Here’s a curious paradox: I stopped watching Glee some timein the middle of last season—it felt tedious and repetitive, not to mentioninsufferably impressed with itself—whereas I never miss a single episode of TheGlee Project. And yet, The Glee Project wouldn’t exist without Glee. (It’s atalent competition where the prize is a recurring role on the Fox hit). It’s acase of the farm team being a lot better than the big league club it feedsinto.
So what makes The Glee Project so great? Well, in many ways(with one major caveat, that I’ll get to later), it cleaves to the very valuesthat once made Glee itself so easy to root for. The young cast don’t look likeany other cast on TV: The show is all-inclusive. Last year, the show featured both abody-builder boy who was under 5 feet tall and a cross-dressing black boy. This year, we’ve had a blind boy, a boy with Aspergers, atransgendered boy, a sexually confused Asian kid, a flirty girl from a strictMuslim family, an overweight (but fierce) girl, and a girl in a wheelchair.That has to be the most diverse cast on TV. These kids are all remarkablytalented, but a lot of them wouldn't have the chance to strut their stuff on a more traditionally-minded show.
The other thing that distinguishes the show is the group of grownupmentors, all actual members of the Glee creative team, who seem to genuinely careabout their young charges. In particular, sweetie-pie choreographer ZachWoodlee manages to tear up whenever the kids do well (and the camera loves him for it). Casting director and host Robert Urich announces the newsof the weekly cuts as if delivering a eulogy. Vocal coach Nikki Anders isprobably the toughest of the bunch—I’d vote her Most Likely to Make One of the Glee Kids Cry—but hers is definitely a form of toughlove. Then there’s Glee creator Ryan Murphy, who emerges at the end of the showto declare his verdict on the so-called Last Chance performances. He give usa fascinating glimpse into the mind of a showrunner, talking about who he canvisualize on the show and who he can’t, who he’s inspired to write for and wholeaves him cold, and who he thinks the audience at home will root for. We’verarely gotten such an intimate look at the casting process.
The format for each episode is exactly the same and I findit weirdly comforting. First, Urichcomes out and tells the kids what this week’s topic is—tenacity, sexuality, vulnerabilityetc.—and then gives them a song that corresponds with the topic. The kids splitup the vocal parts, come up with some makeshift choreography, and perform for asurprise mentor from the cast of Glee. (In a sign that the show got bigger this year—Lea Michelewas one of this season’s mentors.)Then a new song is assigned, followed by choreography withZach and vocals with Nikki, all leading up to a video shoot. Then, the bottom 3are called back for Last Chance Performances. And finally, someone is cut.
The final scene is always the bottom 3 walking somberly tothe call-back sheet—then it’s a bit of a guessing game for the viewers at home to read their faces and try to figure out who got the boot. (Off topic: An interesting human tic ondisplay: Every single contestant looks down first beforereading the call-back sheet.) The whole process is strangely addictive.
What makes the show soar is certainly the talent ondisplay—last week, big girl Lila Mae gave a balls-to-the-wall performance of“I’m the Greatest Star” from Funny Girl—and if you’re notrooting for the spunky Ali, who has been in a wheelchair since she was 2, youhave no heart. (It's worth noting that Artie, the New Directions member in a wheelchair, is played by actor Kevin McHale, who has no physical challenges.) But I also like the fact that the show plays a bit like the “ItGets Better” campaign come to life (even more so than Glee itself). Two weeksago, Abraham, who was raised by two lesbians and considers himself straight,struggled with being called androgynous and all that it implies. Muslim Aylinworries that her parents will see her kiss boys. Charlie, who has mild Aspergers,is a major talent with a tendency to lose focus. These kids are struggling withreal issues of identity, their place in the world, and self, all whilecompeting on a nationally televised talent search.
There is one big "but" that I must add: Last year,despite an eclectic crew, the winners were two handsome white males. This year, many of the aforementioned non-cookie-cutter contestants have alreadybeen axed—first we lost the transgendered boy, then the blind boy, then the kidwith Aspergers and, last week, Abraham was jettisoned.Among the remaining cast, we still have a “crack baby” (hername is Shanna and man can she belt it out), plus Lila Mae, Aylin and Ali.We also have two very handsome boys, one, in particular,named Blake, who looks like he just stepped off the set of any CW show. Blake is a real talent, but not, I think, in keeping with the spirit of The GleeProject (or even the show Glee).
If Blake—or the studly Michael, whose claim to uniqueness isthat he likes math—wins the show, I call bullshit. Last year, they played lipservice to true diversity. Let’s see if this year they have the strength oftheir much ballyhooed convictions.
The Glee Project airs on the Oxygen network, Tuesdays at 10pm.
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