'Glee' Music: Relive the Performances From 'The Rocky Horror Glee Show'

With episodes devoted to Madonna, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears under its belt so far, Fox's sing-along hit 'Glee' took a chance last night with a musical tribute to that '70s cult classic, 'Rocky Horror Picture Show.'
When word of a Frank-N-Further-themed episode slipped, it created a frenzy among fans of the show and the film alike -- since both focused on outcasts, after all, they seemed like a natural fit.
Yet last night's 'Rocky Horror Glee Show' may have stretched the limits of plausibility, even for 'Glee,' as Mr. Shuester (Matthew Morrison) staged a high school musical version of the raunchy sci-fi B-movie in less than a week. His motivation? He was jealous that the girl-who-slipped away -- 'Rocky Horror's' newest fan, guidance counselor Emma (Jayma Mays) -- was starting to live a little, thanks to her new boyfriend, Carl (John Stamos). Did the musical numbers live up to the hype? You be the judge.
To set up Glee's tribute to 'Rocky Horror Picture Show,' the camera focused on Santana's bright red lips as she sang 'Science Fiction/Double Feature.' It was a fitting segue to Finn and Rachel's 'Over at the Frankenstein Place' duet where, as Brad and Janet, they stumbled upon the castle that housed the Annual Transylvanian Convention. The mood breaks, however, when dentist Carl (John Stamos) busts onto the high school musical set.
As the New Directions kids rehearse -- with the normally glam Kurt (Chris Colfer) dressed down as handyman Riff Raff (!) and Mercedes and Quinn (Amber Reilly and Dianna Agron) as Columbia and Magenta -- it becomes clear that Finn (Cory Monteith) is surprisingly self-conscious about his body. Turns out you can't eat sloppy joes in the school cafeteria everyday. No matter though, his shy-guy Brad can get through a few scenes with his clothes intact, including the marriage-proposal-as-song number, 'Dammit Janet.'
Since Kurt refused to play the lead as Frank-N-Furter and Mike Chang (Harry Shum Jr.)'s parents refused to let him take on the cross-dressing role, the glee club was nearly in a lurch -- until, that is, Sue (Jane Lynch) came up with a stand-in: Carl the dentist. One problem though: while Mr. Schue wanted to cast Carl as the mad scientist/castle, Carl preferred to play motorcycle-riding/brain donor Eddie.
Fortunately, Mercedes was willing to step in as the gender-bending lead. Her version of 'Sweet Transvestite' was one of the best of the night -- even if Carl's premature entry abruptly killed the moment.
Not only did Carl's unexpected entrance distract from Mercedes' big number, it also ruined Mr. Schuester's mood. With his good sense blinded by jealousy, he made a questionable (and, admittedly, implausible) decision: he pulled underage Sam (Chord Overstreet) out of the role of Rocky, casting himself as the shirtless creature of the night instead. It's only natural that he'd need Emma's help to prep for a little 'Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me,' right?
It took a revelation by Cheerio Becky (Lauren Potter) to help Will come to his senses: upon learning that Sue's support of the 'Rocky Horror' musical was actually another ploy to bring down the glee club once and for all, he started to question his own motivations. In the end, he decided to pull the plug on the controversial production, but not before the gleeks treated themselves to a little 'Time Warp.'
-- By Rebecca Harper
What did you think of the music from 'The Rocky Horror Glee Show'? What was your favorite performance?

29 Comments