A great song but....
There was one significant thing I did not understand about tonight's episode of Glee. Namely: Why would the theatre department sing the lyrics of "America" from the movie version of "West Side Story" if they are staging the Broadway show?
While I understand that many(most?) Broadway musicals were transferred(adapted?) to the big screen I can say from my own high school theatre experience where all four musicals performed were ones that had been made into movies(Hello Dolly, Funny thing happened on the way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Singin' in the Rain) I am certain that the scripts and librettos we got were the ones for the stage. Case in point: I was looking for music to listen to the other day and realized that I really like this one song, "Motherhood" from "Hello, Dolly", it's funny, it's catchy, etc. but when I was on the soundtrack to the movie version(with Streisand) I couldn't find the song...but when I clicked through to the original Broadway cast recording, it was, as it was on all other stage version recordings.
I guess my point here is that it doesn't seem a) plausible (and I understand Glee's not known for its realism) and b) good for anyone that a tv show heavily centered around musical theatre would (deliberately, I assume?) have their theatre production stage something wrong. It just feels...like it takes away from the beauty of the stage production.
While I understand that many(most?) Broadway musicals were transferred(adapted?) to the big screen I can say from my own high school theatre experience where all four musicals performed were ones that had been made into movies(Hello Dolly, Funny thing happened on the way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Singin' in the Rain) I am certain that the scripts and librettos we got were the ones for the stage. Case in point: I was looking for music to listen to the other day and realized that I really like this one song, "Motherhood" from "Hello, Dolly", it's funny, it's catchy, etc. but when I was on the soundtrack to the movie version(with Streisand) I couldn't find the song...but when I clicked through to the original Broadway cast recording, it was, as it was on all other stage version recordings.
I guess my point here is that it doesn't seem a) plausible (and I understand Glee's not known for its realism) and b) good for anyone that a tv show heavily centered around musical theatre would (deliberately, I assume?) have their theatre production stage something wrong. It just feels...like it takes away from the beauty of the stage production.