Lip Service

If you haven't seen FOX's new awkward musical series, Glee, I strongly urge you to do so. Immediately. The writing never once lets its specific comedic style get in the way of the characters' emotions, it's filled with all sorts of little details that are hilarious (like the pamphlets in the guidance counselor's office bearing titles such as Divorce: Why Your Parents Stopped Loving You and My Mom's Bipolar And She Won't Stop Yelling), and it's easily got the most diverse cast I've ever seen on network TV. In the second episode alone, there are four Asian characters! FOUR! And three are series regulars! Including a football coach! Amazing.

Speaking of casting, Glee is already a theatre geek's dream. Last night's episode saw Debra Monk and a bow-tied Victor Garber as Matthew Morrison's parents. Let's stop and look at that sentence again. Debra Monk. Victor Garber. Matthew Morrison. ALL RELATED. I would love to be at that dinner table. Of course, there was also Tony winner John Lloyd Young and Josh Groban. And series regular Lea Michele, whose character I keep hoping will say "This is my father, he speaks for both of us." I've also heard that Kristin Chenoweth will be on the show, if that happens, she really needs to sing. If she can sing a little bit of "My Funny Valentine" on The West Wing, she can certainly do a full number on Glee.

I have one reservation about the show, however: the lip-synching. I mean, really? Really? You have all that Broadway talent, and they're not singing live? I do understand that with television lip-synching can be necessary, especially because of all the choreography. And that choreography is why it doesn't bother me as much as it normally would; it's not like I'm distracted by their lips when they're running around the stage. But what does bother me is that at least with some numbers, I really don't think it's the actors singing. And these are performance numbers. If it were internal, fantasty musical number sequences--like Mercedes' inner production number, "Bust the Windows"--I'd be on board, no question. But when the characters are supposed to be singing in Glee's version of the real world? No way. The use of music throughout the show--which deserves its own (forthcoming!) post--is fascinating, and is a huge part of what makes that world so appealing for me. The excessive lip-synching--and lack of the actors' own singing, if that's in fact the case for at least some of the numbers--pulls me out of the show at the exact moments I should be most invested.

Lip-synching isn't enough to keep me away from such a smart show, especially when it puts musical theatre front and center. But for a lot of people who also prefer to see and hear things live--like the theatre fans who should be Glee's perfect audience--it may be.