Glee, Glee Charice! Honor stories, horror stories

MANILA (23 June) - Ah, Miley Cyrus hates Glee! according to Hilton Hater (01 June, The Hollywood Gossip). What´s the matter: Miley doesn´t like the concept of the show? Know then: The school glee club in Glee is "full of losers" (Linda Matchan, 24 April, Boston Globe). It´s about a school choir "full of misfits" (Cristina Kinon, 07 August 2009, New York Daily News). Michael Lopez has 6 reasons to be infuriated with it you don´t want to know about any of them, including autotune (17 June, Phoenix New Times). Joshua Alston hates the musical numbers (13 April, Newsweek). And the owner itself, Fox put the show on hold for 4 months this year in the 1st episode (ANN, 09 December 2009, ifelicious.com). There must have been something wrong. So why would Filipino international musical artist Charice, "The Most Talented Girl In The World" according to Oprah, want to be part of that?

I´ve watched a few episodes of Glee, and I think I know why. The season finale was watched by 11 million viewers, "the highest-rated season-ender for all freshman series" (Lynette Rice, 09 June, hollywoodinsider.com). I can explain the appeal with this quote (ANN, globaltv.com):

Glee is a one-hour comedy series with biting humor that features a soundtrack of hit music from past to present. The show follows an optimistic high school teacher as he tries to refuel his own passion while reinventing the high school´s glee club and challenging a group of outcasts to realize their star potential.

From horror to honor, I love stories like those. I would say Charice and Glee make a perfect match. Charice herself is a soundtrack of hit music from past to present! FalseVoice calls her a Walking Karaoke and, like I said, "she will sing at the drop of a hint" (see my "FalseVoice. The Wizard of YouTube," 29 May 2010, DreamsGirl Charice). She´s in college (online) but she´s as optimistic as most people are not. Charice has been an outcast in her own country, and she has had to pick up the shattered pieces of her life before she began to appreciate her own star potential. FalseVoice is not unlike the high school teacher who was fueling his own passion and who did not realize that he was reinventing Charice by uploading a video of her singing "I Will Always Love You." He was a stranger, and he was also an angel. That video upload started a chain of events that has brought Charice to where she is now. So: "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that, some have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2 NRSV). The other side of that is strangers became angels to Charice: Star King of Korea, Ellen DeGeneres of New York, Oprah of Chicago, David Foster of Canada, Paul O´Grady of London, Celine Dion of Canada, Andrea Bocelli of Italy, Ti Lascio Una Canzione of Italy, Singapore Idol... and now Glee.

And of course, Charice is Glee! I mean that dictionary meaning of glee that refers to merriment brought about by a positive view on life, not gloat that refers to delight at the expense of someone else. Not gloating, she had cried hard and been depressed because of some Filipinos deprecating her, not appreciating what she is and what she has achieved so far.

What´s the TV show Glee anyway? Isn´t Glee simply Fox´s version of the highly popular High School Musical? Glee Executive Producer Brad Falchuk says, "´High School Musical´ is great, but this is something edgier and a little more adult, though you can watch it with your kids" (Cristina Kinon, 07 August 2009, nydailynews.com). Charice would want to be in a show that you can watch with your kids.

My son Jomar has just handed me the DVD of the whole Season 1 of Glee; I´ve just watched the season finale, and there are 3 quotes I´d like to share with you:
"Sometimes, being special sucks."
It happened to Charice.
"All we have to do is show the judges that we believe in ourselves."
It didn´t happen to Charice.
"You can´t always get what you want."
It happens to everyone.

The season finale of Glee aired early this June yet, so what are we talking Charice is going to be on Glee? Because this Fox TV series has been renewed for a 2nd season, and even a 3rd season (Wikipedia). For the new season, there will be 3 new cast members. And Charice is one of them.

