On April 13, 2010, television’s best musical dramedy Glee returned to FOX with its 14th episode, “Hell-O.” The show featured five songs (four of which were performed) that featured either “Hello” or “Hell” in the title.

The actor who played Jesse St. James was Jonathan Groff. He was in the Original Broadway Cast of Spring Awakening with Lea Michele (Rachel Berry).

The coach of Vocal Adrenaline was played by the sensational Idina Menzel. She was in the Original Broadway Casts of Rent and Wicked. Because Michele looks so much like Menzel many Gleeks wanted Menzel to play Rachel Berry’s mother.

Certainly the idea was floated but what actress wants to play a mother when she can play the coach of Vocal Adrenaline and mack with Matthew Morrison?

Sadly, Menzel did not sing in the episode.

Groff however did. He performed Lionel Richie’s “Hello” with Michele and “Highway to Hell” with Vocal Adrenaline.

Land of Punt enjoyed Cory Monteith’s (Finn) version of “Hello, I Love You.” It’s a very strong cover. LOP liked the direction the show took with his character; he dedication to New Directions. Finn has never been more likable.

Another highlight of the episode was large speaking parts for Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana). Their characters were given some much needed attention and Morris had some very funny lines. Her comedic abilities are underrated and under-used.

The ‘Hello Goodbye” number was particularly good although you can never go wrong with The Beatles.

The episode practically ignored our boy Puck and Quinn.

After the episode, FOX broadcasted a video featuring Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester performing Madonna’s “Vogue.” The spoof/homage came out of nowhere until FOX aired a preview of next week’s episode. Then it made (some) sense; basically the “Vogue” video is nothing more than a commercial.

Nonetheless it was a little weird. We would have liked to have seen Sue Sylvester stay in her track suits.

Apart from Lynch, and the four “dancers” from New Directions, the only other Glee cast members in “Vogue” were Chris Colfer and Amber Riley.

The episode garnered 13.66 million viewers making it the most watched Glee of all-time.

“Hello, I Love You” by The Doors
“Gives You Hell” by All American Rejects
“Hello” by Lionel Richie
“Hello Again” by Neil Diamond
“Highway to Hell” by AC/DC
“Hello, Goodbye” by The Beatles

“Hello, I Love You”



“Gives You Hell”



“Hello”



“Highway to Hell”



“Hello, Goodbye”



“Vogue”

“New Directions” began show with a performance of Queen’s “Somebody To Love” from the episode “The Rhodes Not Taken.”

The Oprah’s audience was quite ridiculous–a bunch of screaming middle-aged harpies and bouncing gay guys. They were really embarrassing, even for Gleeks.

After a commercial break, The Oprah talked with the cast including Matthew Morrison. Besides Morrison, Lea Michele spoke with the Oprah the most.

In the next segment, Jane Lynch was introduced and there was even more talking. Sadly, there was not one question posed to Lynch about her seminal role in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Nonetheless, the discussion was followed by a vignette of Glee behind-the-scenes. It was rather banal until Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) entered. NPH makes everything better.

In the next segment, Morrison got into a “dance off” with Harry Slum Jr. and lost badly. Slum can really dance.

Another video followed, this time, Morrison, Cory Monteith, and Amber Riley visited Burbank’s John Burroughs High School Show Choir affectionately known as Powerhouse (the show choir that inspired Glee).

By the way, JBHS has five competing show choir. How many did your high school have?

After the fluff piece, Powerhouse rocked The Oprah show with a rather saucy production of Madonna’s “Vogue.”

Is LOP the only quasi-mythological land that thinks the 18th-century, white-wig, big dress, mole-on-lip, French ruling class motif rather licentious? They couldn’t wear more clothes but it just screams soft-core porn naughtiness.

Following the jam, The Oprah gave the JBHS Show Choir a piano and some cash to help them pay for their productions or something–by this time Land of Punt was working on its fifth Hot toddy and not really paying attention.

The Oprah show concluded with the entire cast on stage each holding a pledge they signed not to text and drive. And of course the audience got some sweet swag–Glee on DVD.

Also appearing on The Oprah Show, was Glee creator Ryan Murphy. However, he was in the audience and not invited on stage.

Minus the obnoxious Oprah-bots in the audience, Glee on The Oprah Show was quite enjoyable.

Glee’s Lea Michele (Rachel), Dianna Argon (Quinn), Cory Monteith (Finn), Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester), and Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) all appear on the cover of the April issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

What they are doing on the cover of THAT magazine is anyone’s guess but any Glee press is welcomed by Gleeks.

