people here, I have a very serious attachment to this song; it was pretty, I guess, but empty and thoughtless -- and dear God why wouldn't he emote -- other than what's inherent simply singing the written words. Do that song and knock it out, or just don't do it. (And don't use that arrangement.)
And I agree with strummergirl about the weird turn in the plot; the show seemed to be building a story line in which Kurt found an alternative that wasn't his original plan, but it ended up working out for the best and put him on a path that may have been a better fit. Jumping back to the NYADA thing like it never happened was an awkward conflict to me. But it's Glee, so I shouldn't be surprised.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by ray-andallthatjazz86 2012-12-09 12:04:22
I thought it could have been so much worse, but like someone said, it's just not a song you give an 18 year old to perform and it just makes little sense for the character I think. They stick him with songs that do absolutely nothing for his voice and his character, it's like the time they gave him "I Have Nothing" in the Whitney Houston preview, way to set him up for failure. The show is such a mess though that I wasn't particularly offended by this one number, especially after the "Let's Have a Kiki/Turkey Lurkey Time" debacle.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by SporkGoddess 2012-12-09 15:08:58
So that's where the plot's headed? I was a lot happier with the Vogue plotline because I think Kurt would have a lot more success with that than musical theatre.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by GavestonPS 2012-12-09 15:25:22
^^^^^True. Exactly which roles is Kurt going to play (after he does (SPOILER:) Mary Sunshine in CHICAGO)?
I thought his detour into the world of fashion was one of the few things that made sense on GLEE.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-09 15:41:38
"Exactly which roles is Kurt going to play"
I know Glee won't go here because they are all about people being Broadway stars, but they should write Kurt becoming an off-Broadway personality. They should have him writing his own shows and being the next Charles Ludlam, Charles Busch or Howard Crabtree.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by GavestonPS 2012-12-09 15:50:16
That would certainly be interesting, but I haven't seen anything approaching Ludlamesque talent from Colfer yet.
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Posted by bwayto 2012-12-09 16:20:50
Frankly I am appalled at the direction the show is headed. It's lost any believability, if it had any before.
Also, If a student spoke to me like Rachel speaks to her dance teacher, they'd be dead by now.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by The Josh 2012-12-09 17:17:02
Gleeing alive?
I'll show myself out.
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Posted by Gothampc 2012-12-09 17:23:02
"Also, If a student spoke to me like Rachel speaks to her dance teacher, they'd be dead by now."
Lydia Grant never would have stood for it.
You got big dreams?
You want fame?
Rachel Berry, this stick is going to be up your "hole where the sun don't shine" if you don't knock your sh*t off.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by mikem 2012-12-09 17:36:12
I know that this is essentially the same edit of the song that Raul Esparza did on the Tonys, but is that the usual "shortened version"? It seems like jumping directly to the "someone to crowd you with love" verse after the first verse really throws the structure of the song off.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by BenjaminNicholas2 2012-12-09 17:42:50
Watch any of Ryan Murphy's shows and eventually you'll see his own self-loathing and sexual-politico issues clear as day. While he can't go as far in Glee as he's going in AHS, it's still there and it's getting incredibly one-note to me.
Glee is boring and predictable. The arrangements are pedestrian. The singing is auto-tuned. What's sad is that most of the songs they cover could be mashed-up much better and done with some real creativity. After season one of the show, it's clear they moved from truly re-arranging songs to fit a glee/showchoir club format and are now just shilling for whatever song is currently in the Billboard top ten. I guarantee you that it's nothing more than an assembly line to sell more of an artists music at this point... And that's sad.
The problem with Glee is Ryan Murphy. It always has been.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by sondheimboy2 2012-12-09 17:46:56
Someone that young sing "Being Alive" makes me think about the quip about a child mixing a martini: Not only is it unseemly, but they use too much vermouth.
Glee's Being Alive
Posted by luvtheEmcee 2012-12-09 22:09:16
I know that this is essentially the same edit of the song that Raul Esparza did on the Tonys, but is that the usual "shortened version"? It seems like jumping directly to the "someone to crowd you with love" verse after the first verse really throws the structure of the song off.
I've never heard anyone else perform a truncated version of the song, though I'm sure people do in concert because the song is kind of long. Raúl has done another shortened version of it, but I can't remember exactly which part he snipped out and I don't feel like listening to it to find out. I don't think it was identical to the one he did on the Tonys, though. But yes, I always find that jump jarring. The Glee performance was also (at least based on -- I couldn't tell whether it was verbatim) the 2006 arrangement.