Glee is about making music. Songs sung in the show are released through iTunes Store; Columbia Records has released a series of albums, starting with Glee: The Music, Volume 1 (November 2009) (Wikipedia). The show has been well-received; its music has been a commercial success - 7 million digital sales. It won the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Musical Or Comedy, and the People´s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy in 2010. Its first season also garnered a Peabody Award - for Excellence.

Glee is about making music together. It´s the story of the choir director, the choir anti-hero, but it is more the story of the choir getting their act together. The school´s glee club New Directions won the Sectionals without their coach. The point of the final episode of Season 1 is that you always have to believe in yourself and in your group.

Glee is about making musical dreams come true. Now then, if you dream to be in Glee, as Charice did, you´re dreaming big. Glee centers on the school glee club, in McKinley High in Lima, Ohio. Glee is fiction, not truth; no matter, it's a hit, so even Madonna and Lady Gaga would want to be in it. Some dreams come true, some dreams turn sour, but you dream on.

So, why wouldn´t Charice want to be in a show like that?   And yes, unique meets unique. Charice is unique as Glee is unique, not only because creator Ryan Murphy has banned sex on the set (Kate Webb, 23 June, theprovince.com) - Mommy Raquel would have been pleased. Glee is the only one of its kind. Tom Maurstad (dallasnews.com) says:

Glee is the television equivalent of a unicorn. It´s so dazzling, so fantastical, so outside the natural order of things, you can´t quite believe what you´re seeing.

Doesn´t that describe our Little Big Star Charice when she´s performing?!

Glee is "a new genre for TV," according to Francine Brokaw (24 August 2009, suite101.com):

The show is unique in that it is basically a musical comedy, which is something that really hasn´t been explored on TV before. It´s not a variety show. It´s a genuine musical comedy.

Charice should suit a musical comedy to a T. She´s a comic when she wants to be. Glee has revived interest in choir music (Matchan as cited), as Charice has revived belting out songs in the Philippines. Among Filipina singers, everybody wants to be the next Charice! I don´t blame them; you can´t have a dream come true if you don´t dream.

And how did Charice's dream come true this time, landing a recurring role in Glee? No, it wasn´t like Pocholo Concepcion made it appear (see his "Charice's ´done deal´ sparks row," inquirer.net). The Inquirer reporter was the one who first reported that Charice "was set to join the cast of the hit TV musical series ´Glee´ in the United States;" it was he who said it was a "done deal," something he had extracted from a reluctant Grace Mendoza, Charice's manager in the Philippines, according to his story; it was his report that sparked the row. Charice denied it; Mommy Raquel denied it - and Mendoza was forced to resign over the imbroglio. She was reinstated, but that is begging the question. You get somebody fired because of your not-so-innocent report and you still gloat, "We told you so" (Pocholo Concepcion, 23 June 2010, inquirer.net). Glee means either gladness or gloating; to turn a noun into a verb, to glee is to gladden or to gloat – so, to glee is a choice. To glee or not to glee, that is the question!

You don´t gloat over a rumor. Charice herself said (Ricardo F Lo, 24 June, philstar.com):

It´s official. I´m on Glee (next season) but (there is) a story behind it. When (the) rumor came out, it wasn´t true. But then after that, I tried to audition. And I made it! Let´s party! 

The auditions started this February (Christie D´Zurilla, 11 January, latimes.com). Charice told her godfather (in Roman Catholic baptism) Lo himself in an exclusive phone interview, "Yes, Ninong Ricky, I´m ´Glee-ful´!" And Lo cites the US magazine Entertainment Weekly as saying:

Charice is signed, sealed and delivered to recur next season as a foreign-exchange student whose killer vocals get Rachel (played by Lea Michele) contemplating murder.

Which is a nice twist, because early this year, Charice was quoted as saying, half-seriously, that if ever she were in the movies, she would be contemplating the murder of the likes of Tom Cruise! (Ricardo F Lo, 03 February, philstar.com).

I love Charice and that makes me one of the Chasters. I love Glee and that makes me one of the Gleeks.

I know Charice loves horror stories. I know I love Glee for being honor stories.