The photograph, taken by Mark Seliger, is reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting. Land of Punt thinks the image’s composition is a direct copy of a No-Rock although we couldn’t find the painting on the internet.

The fact that we brought up No-Rock tells you where we’re going with this article. To put it as succinctly as possible, LOP is disappointed in Glee’s Rolling Stone cover.

Why does Michele have to show her off her bum? Yes, it’s not a nice bum, but does everything have to devolve into titillation?

If you retake the picture without the wire in Michele’s skirt, you have a nice little snapshot. As it sits now, your eye is immediately drawn to her posterior. No matter how hard you try you can’t away; you can’t stop thinking about spanking it, biting it, and calling it names in Spanish. Both Michele and “Rachel” deserve better.

In today’s standards the cover is extremely tame but can’t it be 100% tame?

No it can’t because Rolling Stone is in business to sell magazines. And they think in order to move large quantities of ‘zines they need to “sex” everything up.

So why stop at Michele’s backside? Why not show everyone’s backside? Why not strip the cast down and put them in pool of butterscotch pudding? Why not deck them out in leather and latex bondage gear? Or worse yet, why not dress them up like a women’s field hockey team.

To add to LOP’s frustrations, Rolling Stone promotes the cover story thusly:

Rolling Stone’s Erik Hedegaard ventures into the Fox hit’s most controversial corners, uncovering the stories behind stolen car stereos, illegal substances, Facebook-revenge fantasies

Smarmy. Snarky. Sleazy. And very disappointing.

The Fox Network recently announced that the cast of Glee will perform live in a few select American cities this spring. Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, and the rest will first take to the stage May 18 in Phoenix, Arizona.

What took Fox so long?

With the popularity of Glee as high as it is, it’s a surprise that Fox hasn’t turned the franchise into a Saturday morning cartoon, an amusement park, and a Forex trading platform.

As it is, it’s taken the fourth network nearly a year to turn the hit musical dramedy into a live event (i.e. money printing machine).

This spring Glee fans, or as Land of Punt calls them “Gleeks,” will be able to experience their favorite singing 30-year-olds posing as high schoolers in comfort of their nearby theatre and/or music hall.

Now, if you think Phoenix is an odd place to start a huge tour like this just remember that the capital city of Arizona is now the fifth most populated in America.

Cha-ching.

After P-town, Glee Live In Concert plays at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on May 20 and 21.

From there it’s the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago for shows on May 25 and 26.

Finally, the cast wraps up their four-city, seven-show tour with a two night stand at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on May 28 and 29. Does anyone smell a Regis and Kelly appearence?

Expect the full cast of “high schoolers” but do not expect Mr. Schuster or Sue Sylvester. The actors who play those characters, Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch, are not scheduled to appear.

“The response of the fans to our little show has been so immediate and so gratifying, we wanted to get out and thank them live and in person,” said show creator Ryan Murphy. “And what show lends itself more to a concert than ‘Glee’? We can’t wait to take this show on the road and the actors couldn’t be more excited to perform live for audiences in these four cities.”

The sentiment is lovely, but Land of Punt is dubious about the quality of the upcoming Glee concert tour. While we don’t doubt the awesomeness of seeing Heather Morris live, LOP thinks that this jaunt is nothing more than seven pain-in-the-a cappella engagements to the cast.

After all, being on an hour long drama is hard. Being on an hour long musical-drama is grueling. Throw a tour on top of that and you have a hospital-inducing, TMZ-headline-grabbing, topic-for-a-week-on-The-View, mental breakdown waiting to happen.

There will be no way these “kids” will be able to fully commit to a live show… unless they skip sleeping, eating and tweeting. And by “commit” we mean both physically, emotionally, mentally, and sartorially.

Therefore LOP predicts the reviews for “Glee Live in Concert” will fall along the lines of “hurried,” “incomplete,” “thrown together,” “could have been better,” and “was the tribute to Glenn Beck really necessary?”

Also will Kevin McHale perform in a wheelchair?

Scheduled To Appear

Lea Michele (Rachel)
Cory Monteith (Finn)
Amber Riley (Mercedes)
Chris Colfer (Kurt)
Kevin McHale (Artie)
Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina)
Mark Salling (Puck)
Dianna Agron (Quinn)
Naya Rivera (Santana)
Heather Morris (Brittany)
Harry Shum Jr. (Mike)
Dijon Talton (Matt)

Songs Likely To Be Performed

“Don’t Stop Believin”
“Somebody To Love”
“Jump”
“Don’t Rain on My Parade”
“Sweet Caroline.”

