Darren Criss pitched a Sondheim-themed episode of “Glee” — which was nothing like the one that aired
During an appearance on the "And That's What You Really Missed" podcast, the actor revealed his song ideas for Artie and Santana.
If Darren Criss had been at the helm, Glee’s tribute to Stephen Sondheim would have had a very different tone
On a recent episode of the And That’s What You Missed podcast, the Glee alum revealed that he once pitched an episode of the show that was meant to pay tribute to the legendary Broadway composer — and he even went as far as to pick out songs for his costars.
“I once sent an email to [series creator] Ryan Murphy pitching a Sondheim episode,” Criss told former costars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz. “With an opening of Artie going through New York City and looking up at all the skyscrapers and singing ‘Giants in the Sky.’”
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Darren Criss in 'Glee'The concept earned immediate approval from Ushkowitz and McHale, who told him that just the thought of that gave them “chills”. Criss added that he also envisioned Naya Rivera’s Santana singing “The Ladies Who Lunch,” from Sondheim’s Company. He thought the idea fit “Santana’s whole disposition, as this girl living in New York, making fun of all the sort of upper crust ladies who lunch.” He even pictured her sipping a martini while performing the song.
“I gotta find the email,” Criss joked. “I had a whole thing where I went through a ton of Sondheim songs, of who could sing what and why.”
Hearing his pitch prompted Ushkowitz to wonder aloud: “Why didn’t we do a Sondheim episode?”
Criss laughed: “We did! Jenna, we did! We f---ing did! Even I remember that, and I don’t remember anything about that show, but I remember the time we did a Sondheim episode because it was not at all anything like I had, ya know, sort of glazed over with Ryan.”
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Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Lea Michele, Chord Overstreet, Darren Criss and Chris Colfer in 'Glee'As Criss indicated, Glee indeed paid tribute to the Broadway legend in the second half of its fifth season. In Ushkowitz’s defense, the episode came after the series abandoned its Ohio-based Glee club to instead follow the graduated students living in New York City. Ushkowitz was among those who departed the show courtesy of that readjustment.
Criss and McHale remained in the show’s main cast, alongside Chris Colfer, Lea Michele, Chord Overstreet, and Amber Riley, who were all featured in the episode.
“It wasn’t explicitly like, ‘This is a Sondheim episode,’” Criss explained. “It’s just that they were all Sondheim songs. Chris got like, beat up, it was a whole thing.”
“Bash,” the fifteenth episode of the season, saw Kurt (Colfer) attacked in a gay-bashing incident on the week of an important class assignment that required students to sing solos from Sondheim’s oeuvre. None of the songs Criss pitched were used, with the episode instead featuring “No One is Alone” from Into the Woods, “Not While I’m Around” from Sweeney Todd, and both “Broadway Baby” and “I’m Still Here” from Follies.
You can listen to Criss reflect on the episode and his broader Glee experience in the podcast above.
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