SOUND OFF: A Helluva GLEE Finale

Today marks the last episode review of the second season of Fox's hit musical dramedy series GLEE and I'm sure that many will agree with me that last night's show was as good a Season Two send-off as could have possibly been expected from Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Ian Brennan and company given what has gone on this year so far. Besides the sights and sounds of the dramatic NYC wrap-up, the Broadway babies amongst the gleeks were treated to the extended returns of fan favorite Jonathan Groff and new cast member Cheyenne Jackson, in addition to a characteristically fabulous cameo by Broadway legend Patti LuPone - and the grand return of international singing sensation - as well as a participant in this column; in addition to Mr. Groff, yesterday (and, coming up: MR. Jackson) - the big-voiced-diva known as Charice. While original songs dominated the episode, we were also treated to a mash-up of Madonna's "I Love New York" and the Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green ON THE TOWN anthem "New York, New York" (and a sample of the Kander & Ebb version elsewhere in the episode, "for good" measure), in addition to one of the musical highlights of not only this episode, but all of Season Two - a song which was incidentally premiered in this very column on BroadwayWorld last week: Lea Michele and Chris Colfer putting their own spin on the WICKED curtain song "For Good" on the very stage of the Gershwin Theater where the Broadway smash plays eight times a week - and has since 2004 - right where fellow GLEE guest stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel first sang it. While the musical quotient on GLEE is always appreciably entertaining - with few exceptions - this season has been significantly more expansive and varied in its storytelling style, so the question of the season undoubtedly is: was it all wrapped up satisfactorily? Well, we'll just have to stack it all up side-by-side-by-side-by-side and see, now, won't we? But, one thing is crystal clear: GLEE in NYC was all it was cracked up - and built up - to be. The big pay-off. Finally. Or, make that more to the point: finale.

NYC/GLEE

Ryan Murphy is the master of the television season finale - the last episode of the second season of NIP/TUCK, especially the final five minutes set to the strains of Art Garfunkel's achingly painful "All I Know" juxtaposed with real life pain of all sorts (physical, emotional - and the fact we knew it would be six long months until the next episode) - is an epic and all-too-apropos example of Murphy's strong suit. The man can tie up loose ends and present new ones in surprising and awe-inspiringly effective ways - outlandishness and over-the-topness being almost a prerequisite. Thus, GLEE Season Two comes to a close with one of the most anticipated episodes of a 23-episode season that was packed to the brim with so many enthralling entertainment glories, foremost examples being: "Britney/Brittany" (Britney Spears homage); "The Rocky Horror GLEE Show"; "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle" (Super Bowl); the Valentine's Day episode; "Rumours" (based on the classic Fleetwood Mac album of the same name); and, most especially, the recent 90-minute "Born This Way" Lady Gaga-inspired (and performed) spectacular. I also really enjoyed "Duets". With so many theme shows and guest stars this season - Darren Criss and Gwyneth Paltrow all but sealing the envelopes with their names inside for their respective Best Guest Star Emmy Award categories; much like Emmy-winning Bryan Ryan (Neil Patrick Harris) and nominee April Rhodes (Kristin Chenoweth) last season - GLEE in Season Two felt like a variety show more often than not, but that is expected and part and parcel the name of the game of GLEE, as has been proven time and time again. Really, it has always been that way. Ryan Murphy shows are born that way. If you embrace the excesses and flourishes that bring so much joy, thrills and, well, glee, you also have to take the flaws along with the diamonds. While Murphy's previous high school nighttime dramedy POPULAR on the WB Network was even more wildly varied in its tone and denouement than GLEE - check out both seasons of the show, available on DVD (with a healthy dose of characters and plotlines that would reappear a decade later on GLEE, all revealed, interestingly enough) - it seems that audiences today expect different entertainment values on something as all-encompassing and presenting itself as being the end-all and be-all as GLEE most certainly does - and as Murphy so appropriately boasts of it. Indeed, GLEE comes through on its impossibly lofty promises more often than not, and the mere fact that so many of the almost absurd plotlines and character developments are dealt with with such apparent aplomp - and rarely, if ever, posing an insurmountable problem for the performer enacting the oft-outlandish scenarios, songs, stories and lines given to them - that you fail to notice how hard they are working. GLEE is more effortless than almost any depiction of a show business story and that is both its blessing and its curse when it comes to relatability. Who wants reality anyway when you can escape into a song for a little while?

GLEE is heightened reality - just as NIP/TUCK was an "adult soap opera in Gucci," as it was billed by Murphy himself, and loaded with more sex, smut, and gory, gruesome surgery than Cinemax and a top-tier medical school education combined; along with an audience-addicting "I-can't-believe-they-went-there" mentality that led to the show topping itself to the toppling point by the last two seasons - so, in short: you have to take the chaff with the wheat when it comes to any Ryan Murphy enterprise. Plus, GLEE is so much bigger than even the Ryan Murphy universe - or the Broadway or television or concert arena universe, even. And this episode was credited to co-creator Brad Falchuk. That being said, the heavy reliance on modern pop pap - as most music on the popular radio channels (radio, internet or otherwise) is totally disposable, even a lot of the highly-listenable, but vacuous, music that is out there - will date the show badly. On second thought, though: maybe that's the ideal way to attack something so aiming-for-the-back-rows as GLEE so often does - maybe the trick to building an entertainment institution out of a mere television program is to make it so of-the-moment that it is ahead of the time even when it airs. Considering that "Born This Way" was recorded by the GLEE Cast long before even the song had leaked to the top DJs in the country is a sure sign that GLEE is a powerful force in dictating what is cool, what is the hot new thing, and, well, what is popular. I guess the world has finally caught up to the POPULAR puppeteer and he is finally having the last laugh, considering the second season of POPULAR ended with multiple cliffhangers because Murphy & company were told that it had been renewed for a third season, only to have the show pulled from the schedule soon after. So, surely Murphy is "Ha ha ha"-ing it up now - and, not times two, but: times three (The WB isn't even a network anymore).