They get you out of your seat. They elicit thunderous applause. They send shivers up and down your spine. They are called “showstoppers” and every Broadway musical endeavors to have one. However, only a select few can lay claim to having a legitimate put-people-on-their-feet, bring-down-the-house, show-stopping musical number.

Land of Punt looks at four of the best showstoppers to ever grace the boards on the Great White Way. Each of these classic songs have three things in common: they were originally performed by women, they all come at the end of Act I in their respective productions, and they all raise the human spirit to great new heights.

And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going
Dreamgirls
Lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger
Made famous by Jennifer Holliday

This showstopper appeared in the 1981 Broadway production of Dreamgirls. In the musical, the song is sung by the character ‘Efie” as her professional and romantic relationship with Curtis Taylor, Jr. comes to an end.

Oddly enough the song was a hit for two different “Jennifers.” Jennifer Holiday, who originated the role of “Efie” on Broadway, recorded a R&B version of song that went to number one in 1982.

More than 20 years later Jennifer Hudson, who played “Efie” in the movie, and won an academy award for her performance, released her own R&B version of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Her rendition peaked inside the top 20.

The indelible Whitney Houston performed the song at the 1994 American Music Awards.

Don’t Rain On My Parade
Funny Girl
Lyrics by Bob Merrill and music by Jule Styne
Made famous by Barbra Streisand

The great Barbra Streisand performed this song in both the original 1964 theatrical production and the 1968 movie adaptation. The song is a standard in Ms. Streisand’s repertoire. And even though she didn’t write it, “Don’t Rain On My Parade” is her song.

The song has been covered by several artists including Bobby Darin and Liza Minnelli. Idina Menzel sang the song at the Kennedy Honors concert in tribute to Ms. Streisand. Lea Michele, in a goose-bump inducing performance, belted out the song in the 2009 fall finale of Fox’s hit television show Glee.

The song comes at a crucial time in the musical’s story where the character “Fanny” declares her intentions to marry “Nick Arnstein.”

Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Gypsy
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Jule Styne,
Made famous by Ethel Merman

“Everything’s Coming Up Roses” was made famous by the legendary Ethel Merman. She sang it in the 1959 Broadway production of Gypsy. The musical, the role of “Gypsy Lee Rose” which Merman originated, and the song are all seminal in the history of musical theater.

Rosalind Russell sang the song in the 1962 film version and Better Midler sang it in 1993 television version. To further the song’s standing as fodder for Broadway royalty, Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone performed the song, respectively, in the 2003 and 2008 Gypsy revivals.

The song’s placement in the show is quite ironic. Rose sings the song after her favorite daughter June runs away to elope. The song is also a pun. Besides “roses” meaning “good,” it also means everything is good when it’s done “Rose’s way.”

Defying Gravity
Wicked
Lyrics and music by Stephen Schwartz
Made famous by Idina Menzel

If this song doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up than you’re not human. “Defying Gravity” is from the 2003 Broadway smash hit musical, Wicked. The song showcases Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, but Glinda and the citizens of Oz have parts as well.

The song comes at a point in the story when Elphaba realizes the Wizard of Oz isn’t the hero she was led to believe. With her expectations shattered, Elphaba vows to fight the Wizard and his evil plans.

In the production, the actress playing Elpaha is lifted into the air as she’s surrounded by smoke, wind and lighting effects. It’s quite a dramatic and awe-inspiring moment.

Idina Menzel originated the role of Elphaba and her rendition is obviously the definitive version. Since it’s a fairly new song, from a fairly new musical, at least compared to the three other songs on this list, there are not a lot of other versions for comparison. However, the song was performed on the aforementioned Glee. Sadly, Lea Michele had to share the singing duties with Chris Colfer.

The second soundtrack album from America’s favorite musical dramedy is scheduled to drop Dec. 8. The song list from the album has already been released.

The album includes Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” Lilly Allen’s “Smile,” and Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You.”

Land of Punt is looking forward to the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and Van Halen’s “Jump.”

Another track we’re excited to hear is “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl. It better be sung by Lea Michele.

LOP wishes to express a similar sentiment about “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls. That better be belted out by Amber Riley.

We want our Broadway show tunes in situ. No mashups! No duets! Kurt doesn’t need to participate in a Diva-off with either of the aforementioned numbers.

