If you watched the show Glee back in the day, you know how ridiculous Mr. Schuester was. Being the teacher in charge of the school’s glee club, he had these insane plot lines and wild musical numbers. For example, he planted marijuana in a student’s locker to blackmail them into joining the club. Not to mention his extremely cringeworthy attempts at rapping, which he clearly thinks are amazing. It’s safe to say that these haven’t aged well. However, there’s a consensus that despite his varied problematic moments, the character also has enough heartwarming moments to balance it out. Still, he’s just really, really cringe.
The actor who played this guy, Matthew Morrison, came to Saratoga Springs this weekend on tour. During this, he had a one-man show that had no clear description on his website—so obviously—my friend and I bought tickets immediately.
The show was definitely full of interesting talking points, but there is first something very important to note about Matthew Morrison: he has fans reacting the same way to him that they did to Mr. Schuester. He’s had these videos and performances go viral. Some clips from filming Cameos have surfaced, where he’ll be giving a sweet message, but also will rap, sing, or just talk in a way that’s intensely cringeworthy and hard to watch. More recently there have also been clips of this very tour, where he’s acting so overconfident for the ridiculous bits and dances he does. Everyone thinks of him as this good-intentioned but quite odd performer, but Morrison himself believes he is the most serious and talented Broadway actor ever.
Still, it’s worth noting that he can definitely sing! It’s clear that he has a lot of technical talent and practice, displaying a few amazing high notes. Over the course of the show, he loosely went through his career with songs and speeches in between. There was supposed to be this deep, connective theme throughout. For example, he kept bringing out a fake candle and saying things about us all being vulnerable and him being able to show his true self in this particular show. I can totally see where he’s coming from, and if some people are able to take him seriously it must have been pretty emotional. Unfortunately for him, his completely unserious behavior—sweet, but unserious—didn’t quite hit the way he wanted to for me.
While there were some really enjoyable songs down the line, the speeches didn’t quite improve in credibility. For example, he told a story about the 9/11 attack from his perspective as a New Yorker, seeing it from a distance. He then did this insanely silly scurry across the stage, pretending to rush to his girlfriend’s house to check on her, only to find her cheating on him with another man. Then he sang a song called “Send in the Clowns.” It was an absolutely wild turn of events. This was clearly a momentous moment in his life, but he might have wanted to work out how much silliness he was adding to the story. Actual content aside, I’d say the most memorable elements of all of his songs and speeches were the little motions he’d do, such as his intense spins and random one-man Broadway dance breaks. Not to mention his really tight pants. It was very entertaining, and he definitely took this very seriously.
Some positives from the show included: a really sweet moment with his guitarist, meeting fans in the balcony to give them a gift, and making an effort to interact with us in this little venue. He did in fact lock eyes with me while singing “Thong Song” from Glee and did finger guns, which I think I will never forget. He seemed like he really cared about the songs he was singing, like this tour was a form of following his dreams! So overall, we’re very glad we went. Obviously Matthew Morrison’s public persona is interesting, and the show was unfortunately not the easiest to watch. It was also such a rush to be so close to this guy we’d seen so much on television, listen to some music we loved live, and feel a sense of community. A recommendation to anyone reading: let yourself experience the crazy cringeworthy stuff sometimes, because it actually does have that unique sense of vulnerability and joy.