Coming together to get gift for Chris Colfer in celebration of the writing and airing of the episode of Glee he has penned. Logo by ratchet.tumblr.com
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Tuesday’s Glee (Fox, 8/7c) marks the first episode written by star Chris Colfer, who tells TVLine he was only given two guidelines for his script: “I couldn’t break up with Blaine and I couldn’t kill anyone.” Below, Colfer reveals more details about his Glee writing debut, then gives us a look ahead at the show’s future: Will Kurt return next season? And if so, could he find himself suddenly single?
I never wanted to do this, or gave any indication that I wanted to do it. It’s not my world, these aren’t my characters and I thought I’d hate tampering with it or ruining it. But then they came to me and said, “Would you be interested in writing an episode? We want you to.” It was an opportunity that I could not turn down.
TVLINE | Can you set it up for us? What’s it all about?
Everyone knows I’m a very selfish writer, so the main storyline is about Kurt being down on his luck and looking for something to validate him as a performer. He ends up joining an assisted living home’s production of Peter Pan, and something happens to the woman playing Peter, so he has to fill in. The biggest compliment I got from the crew and the cast when the script came out was that it reminded them of a Glee episode from Season 1. And we got some amazing people to be in it.
TVLINE | Yeah, let’s talk about those amazing people.
June Squibb, Tom Conway and Billy Dee Williams; I was shocked. I never expected that we’d get names like that, especially June Squibb, coming [off of] an Oscar nomination. I have to say, June blew me away. People need to watch this episode just for her performance. At 83 years old, she was on her feet 14 hours a day, singing and dancing and keeping up with the rest of us. She was just impressing everyone around her. She was incredible, and I hope she gets the recognition she deserves. She blew all of us away.
TVLINE | What was most important for you to get across in the episode?
I wanted it to be very much like classic Glee. I wanted to do a story about underdogs; I think that’s why we have such a passionate audience, because it was a show about a group of kids that had never had something represent them before. My two favorite things in life are animals and old people, so I definitely wanted to incorporate both of those into the story.
TVLINE | Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn’t for whatever reason?
They only gave me two guidelines when they gave me the job: I couldn’t break up with Blaine and I couldn’t kill anyone. They really gave me so much freedom with this. I was terrified going into it. I didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to tell the story I wanted to tell, but the writers gave me so much room to play with. It was an incredible experience.
TVLINE | So we shouldn’t expect Kurt to break up with, then murder, Blaine?
No, no that won’t happen in this episode. Maybe Season 6, but the blood won’t be on my hands. That’ll be someone else’s episode.
TVLINE | How do you feel about where they are now, and where they could go from here?
They’re very young and they’re engaged, so I’m not sure where they’ll go after. Engagement is already a pretty big step. I’m very lucky that’s not in my hands.
TVLINE | Do you know if you’ll be back full-time next year?
I have absolutely no idea. I have heard very little about what’s going on with Season 6, so I have no idea.
TVLINE | Ryan Murphy recently said something huge happens that sends everyone on a different path. Can you elaborate?
Season 5 has a really nice conclusion that I think our audience is going to be really happy with. It sends every character on their own way, which will open up the door to a lot of possibilities in Season 6, depending on what they want to do with it. Every character gets a good send-off.
TVLINE | What are your hopes for Kurt’s future, generally speaking?
Selfishly, I had so much fun working with June, Tim and Billy Dee, I hope he has a future in the assisted living home that I created. But I just want to see him happy. I hope to see him find validation within himself. I think that would be a great lesson for the kids watching, that you have to find approval and happiness within yourself. You don’t get it from someone else.
Chris Colfer For Billboard (w/Lucky Star Premiere)
Here you go! As you can guess, Lucky Star was one of the treats but fandom found it early. I hope the interview is enough of a second treat?
As it always happens, there’s a few outtakes from my draft of that article that I can share. My editor decided to focus mostly on Lucky Star, but I asked about other musical topics too.
