Neil Diamond's 'Hello Again' to Get GLEE Treatment? Musical Mastermind PJ Bloom Talks Music with Variety

In a feature out in Variety today, GLEE's musical supervisor, PJ Bloom reveals that, at first, he wasn't sold on the idea.

After approached by GLEE's writer/director Ryan Murphy to take on the gig Bloom recalls: 

"Ryan said, 'We're going to do an episodic musical on show choir.' I said, 'Jeez, I'm really not all that familiar with what show choir is.' So he sat me down in front of his computer and went on YouTube and started pulling up the video on show choirs from around the country, doing pop songs, classic songs. I had really never seen anything like it, and in all honesty I wasn't sure whether it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen or the worst thing I'd ever seen."

He also reveals that his biggest challenge was, understandably, securing the musical rights for the blockbuster songs audiences have come to expect from GLEE each week.  He notes: "We had this uphill battle of trying to license some of the biggest songs in the world by the biggest artists in the world for an episodic musical that nobody had ever seen. And this type of show has failed miserably."

To read the full feature in Variety, click here.

"Glee: The Music, Volume 1," which features music heard in the first season of the series, is currently available for purchase. Released on November 3, the album sold in excess of 113,000 units in its first week alone and garnered an astounding No. 4 spot on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. And for fans who just can't get enough of GLEE's high-spirited music, "Glee: The Music, Volume 2" hits stores on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

GLEE, the genre-defying new musical comedy series, follows an optimistic teacher who - against all odds and a malicious cheerleading coach - attempts to save McKinley High's Glee Club from obscurity while helping a group of aspiring underdogs realize their true star potential. Starring Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz, GLEE is produced by Ryan Murphy Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan are co-creators of the series. Murphy, Falchuk and Dante di Loreto serve as executive producers, while Ian Brennan serves as co-executive producer.

 

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