As Allison mentioned in her review of last night's Glee, it was an awesome episode. The show featured some great songs, some great lines, and a few surprises about some of the students and faculty. If you haven't watched it yet, I won't give away too much.
My favorite song was "Defying Gravity," the ballad from Wicked, sung in a "diva off" by Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer), with each performance inter-cut with the other. They both have fantastic voices, and I'm in awe of Colfer's spot-on tone and intonation. Just gorgeous! But I have to agree with Allison that perhaps Rachel has the more Broadway-type voice that jumps off the stage and grabs you.
I don't know, though. It's a tough call as to which has the bigger diva voice. What do you think? If you were a Broadway casting director, who would you choose to sing this song -- Kurt or Rachel?
(Thanks to Rickey.org for posting the video.)
Here's the Defying Gravity video from last night's Glee
Posted Nov 12th 2009 9:02AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Watercooler Talk, Reality-Free, Glee
Tags: broadway shows, chris colfer, defying gravity, glee, glee songs, glees defying gravity, kurt hummel, lea michele, rachel berry, wicked
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-12-2009 @ 9:25AM
Martin said...
Kurt was great, but Rachel just has more of a broadway tone and attitude whereas Kurt is just a little too diva in his performance...
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11-12-2009 @ 10:23AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Her voice is quite a bit better. The show's obvious lip syncing has driven it off our DVR though. If they'd sing and record at the moment rather than pre-record and lip sync we'd still put up with the soap opera elements of the show. Too bad - the pilot was so good.
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11-12-2009 @ 10:41AM
Kristi said...
this episode was much better than some of the others so far this season, and I think it's because it focused on the kids and not Will's love life. I liked getting to know Arty better, and thought he had a smoothness to his voice I wasn't expecting. I also really like how they're handling Kurt and his Dad's relationship, I really think it will open doors for kids and parents around the country.
http://www.orble.com/teevee-glee-1111/
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11-12-2009 @ 11:03AM
Don-Don said...
Doesn't Lea Michele remind you of Idina Menzel?
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11-16-2009 @ 10:59PM
Canadianfoodiegirl said...
I was going to say the same thing. I thought that Lea Michele resembled Idina Menzel the first time I saw her perform on Glee.
11-12-2009 @ 11:08AM
Dutchy said...
All the songs on Glee are just to overproduced. I never felt that the actors are singing on spot, it is almost just a lipsync act. The producers should look more at HighSchoolMusical, I haven't seen this problem there.
Another thing that bothers me, at a moment in this clip you see a trumpetplayer and a tromboneplayer blowing their lungs out, but still you can't hear them. And the trumpetsound you hear is from a synthesizer.
Why not let the musicians and singers do it 'live' and enhance the sound. And not put a whole new soundtrack under it.
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11-12-2009 @ 11:30AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
Dutchy, you're suggesting looking to High School Musical for inspiration? Yikes...
11-12-2009 @ 11:14AM
Brian said...
Lea Michele's voice is very Broadway. She played Wendla in Spring Awakening. Her voice is beyond amazing.
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11-12-2009 @ 1:50PM
Paul said...
I don't know of any TV or film musical that's actually sung live.
I agree it is slightly on the side of being a bit over-produced and could be better melded in. But I suspect it has a lot to do with it being a TV series and that they are doing this week after week with a much shorter time constraint then say a movie like Chicago that have a lot more time to make the music blend with the show.
However it is getting better and better melded. I suspect that it'll take about 1 season to lock down a good blend for the production to use that will be workable in a quick turnaround format, but at the same time not feel so out of place. I definitely thought this week's episode was much less out of place then previous weeks. I recall wheneven Will sung, the whole thing was so completely over the top over produced where his voice was definitely enhanced. I think if they just tone down enhancing the voices to some sort of Pop-CD quality, the show would be more believable.
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11-12-2009 @ 3:50PM
Jacob said...
Kurt's voice was just way too high / feminine. It didn't really have the range that Rachel had...
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11-13-2009 @ 12:33AM
Jayne said...
Rachel not doubt.
Nice effort by Kurt/Chris but really not the song to showcase her voice. Plus Lea Michele is a powerhouse with a truly amazing voice.
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11-13-2009 @ 10:56PM
xnifex said...
i just love it when Lea Michele sings so she wins hands down.
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1-09-2010 @ 8:08PM
wickedluv said...
I do have to agree that Rachel/Lea does have an amazing powerhouse of a voice. She is extremely talented and has one of the most clear, amazing voices I've heard.
However, I think Kurt/Chris's voice is fantastic and wonderful. Of course his voice is high...but that doesn't mean anything. I wish he had more vocal parts in the series. His voice beautiful and lovely and makes me smile.
So in the battle between Rachel and Kurt, they both are amazing, and Rachel's voice is better suited for it, but Kurt does have a lovely voice that deserves more performance time.
It may be a bit over-produced, but how can you tell that they are lip syncing? Honestly I can't tell.
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