So, back to NYC/GLEE, full-force: did Season Two come to a satisfying conclusion? Were all the many, many, many loose ends tied up neatly in a Macy's Christmas-season quality bow? The answers: Yes and No - with more to the Yes than to the No, as I'm sure you'd agree. Like with coffee, everybody likes their GLEE a little bit differently, though - some with more salt, some with more spice, some with more sugar, and some with more songs. And, some just don't drink coffee. Speaking of spice: Santana's en espanol flip-out. Salt: teardrops from Rachel and Sunshine's bathroom heart-to-heart; stingers from Cheyenne Jackson as the Vocal Adrenaline foe at Nationals (I wonder what site in the blogosphere he was referencing - the one that really loves Broadway above all others? Hmm.). Sugar: Rachel and Finn in the library (and in Sardi's); Mercedes and Sam in the coffee shop at the close; Rachel and Kurt doing BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY‘S; group hug in the hotel right before the big show. The highly-caffeinated "I Love New York" mash-up with "New York, New York" was expansively cinematic and brought to mind many of the best NYC movie montage song sequences such as in (the original) THE PRODUCERS and FUNNY GIRL - the latter a long-cited favorite film of Mr. Murphy's (remember Idina Menzel even sang the title song from it last season?). We actually got to hear an impromptu version of the Kander & Ebb "New York, New York" led by Chris Colfer, as well, in addition to the lovely Gershwin opening chords of "Rhapsody In Blue" with Rachel in her multi-colored coat taking in Times Square - and later, some lilting underscoring utilizing the beautiful Gershwin ballad "Someone To Watch Over Me" - at the expectedly exciting start of the show. Speaking of shows of shows: "For Good" proved to be the heart and soul of the episode and Ms. Michele and Chris Colfer certainly brought their A-game to it (as all BroadwayWorld fans already knew they would thanks to the World Premiere of the song in this very column last week) - with quite wonderful and wondrous results - WICKED included; which, by the way, can be sometimes difficult to reap from a score as hit-or-miss as WICKED. This may very well be the best cover of the song yet, so brava and bravo to the glittering Glinda and evocative Elphaba borne forth in Rachel and Kurt last night. On that note - or notte - "Bella Notte" was unexpectedly ravishingly romantic given the setting and sensitive use of the harmoniously harmonizing implicit in the musical content of the song - perfecto. Speaking of spot-on: Charice scored major musical points yet again with her original song showcase at Nationals - the power ballad "As Long As You're There". Few can do the Celine Dion-esque big builder like that titanic talent in a tiny frame can - and she proved it, once again, last night. I cannot wait to hear what she will be singing in Season Three. She is as great an addition to the cast as Darren Criss.

Another tick on the winning side of the original songs scorecard from last night: the striking and sonically sparse "Pretending" was just about perfect for its slot in the show and as the ultimate expression of the repressed romance between the two characters who sang it - Rachel and Finn. Yes - them - at long, long last. Senior Year is going to be quite interesting with Quinn on the outs with almost everyone, Santana still pining for Brittany, with Brittany steady with Artie - plus: Mercedes and Sam together; Kurt and Blaine committed as a couple; along with Finn and Rachel together at last fulfilling the first promise of the pilot. Oh, yeah, back to the musical content of the season finale: Usher‘s "Yeah" was done with tightly choreographed abandon by a competing all-girls Nationals team, which was a fun moment to add to the ever-growing list of bizarre and idiosyncratic competing vocal group performances. Additionally, the all-too-apt "My Cup" for Heather Morris, Kevin McHale, and Mark Salling, and, especially, "Light Up The World", both bode more than merely well for original songs being used in the future on GLEE, though their presence should definitely be kept to a bare minimum (such as they were this season - sparingly used so as to retain their individually-depictive impact when they do appear). After all, there are so many songs around to sing already! Matt Morrison's solo song spot, "Still Got Tonight", seemed slightly shoe-horned into the episode, but it was a befitting, if all too brief, performance piece for him in a season where he had scantly an opportunity to do the same - at least not like he did in Season One. Lastly, "Light Up The World" did just that - and light up the night as bright as the blinding lights of Broadway, letting GLEE go out in the sharpest and most blazing of spotlight follow spots. Just as it should. Just where it belongs. Just how it was born to be. A closing number would have been nice, but with nine songs in the final episode who can really complain? Plus: Patti LuPone? Too bad she didn't sing, but what a positively ideal place for her to appear: at legendary theatre hot spot Sardi's, of all places - and, what moving words of wisdom to impart. GLEE's "New York, New York" was a filling bite of the Big Apple with barely any of the bitter seeds of most Broadway-bred and Broadway-bound stories of love, sadness, hope, ambition, and, sometimes, glory - and songs. What songs - and singing. The joy of singing - the glee. What glee there is for us to see - just look at GLEE.