I’m sure all of you have heard of the TV show Glee, that just premiere its second season on Tuesday. I love the show and am a totally Gleek. Glee uses a pretty wide variety of songs from popular music to broadway to old songs. They re-sing it and give a nice glee spin to it. So I was wondering how do songs that are re-sang compare to the original? Not only music, but many other things as well, such as movies or plays. I know that some people have the notion that the original is always better, and I don’t necessarily agree with that. For example, I happen to like many of the glee versions of the song better than the original ones, but there are cases where the original is better (LIke frozen yogurt, I like the original favor.) It’s like the dances we talked about in class the other day, and while traditional ballet isn’t called original ballet, it’s like the same thing, and I’m a person who prefers traditional ballet.
Here’s a video of Wicked’s Defying Gravity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlMBcTGJ4YM
Here’s a video of Glee’s Defying Gravity:
How do you think the two songs compare? Original? Or not?
Sandra Lau
Both performances are at a very high level. There is a kind of youthful exuberance that is part of all the Glee performances, They all seem to have a similar Glee-ishness. I don’t mean to criticize it, but it is a very distinctive style that is highly polished and “over the top” and adds an element of “kitsch” that I think you either savor or reject. I have seen several bits of the show (can’t say I’m a big fan…) and I’m impressed with the musical abilities of all the singers and dancers, and I like the idea of hearing familiar songs sung by new artists.