FLASHFORWARD FRIDAY: Glea & Gleedina

This week, we are taking a look and listen to two of Broadway's brightest beacons currently lighting up television sets with their maternally-themed musical numbers on the hit Fox series GLEE. As if their names even need mentioning: Idina Menzel and Lea Michele, and they perform "I Dreamed A Dream" and "Poker Face" from the show‘s soundtrack which was released this week...

Bluffin' With My Muffin

We are not so lucky this season on Broadway as to have musical numbers of the power and prescient sense that these two knock-out covers display, sad to say. But, thanks to the perfect marriage of the vocal talents of Idina Menzel and Lea Michele on GLEE we have an unforgettable moment in theatrical history to enjoy. Such exciting moments in musical theatre - whether playing on a stage, a webpage or a television soundstage - are rare, indeed. Especially, to have performers of this caliber performing songs in new and interesting ways is akin to true transcendence for a theatre fan - and the lights do not get any brighter on Broadway than these two ladies. Perhaps not since Barbra Streisand's legendary television specials has Broadway been so well-represented on television as it is in these two clips. Don't take my word for it, see and hear for yourself.

No one could have anticipated the LES MISERABLES ballad "I Dreamed A Dream" - introduced by Patti LuPone in the original London cast of the show - would have entered the cultural lexicon by way of reality sensation Susan Boyle. Harder still to have imagined would have been it working as a duet between a mother and daughter as the musical representation of their first realization of each other as such. Yet, like all the impossible things Ryan Murphy & Co. seem to pull off every week on GLEE, it does. Like gangbusters. No offense to Susan Boyle, but this is the way the song should be sung. Menzel and Michele exhibit the perfect merging of musical talent, never going over-the-top and always maintaining an actorly dedication to character with each and every deliciously apt phrase of the superb song. This is a master class in musical theatre. Magnificent.

Perhaps a bit more controversial is Menzel and Michele's cover of Lady Gaga's smash-hit dance anthem "Poker Face". Stripped down, acoustic and naked, this is raw talent fully exposed. Perhaps other songs have been autotuned to death on this show, but with talent such as what these two ladies possess none is evident and, one assumes, was never necessary. This is what great talent can do with great material. Don't let this song pass you by just because you are a Gaga fan, it is virtually unrecognizable in comparison to the original FAME MONSTER track. This is what Broadway dreams are made of, even though it will premiere on TV next week. Don't miss it. These are the songs out of context, of course, and one hopes this track will be as powerful onscreen as it is on the soundtrack. Sample now and we'll surely soon see.

That's all for this week, and remember if you would like to see a particularly fun, hilarious, bizarre or just all-around excellent performance from the past highlighted here be sure to send us a link! Until next week...

 

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