Well, if you’re Neil Patrick Harris‘ character, Bryan Ryan, you live a few great years as the featured soloist at Kings Island before working the cruise ship circuit. Then, you progress into a sad, but relatively quick downward spiral that teaches you one lesson: Glee clubs are evil, and “show choir kills.” And that, dear readers, sets the ball in motion for the most meta episode of Glee to date.
Why was “Dream On” so meta? Not only did all of the song titles contain the word “dream,” which was the hit-you-over-the-head theme of the episode (and a nod to the structure of the “Hell-o” episode that opened up this part of season one), but it also contained many intrinsic and extrinsic references to modern-day musical theater structure and the actors’ personal lives.
Early in the episode, Jessie (welcome back!) finds Rachel practicing Laurey’s “Dream Ballet” from Oklahoma!, and whoomp, there it was for us theater geeks: the first sign of a truly integrated musical episode. Oklahoma! was considered revolutionary when it premiered in 1943 because it was the first musical to use the musical numbers, lyrics and dance to further the story. “Laurey’s Dream Ballet” conveys a character’s internal conflict about her wedding, and the narrative arc of the show would not make sense if the number were removed. “Dream On” featured the updated, 2010 version of the “Dream Ballet,” but more on that in the rundown of this week’s dreamy songs.
** SPOILER ALERT **
“Daydream Believer” This flashback number, which shows how things were back when Bryan Ryan was king of the Glee Club, was entirely too short. A mulletted NPH asking Will, “What’s the matter, Schuester? Cat got your talent?” Bryan Ryan also performed magic while he sang (there’s personal life meta-reference number one; NPH dabbles in magic in his spare time). After the song ended, though, Bryan Ryan delivers a Tracy Jordan-style monologue involving a “Show Choir Conversion Group,” a Honduran social worker named Jesus and the life lesson that shows about prostate cancer never work. Someone get Bryan Ryan a motivational speaking gig, stat.
“Dream Weaver/Piano Man” Maybe it’s the darkly-lit bar, maybe it’s the soft tones of Gary Wright crooning “Dream Weaver” on the jukebox, but Will finally manages to break Bryan Ryan down. It turns out that he hasn’t become a buttoned-up budget-reformer after all. Three times a year, he goes to New York City and sees as many Broadway shows as he can (and lies to his wife about it), and then he keeps the Playbills hidden in a box in his basement “like porn.”
Good old Will is always there to overlook their past rivalry (well, it is in his best interest considering Bryan wants to dismantle the glee club…) and draw the performer back out of his old co-glee clubber by throwing an old stand-by on the jukebox that Bryan Ryan performed at Sectionals back in the day — Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”
“Dream On” CBS loaned NPH to Fox for this episode, and the latter network was clearly going to get all the screen time they could from the fan-favorite. The next step in Bryan Ryan’s fall from the “Show Choir Conversion” recovery wagon? Auditioning for the lead role in a local production of Les Misérables. His main competition? Will, of course. In perhaps the lamest reason for having to do a duet of all time (the director owns a cleaners and could only take half an hour off for auditions? Come on, Glee writers, you’re more clever than that), the two have to sing their audition song as a duet.
Lame excuse or not, it is epic. Matthew Morrison and Neil Patrick Harris look like fraternal twins to begin with in the red-toned lighting guest director Joss Whedon chose for the scene, and their voices combine perfectly during their rendition of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” And NPH on the falsetto parts? That’s what DVR was made for.
“The Safety Dance” There were three main story arcs in this week’s episode, all spurred on by Bryan Ryan telling New Directions they would never achieve their dreams. Luckily, the indefatigable glee club members refused to take Ryan’s sordid life lesson to heart, and they all set off on separate journeys to make the impossible seem just a little bit more possible. For Artie, his dream of becoming a dancer may never actually be realized, but for one brief moment in a shopping mall, we were able to take an emotional journey with him as he got out of his chair and, well, danced.
So what does the updated version of “Laurey’s Dream Ballet” entail? The very 21st century viral phenomenon known as the “flash mob” (meta moment number two: before the premiere of this block of episodes, Glee promoted the series in Seattle with a series of flash mobs that are now on YouTube), which relies on hand-held media devices like cell phones, Flip cams and digital cameras to give it an air of authenticity.
“Artie’s Dream Ballet” had all of the proper flash mob elements. It took place in a public forum (a mall), involved a crowd that got larger and larger as the dance and song continued and the camera views to which we as viewers were privy switched from the normal steady cam to grainier cell phone cameras while we watched. Just like in Oklahoma!, the writers rely on the audience to infer that not only is it a dream sequence, but Artie takes an emotional journey during the song (Men Without Hats “Safety Dance”) which will not be overtly discussed.
“I Dreamed a Dream” This number was a true tear-jerker. Just when we were starting to trust Jessie, he goes and plants a tape in Rachel’s childhood “artifacts” that makes him highly suspect (tampering with evidence is illegal, Jessie!). Even if, as we later find out, he is now operating with slightly more pure intentions, he is still being manipulated by Shelby Corcoran. Why is he doing her bidding? How did she know that her daughter would even want her biological mother to contact her? Is this all an attempt to lure Rachel to Vocal Adrenaline?
Even with all of those questions lingering unanswered, the dream-sequence duet between Idina Menzel and Lea Michele was truly one for the ages (and also one for all true Broadway lovers out there). Plus, it was a meta reference number three: Lea Michele’s first Broadway role was playing Cossette in Les Mis. I want to believe Shelby’s intentions for tracking down her daughter in the one way she knows they will truly connect — through a song about a dream of better and more hopeful times —are pure, but why now? Things didn’t end well for Fantine in Les Mis, either.
“Dream a Little Dream of Me” Mr. Schuester wasn’t the only one who sacrificed his own dream for that of others in this episode. When Bryan Ryan delivered his defeatist, Glengarry Glen Ross-style speech to New Directions in the beginning of the episode and asked them how many of them wanted to go into show business, let us not forget that Tina was the first person to speak up and say that performing had been her intended life plan. Despite “Dream On” being Artie’s episode, he made the ultimate emotional sacrifice in the end when he gave his part in Tina’s tap number to Mike Chang. The melancholy, wistful expression on his face as he sang this song by Cass Elliot and The Mamas and and the Papas.
Honorable mentions: The performance(s) of the week award clearly goes to NPH doing well, anything, but Glee‘s usual suspects had little to do in “Dream On” due to the presence of such a mega-star. So here are a few great throwaway moments:
Puck’s dream? “3some” Quinn’s? “No stretch marks.”
Bryan Ryan: “Should we lock the door?” Sue: “I got a secret room upstairs…like Letterman.”
Mr. Schuester: “You’ve all been reprieved. Mr. Ryan is no longer a threat to the glee club.” Finn: “Did he die?”
Next week: Glee goes high camp with Gaga and Kiss. Plus, Rachel confronts Shelby. Sounds like the start of a “Bad Romance.”
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Photos courtesy of FOX.