Glee Tour Begins in Phoenix Arizona – VIDEO

What fun! I tried to get tickets to the Chicago dates but those were sold out so fast I didn’t even stand a chance. Hopefully they’ll do a bigger tour another time.

Well now we know how much television distorts actual singing talent.

Maybe it just me but now that we now the young man in the wheelchair is not actually disabled it seems disengeniuous in a tour setting.

But the audience is having fun.

“Well now we know how much television distorts actual singing talent.”

I beg to differ – it’s just bad sound in the video recording imo.

Check out these links, the sound is MUCH better:

Don’t Stop Believing

Like a Prayer

And my personal favourite (as a true gleek – Kris is AMAZING!!!)

Defying Gravity

I wish I was in the US to see them all live – looks like a great show!

certain1:
05/16/2010 at 10:03 am

Well now we know how much television distorts actual singing talent.

Maybe it just me but now that we now the young man in the wheelchair is not actually disabled it seems disengeniuous in a tour setting.

But the audience is having fun.

It’s the fact that everything on the show is lip synched so I think it has more to do with hearing them really sing for the first time.

I think they are supposed to be “in character” so being in the chair makes sense.

I’m not too keen on the red jacket uniform.

And the screaming fans are just too much.

Here was what was posted on Yahoo Entertainment this morning.

…But whether the fans notice the cast’s vocals over their own echoing voices is another question. Some were so pleased to breathe the same air as their idols that they gleefully ignored a “Like a Prayer” that came in at several octaves too high or that rival club Vocal Adrenaline’s performance was a masked song-and-dance routine with no singing involved.

For a show whose hit Journey cover famously asks viewers to suspend their imagination, the pricey admission ticket is a lot to ask for a glorified high school talent show. But for Gleeks, there’s no pretending that they won’t love their favorite show come to life…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100516/ap_en_mu/us_music_glee_on_tour

They actually review quite a few of the musical numbers.

I know that they are in character but the show has caught some flack from the Americans with Disabilities.

Can Glee: The Broadway Musical be far behind?

…they gleefully ignored a “Like a Prayer” that came in at several octaves too high…

Several octaves? Really?

…Maybe it just me but now that we now the young man in the wheelchair is not actually disabled …

And in other news:

Christopher Reeves can’t really fly.
Robert Pattinson is not a vampire.
Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t really have a high tech iron suit.
Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer and Amber Riley aren’t high school students and Matthew Morrison isn’t really a high school Spanish teacher.

Wow, I thought the tour was going to be in the summer, competing with the Idols tour…cool that it’s not.

Christopher Reeves can’t really fly.Robert Pattinson is not a vampire.Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t really have a high tech iron suit.Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Chris Colfer and Amber Riley aren’t high school students and Matthew Morrison isn’t really a high school Spanish teacher.

The difference is that there really isn’t a Superman, or vampires or Ironman or the high school where these actors would be students or teachers. But there really are talented actors/singers who use wheelchairs that could have been cast in that role.

thank you so much for these links! i’m loving the show, the atmosphere everything about the concert.

i’m not so sure i agree with kevin playing the role of artie so.. literally. i don’t think him standing would take anything away from the group numbers where his being in a wheelchair wasn’t focused on so much (mainly proud mary and dancing with myself). hmm.

regardless, im loving the videos :D

But there really are talented actors/singers who use wheelchairs that could have been cast in that role.

Fine. From now on only handicapped actors can play handicapped roles. But wait, what if a quadriplegic actor auditions? Artie is role for a paraplegic – should we disqualify the quadriplegic actor? Or hire him because he’s twice as disabled?

And while we’re at it, no more black actors playing Hamlet. Hamlet is white. And Romeo and Juliet should only be played by Italians. Wait – there was no Italy back then; Verona was a city-state. So, only teenagers from Verona can play Romeo and Juliet.

And let’s throw all of our support behind the Newsweek critic who thinks heterosexual roles should only be played by straight actors. And of course vice versa, so what a huge mistake Ang Lee made casting Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback.

This is all hogwash. Acting is about using your imagination – for both the actor and the audience. It is not an affirmative action program for the literal minded.

Amen TopCat. PC rules drive me crazy. If we just all treated each other with respect and

loved your neighbor as yourself

we would be better off.

The GLEE casts were everywhere from red carpets, to TV shows (Oprah,etc), numerous televised events, and all-over magazines so it’s been known for a long time that the guy in the wheelchair is not disabled. He’s been interviewed upright & walking, so those who were following GLEE or fans aren’t surprised about it. And that fans knew Cory had no singing experiences prior to Glee. For me, they are just playing characters on stage just like on TV. I see them as actors hired to play specific characters so I don’t expect a lot from some of them with regards to their singing even if it’s a musical. Fans knew prior to the show who are the real ife singers from the bunch. Unlike AI I hold idols to a higher standards & am very critical about their singing abilities knowing that they came from a singing competition & supposedly the best from thousands who auditioned.

Do they get points for having a wheel chair bound teenager at all? I think that the actor does a terrific job (as does the show) of portraying a teenager with a disability. I really like what TopCatDC said and I fully agree. They are all actors. When Artie performed “Dancing with Myself” I was in a room with my 8 year old nephew and three of his friends. They were all in awe of Artie and thought he was so “cool”. THAT is the importance and significance of the character. It doesn’t matter that the actor is not disabled. He is telling a story and doing Artie justice. It’s great. It’s show business.

And who is to say that they didn’t audition disabled people? Perhaps this actor was given the opportunity because he was the best “Artie”…not the best disabled person. Being disabled is only ONE part of who Artie is. I think that is being overlooked.

*sigh* I soooo want to see this show, but I’m so thankful for the youtube vids. Are there more?

I guess the question is – is the audience watching actors in character presenting a GLEE concert (then Artie in the wheelchair makes sense). The “kids” have done lots of media with Kevin out of the chair so it’s not a secret.

Casting just picks the best actor for the role – if someone already in a chair had the best audition I’m sure they would have selected them.

On the singing side – the audience sing along drowned out the cast almost completely – only Michele/Rachel is strong enough to drown the audience out….

Pity about the lip syncing though – on the show and on the stage.