It seems that the concert movie is the latest craze. I’ve seen Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” and also The Black Eyed Peas at the movie theater in concert movie form. Last year there was Justin Beiber’s concert film, and previous entries into this category included Miley Cyrus (or was it Hannah Montana??) and The Jonas Brothers. Well “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” is the latest and greatest concert movie. And, even better, it’s in 3D. (That was sarcasm. The 3D was not necessary)
“Glee” is like a non-Disneyfied version of “High School Musical”. Non-Disneyfied because the students in the Glee Club at William McKinley High aren’t concerned with basketball games or which college to apply to or the Spring Musical (don’t get me wrong, I love the “HSM” movies. They are positive and fun). Instead, they deal with issues including: teenage pregnancy, being gay, bullying, love triangles, drinking, and sex, none of which would ever come up in any “High School Musical” movie.
“Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” was the best part of “Glee” – the performances, with none of the drama, just singing and dancing. In between the musical numbers, we see behind-the-scenes footage of the cast preparing for the show. And, since this is “Glee” in concert, not the stars of “Glee” in concert, the actors are always in character, which was clever and made for some fun moments. For example, Rachel Berry is told that Barbara Streisand (her idol) will be in the audience for that show (she wasn’t really), and in true Rachel Berry style, she proceeds to freak out.
The performance that was filmed for the movie was a show in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In addition to the behind-the-scenes footage we meet three individuals from the area who share stories about how “Glee” inspired their lives. We also meet fans who scream and shout and cheer for their favorite characters, including an adorable little Asian boy who idolizes Blaine from the Warblers (the all-male a capella group from another school, Dalton Academy). He even dresses as a mini Warbler and sings and dances to Warbler tunes. Too cute!
Included in the performances are “Don’t Stop Believin'”, the unofficial “Glee” anthem, “I’m a Slave 4 U” (a somewhat raunchy performance which would make the real Britney proud), “Fat Bottomed Girls” (a very fun rock version of the song, complete with Puck playing guitar), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (Artie sang in his wheelchair while Mike did the dancing, complete with copious crotch-grabbing), “Valerie” (a very fun performance by Santana with Brittany and Mike dancing), “Firework” (the wonderful Katy Perry song performed energetically by Rachel), “Forget You” (does Gwyneth Paltrow just show up anywhere someone hands her a microphone??), “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (a great performance by Kurt, not as sad as the version in the TV episode), and “Born This Way”, where just like in the episode, everyone wears their identifying T-shirts. [Click here for the complete song list and cast]
The only negatives about “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” were that for most of the songs, they didn’t perform the entire song. I know on the TV show they sometimes don’t perform the whole song, but on the soundtracks they always do. So I wasn’t sure why they cut parts of the songs out for the concert. Also, the two best characters from “Glee” were not included in the concert at all: the ultra-dreamy, totally awesome Spanish teacher/Glee Club director, Mr. Schuester, and everyone’s favorite cheerleading coach that we love to hate, Sue Sylvester. (Supposedly, Sue will be included in the DVD version of the concert movie). I also could have done with less of the fans throughout the show. I think it’s fine before the concert starts, to interview the fans, but during the show, it kind of took away from the performances.
If you go see “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie”, see it with a fellow fan (as I did). You’ll have fun together and you will have a hard time staying in your seat (I did my fair share of bopping around in my seat during the performance!!)
