Glee Takes On Comic Con

Sitting in a packed room, affording seats for well over 2000 people, getting to see the second episode of the new FOX musical comedy Glee, which will debut on September 9, was quite an incredible experience. Not only was the audience pumped to see the new episode but the episode itself was bawdy, farcical and rip-roaring fun; just as the show is intended to be.

The Glee kids try out a new routine / FOX

During each musical number and hilarious scene, the audience fell under the spell of this irreverent Ryan Murphy series that is a combination of High School Musical and Election, according to cast member Lea Michele. Or, in the words of cast member Cory Monteith, “It’s like High School Musical has been punched in the stomach and had its lunch money stolen.”

Other cast members that were part of the panel were Matthew Morrison and Dianna Agron along with Executive Producers Dante Di Loreto and Ian Brennan. The moderator for the panel was LA Times reporter Denise Martin.

The Executive Producers shared that Glee started out as a screenplay then a year and a half later it landed in Ryan Murphy’s lap where it was totally reworked and pitched to the network. The casting process was just as interesting for the cast members on the panel. Mr. Monteith explained, “he had never sung for an audition before” so he ended up simply “playing drums on Tupperware with unsharpened pencils” but then eventually had to sing for the network.

Lea Michele was involved in a car accident at the entrance to the FOX Studios in Hollywood right before her audition and walked in with glass in her hair and cuts and bruises on her body. Matthew Morrison was at the studio at the same time for his audition as Ms. Michele’s accident and knew the accident did take place but the network suits did not believe the accident took place.

Ms. Agron explained she was the last person cast in the series, going through the audition and casting process within a week and starting work very quickly. It was a whirlwind experience for her.

Obviously music plays an essential part in the series and the Executive Producers mentioned that Barbra Streisand and The Rolling Stones will be featured in the same episode and at least 60 tracks have been set down so far. The subject of a soundtrack, of course, came up in the panel discussion and the hope of the powers that be behind the show is that one will be available as early as November. And, the Executive Producers stated that they write the show thematically then pick the music that speaks to those themes.

The cast mentioned they will be embarking on a three week tour, hitting 10 cities in 12 days. They’ll all be traveling on the same plane, hitting Hot Topic stores for a meet-n-greet to spread the word of Glee.

During the audience question and answer session, the cast explained the process of recording the songs featured in the episodes, stating they go into the studio to record and then lip-synch to their own voices during filming.

The cast and Executive Producers were excited about the planned guest stars, including Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies), Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone), Debra Monk (Grey’s Anatomy) and singers Eve and Josh Groban.

The cast were also asked if they are anything like their characters and for the most part each cast member stated they had very little to nothing in common with their characters with several of them being nearly polar opposites.

You can learn more about Glee by visiting the Fox website.