Do me a favor, if you reblog this extra stuff, click on the Billboard link too. So they know how many people are enjoying it.
Your other published writing is not in the musical genre. How was that experience, and do you think you’d want to tackle original musicals next?
What’s so funny is, when I was a little kid I used to write song and music all the time. I have to say, I think I was really good at it. It was something for whatever reason I put it down. I think I’d be totally rusty now, but I remember high school I did do Shirley Todd (a modern, gender-swapped Sweeny Todd), I also wrote a musical for Candyland, which I think i was 12 or 13 when I wrote that. I could still probably sing some of the songs I wrote for it. I would be very interested in doing (musicals) someday. Maybe if I worked on it I could be good at it.
You picked “Take Me Home Tonight” which samples the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” a melding of eras, much like the episode.
We needed a big, splashy known song for the ending. The story for Rachel is that she starts an animal charity called Broadway Bitches, about dog adoption. All the characters come together in the end to get as many dogs adopted as possible, so the lyrics fit that perfectly. It’s the two different stories of the show coming together — Kurt’s at the retirement home and Rachel is planning this charity. They kind of have a falling out, then she makes it up to him at the end by inviting Kurt and his new friends to perform at his benefit. It’s the big bow for the story.
You’ve also got “Memory,” from Cats, in the episode. A lot of people have performed this song over the years. Do you have a particular version from which you drew inspiration?
I think the live performances that Elaine Paige gives, that was the inspiration. I think that’s a song that is very very powerful, and it should be sung out. A lot of times when people cover it and record it, they sing it very very soft. Like background music. I wanted it to be big and emotion. When I sing memory I’m in a retirement home, and the song is about a life that you once lived. The words and situation were almost built for that song.
The “Glee” star talks about writing his first episode of the series and its array of 80’s music.
The music for Chris Colfer’s upcoming episode of “Glee” is decidedly 80s in nature, although he swears that wasn’t a conscious choice. The 23-year-old Colfer wasn’t even born until 1990, which makes his penchant for acts like Eddie Money a surprise — but not a surprise for “Glee,” which often dives back into the 1980’s to complement their more recent pop covers.
Listen to the cover of Madonna’s “Lucky Star” before its appearance on Tuesday’s episode, exclusively on Billboard.com:
Tuesday’s “Glee” will be the best-selling novelist’s first time penning an episode of the Emmy-award winning show that he’s starred on since its premiere in 2009. Colfer gave Billboard the rundown on the songs that made the script, if he’s cut out for penning musicals, and which number he hopes shows up on the playlist of at least one gay bar in the near future.
Billboard: Not a single one of the songs in your episode is newer than 1986. Did you realize that?
Colfer: No, that definitely was not a conscious thought! I chose the songs for the Kurt storyline, and the other writers had a handful of songs they had been wanting to incorporate into the show for a while, and the storylines for different characters. I’m just responsible for the Kurt songs.
So “I Melt With You” and “Werewolves of London” were from the writer’s room?
Those were their ideas, but when you see the episodes they were perfect for the storyline. For the songs for me, it was very much what was the most appropriate song to the scene.
"Glee" tends to have two different styles of musical numbers — big performance pieces or pure fantasy scenes. Do you err toward one side over the other?
I think I liked it more as a performance, I enjoy the performance more. With this particular episode I think, because the whole episode is about putting on a show, I focused more on the them performing aspect of it more than a fantasy. But I do love a good fantasy sequence for sure.
You’re duetting a lot this episode with June Squibb, who is an Academy Award nominee.
I cannot wait for the world to see and hear her sing. She is incredible. She made me cry. At 83 years old, she was on her feet 14 hours a day, keeping up with the singing and the dancing. She just blew everyone away. I don’t think she even messed up a line once. She was just perfect from the get-go. She sings on “Memory” and then on “Lucky Star.” “Lucky Star” was so difficult for me to sing! She sounds so much better than I do on it. I’m so excited for people to hear those.