All the chosen songs are either classics, standards or show stoppers. But a few, to state it lightly, are a bit over-used. The songs leading the worn-out charge are Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love,” Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You,” and Cyndi Lauper’s “True Color.”

And of course the mother of all exhausted tunes, John Lennon’s “Imagine.” Of course Glee embodies the sentiment of Lennon’s pop anthem and it’s inclusion is quite logical.

Certainly Land of Punt’s opinion doesn’t change the quality of the songs and surely Glee will give each composition its own unique spin.

The only song that induced a cringe from LOP was Paul Anka’s “(You’re) Having My Baby.” It is arguably the worst song ever written.

Dollars to doughnuts, Quinn sings the Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s classic, “Don’t Make Me Over.”

The mash-up featuring the Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and Gary Puckett & The Union Gap’s “Young Girl” sounds interesting.

The “Crush” Glee is performing belongs to David Archuleta’s.

“Proud Mary”
“Endless Love”
“I’ll Stand By You”
“Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Young Girl”
“Crush”
“(You’re) Having My Baby”
“Lean on Me”
“Don’t Make Me Over”
“Imagine”
“True Colors”
“Jump”
“Smile” (Lily Allen)
“Smile” (Charlie Chaplin)
“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”
“Don’t Rain on My Parade”
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
“My Life Would Suck Without You”

01-18-10/14:53

Matthew Morrison will enter the studio very soon to record a solo album for Mercury Records. The offering is scheduled to drop in the fall.

No word on producer or what type of material Morrison will be recording.

Glee returns with the second half of its first season on April 13. The Fox show has been picked up for a second season.

The issue, from one of the industry’s leading publications, features stories on Glee’s fanatical viewer base, previews of upcoming storylines, and an interview with Coach Sue Sylvester.

Be forewarned, the article is very confusing. They keep mentioning names like Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, and Jane Lynch. We have no idea who those people are but apparently they have something to do with Glee (maybe they’re teachers?).

A magazine cover seems only logical for Glee as the burgeoning show has already achieved a modicum of success. It’s the first fall show the Fox Network picked up for a full 22-episode season (it does well in the 18–49 demo) and more than 1.7 million Glee songs have been sold since May.

You can learn more at EW.com. Photographs were snapped by Ture Lillegraven.

To light a spark, Mr. Schuester (Matthew Morrison) split New Directions into boys and girls and had them compete in a mash-up mash-off.

What’s a mash-up you ask?

As Mr. Schuester explained, a mash-up is “when you take two songs and mash them together to make an even richer explosion of musical expression.”

The boys performed a mash-up of Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” and Usher’s “Confessions.” The girls did a mash-up of yet another Beyoncé song, “Halo,” and “Walking On Sunshine” by Katrina and The Waves.

As always, Rachel (Lea Michele) was brilliant while Finn (Cory Monteith) bounced around the stage like the world’s biggest spaz.

While Michele looks like she was born for a stage, Monteith’s performances are a cross between drunken karaoke and a Grand mal seizure. Fortunately, Monteith’s unatural gyrations don’t ruin the boys’ mash-up.

Our favorite aspect of the performances, especially the boys’, is the noticing the difference between who’s on the show to act and who’s on the show to dance.

There are two “dance ringers” in each group but the difference in hoofin’ it is more pronounced with the boys than with the girls. Please except this as a compliment but women are generally better dancers, or at least look better, when moving to music.

Mash Up – It’s My Life & Confessions

Mash Up – Halo & Walking On Sunshine

Other Glee Episodes
Glee Songs From 10-14-09, Episode 7 (VIDEO)
Glee Songs From 10-21-09, Episode 8 (VIDEO)
Glee Songs For November 11, Season 1 Episode 9 ‘Wheels’ (VIDEO)

10-15-09/01:06

Land of Punt erred and incorrectly labeled this episode as “8″ instead of “6.” It has been corrected and we do apologize.

12-16-09 19:04

Glee received Golden Globe nominations for Best Comedy/Musical, for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy/Musical (Matthew Morrison) and Best Lead Actress in a Comedy/Musical (Lea Michele).

The 67th Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcasted on NBC on Jan. 17.

In other Glee news, Cory Monteith (Finn) used his twitter account to promote a YouTube video of Manny Garcia, a burgeoning San Francisco-based singer. Garcia did a mash-up of “True Colors” and “Defying Gravity.” Monetith sent a tweet to his 75,000 followers with the word “props” attached to the video’s link. At press time, Garcia’s YouTube video had nearly 25,000 views and scores of positive comments.