With Madonna and Lady Gaga already checked off the list of pop queens revamped and re-harmonized for the series, it was only a matter of time before Glee set its sights on the catalogue of Brit-Brit, which includes mega-hits like “Oops I Did it Again,” “Stronger,” “Slave 4 U,” “Toxic” and “Piece of Me.”

If Spears doesn’t do it for you, Glee’s got more up its sleeve—Murphy also told ET the show’s planning a major tribute episode set to air after the Super Bowl in 2011, thought he wouldn’t confirm which star the tribute will honor. (When asked if it was Michael Jackson, Murphy said ET was “close.”)

Glee’s on a roll regardless of whose songbook they tap next. The show earned 19 Emmy Award nominations on July 8.

source:  broadway.com

Glee stars – including Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, who play Rachel and Finn -allegedly all signed clauses in their contracts agreeing to be a part of three potential films, Hollywood Life revealed this week.

But Ryan told Entertainment Weekly: “There will be no Glee movie in the foreseeable future. Despite overtures, I and the studio [Fox] have decided we want to put our energy into the second season with no distractions for the cast.”

Glee has already been renewed for a third season even though the second has not yet been filmed.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be a film eventually.

The clause in the contract allegedly included the words: “[The actor] hereby grants Fox three exclusive, irrevocable options to engage [the actor] in up to, respectively, three feature-length motion pictures.”

The actors signed the contracts in 2008 before beginning work on the pilot for the hit television series.

source:  The Press Association

Next Tuesday (June 8th) on Fox, the New Directions glee club will finally face off with their arch rivals, Vocal Adrenaline, at the regionals competition.  New Directions’ favorite on again/off again couple Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith) will duet to Journey’s power ballad “Faithfully” before the rest of the gang joins in to perform their now famous rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”  Meanwhile Vocal Adrenaline will present a show stopping number of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

“The Bohemian Rhapsody number is so intense that four of the backup dancers were hurt” Murphy said.  ”It was a really rough day, but worth it.”

Also look for Quinn (Dianna Argon) to have her baby, Emma (Jayma Mays) to reveal a potential new boyfriend, and Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) to have some “incredibly touching” moments with arch enemy Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch).

Can’t get enough Glee?  The entire first season will be released on DVD this September with extras including a karaoke feature and hours of bonus footage.  Plus, everybody’s favorite track-suite-loving tyrant Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) is slated to release her own autobiography this fall alongside rumors of a Glee Christmas album in the works.

Catch Glee live this summer on their four-city concert tour.

The full first season of the show wraps on Tuesday, June 8 and the second season picks up this fall. “In just one year, ‘Glee’ has transcended the television landscape and emerged as a global pop culture phenomenon,” Peter Rice, the Fox Networks Group Entertainment Chairman, told Entertainment Weekly.

Show creator Ryan Murphy responded to the good news, telling the EW, “It’s been a whirlwind year — from shooting the pilot to performing at the White House to the concert tour that began last week — and yet we all feel like we’ve just begun this amazing musical journey. We think our Gleeks worldwide are going to love what we’ll have in store for them in seasons two and three.”

The singing show airs Tuesday nights on FOX.

Source

1.19 – “Dream On”

2010 Fox Upfront After Party

The Cast of Glee Visits “American Idiot” On Broadway

It’s difficult to fathom, then, that the original pilot script did not contain Sue Sylvester.  “On our first phone call, Kevin [Reilly, Fox Entertainment president] said, ‘You need a villain,’” remembers Murphy.  “And I said, ‘You know, you’re right.’  I knew exactly who she is.  I said, ‘Her name is Sue Sylvester.  And she is the cheerleading coach.  And she may be on horse estrogen.”

With those three sentences, a television icon was born.  Of course, Sue’s popularity has been helped immeasurably by the woman who sports the warm-up suits: Jane Lynch.  The 49-year-old character actress has become the prom queen of this year’s TV season, winning accolades and Gleek adoration.  Off screen, Lynch is also an out lesbian and is engaged to her girlfriend.  The actress says that she’s proud to be a role model for those viewers who face prejudice due to their sexuality.  “There are kids out in unnamed spaces where it’s not a welcoming atmosphere for their sexual orientation.  And to see somebody living their life open I think is a good thing,” she says.  “I wish I had had that when I was young.” Mostly, though, Lynch loves her day job, and says Glee’s success hasn’t changed much on the set.  “It’s been wonderful and surreal,” she says, but “we all still get up and go to work and do our thing.  The bottom line is we do it because we love it, and we’d be doing it if our ratings were in the toilet.”

The members of the fictional musical choral group New Direction will have their hands full in the last few episodes of season 1.  The season finale will have the matchup Gleeks have been waiting all year to see: New Directions finally face their adversaries, Vocal Adrenaline.  Lea Michele says filming the season ender was emotional for the cast and crew.  “We are just crying the entire final episode,” she remembers.  “I don’t know how [they’re going] to edit it.”

The question now becomes: Can Glee maintain the momentum now that it’s under the media microscope?  Murphy says he’s aware of the pitfalls.  “I told [the kids] at the beginning, ‘When you burn hot, there will always be a moment when they turn on you, and then they’ll come back around.  You just have to learn how to navigate it.’ Now you can feel we’ve gone from sort of America’s squeaky-clean sweetheart to ‘Leah Michele snubs photographer!’ Like, really?”