Where does “Lucky Star” fit in?
When we do “Lucky Star,” it’s because Kurt has joined an assisted living home’s production of “Peter Pan.” In the story, he convinces them to update the production. He convinces them to use modern music to tell the story. So when he’s singing “Lucky Star” he’s singing about Neverland. The only thought I had was I wanted the music to fit. I didn’t want anything to seem arbitrary. I wanted it to be there for a reason.
You’ve done Madonna before to much fanfare. Is this a favorite track?
It definitely is one of my favorites. I’m a big Madonna fan. It was a win-win. I was really happy with June and my version. I convinced her if the song is successful we could go on the road together.
An all-Madonna revue, perhaps?
I think that’s a great idea, and I don’t know who wouldn’t buy tickets to that. I’m for it. If June’s and my version of “Lucky Star” plays at one gay club, we’ve made it.
The “Glee” star talks about writing his first episode of the series and its array of 80’s music.
The music for Chris Colfer’s upcoming episode of “Glee” is decidedly 80s in nature, although he swears that wasn’t a conscious choice. The 23-year-old Colfer wasn’t even born until 1990, which makes his penchant for acts like Eddie Money a surprise — but not a surprise for “Glee,” which often dives back into the 1980’s to complement their more recent pop covers.
Tuesday’s “Glee” will be the best-selling novelist’s first time penning an episode of the Emmy-award winning show that he’s starred on since its premiere in 2009. Colfer gave Billboard the rundown on the songs that made the script, if he’s cut out for penning musicals, and which number he hopes shows up on the playlist of at least one gay bar in the near future.
Billboard: Not a single one of the songs in your episode is newer than 1986. Did you realize that?
Colfer: No, that definitely was not a conscious thought! I chose the songs for the Kurt storyline, and the other writers had a handful of songs they had been wanting to incorporate into the show for a while, and the storylines for different characters. I’m just responsible for the Kurt songs.
So “I Melt With You” and “Werewolves of London” were from the writer’s room?
Those were their ideas, but when you see the episodes they were perfect for the storyline. For the songs for me, it was very much what was the most appropriate song to the scene.
"Glee" tends to have two different styles of musical numbers — big performance pieces or pure fantasy scenes. Do you err toward one side over the other?
I think I liked it more as a performance, I enjoy the performance more. With this particular episode I think, because the whole episode is about putting on a show, I focused more on the them performing aspect of it more than a fantasy. But I do love a good fantasy sequence for sure.
You’re duetting a lot this episode with June Squibb, who is an Academy Award nominee.
I cannot wait for the world to see and hear her sing. She is incredible. She made me cry. At 83 years old, she was on her feet 14 hours a day, keeping up with the singing and the dancing. She just blew everyone away. I don’t think she even messed up a line once. She was just perfect from the get-go. She sings on “Memory” and then on “Lucky Star.” “Lucky Star” was so difficult for me to sing! She sounds so much better than I do on it. I’m so excited for people to hear those.
Where does “Lucky Star” fit in?
When we do “Lucky Star,” it’s because Kurt has joined an assisted living home’s production of “Peter Pan.” In the story, he convinces them to update the production. He convinces them to use modern music to tell the story. So when he’s singing “Lucky Star” he’s singing about Neverland. The only thought I had was I wanted the music to fit. I didn’t want anything to seem arbitrary. I wanted it to be there for a reason.
You’ve done Madonna before to much fanfare. Is this a favorite track?
It definitely is one of my favorites. I’m a big Madonna fan. It was a win-win. I was really happy with June and my version. I convinced her if the song is successful we could go on the road together.
An all-Madonna revue, perhaps?
I think that’s a great idea, and I don’t know who wouldn’t buy tickets to that. I’m for it. If June’s and my version of “Lucky Star” plays at one gay club, we’ve made it.
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