Glee's Being Alive

[Jay Lerner-Z]

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.

[perfectlymarvelous]

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.

[EricMontreal22]

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...)

[strummergirl]

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?

[luvtheEmcee]

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.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

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.

[SporkGoddess]

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.

[GavestonPS]

^^^^^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.

[Gothampc]

"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.

[GavestonPS]

That would certainly be interesting, but I haven't seen anything approaching Ludlamesque talent from Colfer yet.

[bwayto]

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.

[The Josh]

Gleeing alive?

I'll show myself out.

[Gothampc]

"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.

[mikem]

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.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

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.

[sondheimboy2]

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.

[luvtheEmcee]

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. Raśl 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.