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Glee = Show Choir?

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This article in the Sioux City Journal finds important distinctions between the TV show “Glee” and show choir.
 
The whole article is here – but here are the first five points:
 
1. Show choirs don’t get to learn new songs every week, just to express their feelings. They rehearse and rehearse and rehearse for weeks just to learn one routine. And sometimes, the kids on the crew know it better than the performers do.

2. Hair is big. Really big. And the girls don’t wear bump-its (sorry, Snooki). Two girls showed me how they rat it to a frenzy, spray it to death and make it wider than Diana Ross’ ever was. (Impressive!)
 
3. Boys care about their looks. Before they get on stage, they ask each other to check their clothes and their hair. Then, they get on stage and act like they don’t care how they look.
 
4. Some actually hang up their clothes. Even though those crew kids do the heavy lifting, they get help from the performers, who make sure everything gets tucked away.
 
5. Show choir can be emotional. Saturday night I saw several kids crying while they were performing. As one told me, “this is our last performance ever and I’m going to miss it so much. My best friends are in show choir.”

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  1. Although I was never in a show choir, I have done a great deal of academic and community theater, both as a performer and a “techie,” in musicals and non-musicals.  I met my wife doing community theater while on active duty with the Army.  Our son “blossomed” when we FINALLY convinced him to get involved with theater at his high school – first as a “techie,” and then when they needed guys as a performer.  Yes, there’s a great deal of bitchiness that can happen, as in any human endeavor – BUT – and this is the really important aspect of it all, it’s so satisfying on so many levels, and you can make such wonderful friends.  It’s very intense, every bit at the non-professional as at the professional – just for very different reasons, and the close contact for 3-5 hours (longer on weekends in community theater) makes this an experience I would argue every young person should go through at least once in their lives.  We’ve seen the “geeky” kid, the only-math-and-science kid, become this hilarious performer – because he didn’t have to live up to some expectation.  We’ve had parents thank us for the experience their son had and how he has changed and opened up.  You can’t beat the performing arts – music, dance, theater – for intensifying human relations and for giving a positive outlet to all kinds of people.
     
    Ron Duquette

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