Friday, May 21, Angel and I went to Gibson Amphitheater to see Glee in concert. As a forethought I tried to decide how I would judge this performance. It's not like any other show I've seen in concert, do I compare it to the show? Do I expect it to be like watching an episode of TV? No, that'd be silly. I don't want the concert to add any additional storyline, especially since many characters will be absent. Do I compare it to a musical concert? Maybe, I mean they are performing sets from albums, but there is still the issue of storyline and how that measures into the performance. Lastly, do I compare it to the Broadway musical? Well, no. Although the concert will be a musical rendition of a story written (scripted) and the actors/singers will be playing characters, I do not hold these performers to the level I hold a Broadway performer. Lea Michele, yes, but none of the others on the cast have Broadway experience and to be fair Cory Monteith has never blown me away with his singing so I don't expect great things from a live performance (ie an unfiltered version). So I was quite uncertain of what to expect and how I would receive the performance. But, as stated, if there is music and dancing I will mostly likely enjoy it.
Since I'm not sure what base to use to measure the performance, I've decided just to tell you what I liked and/or didn't like.
The opening act, TheLXD, is AMAZING. It is The League of Extraordinary Dancers, and they are some neat to watch. Also, "The other Asian" is in the dance group. I wanted to show you a video so you can see for yourself how awesome they are.
Now for Glee.
Liked: EVERYTHING! Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but seriously the show was great. Here are some pictures of what I liked.
Since the concert is only featuring the Glee club, notably teachers are absent from the line-up :( BUT, the show did feature videos of Will and Sue encouraging the club and introducing performances (Will) and criticizing the Glee club (Sue).
Right before the show started, some Cheerios were going around the auditorium and passing out barf bags. I got one! And when the show started Sue explained
I love the free WMHS barf bag I have.
Now for some of the performances.
Sweet Caroline
Defying Gravity
Boy is Mine
Bad Romance
Beautiful
Bust Your Windows
Dancing With Myself
Jump
A performance by Vocal Adrenaline
A nice duet of Jesse and Rachel
And that is probably enough photos. There were tons more songs, the 70 minute show was jam packed. If I could describe the experience, I'd say it was liking watching New Directions put on a concert. For a couple numbers the cast even walked around the audience. When Rachel (Lea Michele) performs Don't Rain on My Parade, it was very much like the original show performance which had her start from the back of the auditorium and make her way to the stage. Finn (Cory Monteith) actually performed better than I expected. And I'm so excited to hear Santana (Naya Rivera) sing more. Brittany (Heather Morris) provided her usual dumb blonde comedy between sets. Overall, Angel and I were both very impressed with the show.
Disliked: I kept hoping that Matthew Morrison and/or Jane Lynch would surprise the audience with a guest appearance, and that hope was wasted.
Additionally, sometimes the singers did go off key a bit, but in a live performance that is expected to some degree, so I don't at all hold that against them. I merely mention it to for your sake.
To conclude, here is a picture of a message Angel sent to me during intermisssion via jumbo TV screen
You can tell she sent it because the words are all spelt correctly and the proper punctuation is used.
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