Despite the fact that many well-known actors and actresses have either appeared on Glee or openly pleaded for a role, Murphy plans to limit the number of guest stars next year and focus on his core players.  But there is one star who might be paying a visit to McKinley High just in time for the Christmas episode: Susan Boyle.  The Britain’s Got Talent runner-up and the Glee cast are conveniently on the same record label.  And who would she play?  “I have two words for you: Lunch. Lady,” quips Murphy.  “I think Kurt would just die to give her a Christmas makeover.”

Lynch isn’t completely sure what season 2 holds for Sue, but she’s enjoying the ride.  “There is a particular sweetness,” says Lynch of her later-in-life success.  “People always say, ‘Oh, you deserve this.  You’ve been working so hard for so long.’ You know, I never felt like that.  I never felt like my ship hasn’t come in, because I love what I’ve done.”

PLUS: THE LESSER-KNOWN GLEE-CLUB KIDS

Ever wonder who those other glee-club kids are?  Entertainment Weekly introduces some of the lesser-known scene-stealing members of New Directions.

Heather Morris, who plays Brittany, toured with Beyonce before landing Glee. I did the Beyonce Experience [tour] with her and when I came back, I started working with Zach [Woodlee], the resident choreographer for Glee. He kept hiring me for more things so I built a good relationship with him.  Then I went back with Beyonce and did ‘Single Ladies.’  When I was done, he called me and said, ‘I know you’re sick of that dance, but is there any way you could teach the [Glee cast]?”

When asked whether people think his character’s name is “Other Asian,” Harry Shum Jr. (his character’s name is Mike) says It’s a funny joke.  People really clung to that, but more and more it’s a balance.  Half know me as that, half know mea s Mike Chang.”

“I’m just excited to see what they have planned for the rest of the country,” said Mikael Short, 21, before the show, having flown into Phoenix from Utah to witness the launch with a Gleek she’d met on Twitter, Glendale’s Darien Solaris, 24.

And what they had planned, as expected, was equal parts musical theater, giddy pop culture phenomenon and Journey-loving rock show, with taped appearances from the two adult stars of Glee, Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch.

It was Lynch, in fact, who welcomed Glee fans to the table with a withering “Hello suckers. Congratulations …. You’re all idiots!”

The stage was filled with mattresses as the castmates jumped their way, in matching PJs, through Van Halen‘s Jump. A shiny Escalade was wheeled on stage for a smoldering, gospel-flavored take on Jazmine Sullivan’s Bust Your Windows by the ever-soulful Amber Riley as Mercedes, while cheerleaders danced along in string bikini tops. Teen heartthrob Cory Monteith, as quarterback Finn Hudson, whose every move seemed to inspire more shrieking than most, played drums with more aplomb than skill on the concert’s big sing-along moment, Sweet Caroline. And several members of the cast, including Chris Colfer as Kurt, donned Lady Gaga costumes for a smile-inducing Bad Romance.

They all performed in character, which meant Kevin McHale in a wheelchair, and Heather Morris, as Brittany, acting delightfully ditsy, asking Morrison’s glee club director Will Schuester, for instance, “Who are all these people?”

Musical highlights ranged from big group sings on Don’t Stop Believin’, My Life Would Suck Without You, Jump and a mash-up of Journey’s Any Way You Want It with Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’, to solo spotlights. Lea Michele, as Rachel, swaggered through the crowd enunciating Barbra Streisand‘s old Funny Girl song, Don’t Rain On My Parade. And Riley stole the show with her powerful star turns on Bust Your Windows and Christina Aguilera‘s Beautiful, which boasted a big gospel ending.

Riley notwithstanding, the songs that came across best live were on the wholesome — some would argue squeaky-clean — side of the pop divide (although one did say “suck” a lot). The raps and overt sexuality on Salt-N-Pepa‘s Push It felt a little forced and out of character, especially sandwiched between My Life Would Suck Without You and Streisand. But the show’s producers obviously know that, which explains the emphasis on Journey over hip-hop.

And speaking of Journey, after setting the tone for the concert with Don’t Stop Believin’, the Journey medley that followed Faithfully couldn’t have felt more like a grand finale by the time they hit that final “Na na na na na na.” But they managed to rally and finish the set with a crowd-pleasing version of Madonna‘s Like A Prayer, with backing singers dressed in choir robes.

They eased into the encore, the primary cast members seated in a row for Cyndi Lauper‘s bittersweet True Colors. But they went out with a bang — and a shower of confetti — on a triumphant rendition of Queen’s Somebody to Love, which, like Jump and Don’t Stop Believin’, felt like an actual Glee club arrangement.

As Gleeks compared notes in the lobby, Solaris and Short said they ended up crying, it was so good — maybe even better than the TV show itself.

Referring to the show that had her flying in from Utah, Short said, “If you think that’s good, try timesing that by 10 or 20.” Only then, she said, could “Glee fans” understand how great the live show is. Then, with a smile, she added, “They’re much better looking in person.”