Ep95 - How Glee Shaped a New Generation of Theatre Kids

In the early years of the 2000s, we began to see a rise in the modern movie musicals with film adaptations of Dreamgirls, Hairspray, RENT, The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Mamma Mia and more. It was the era of Myspace, fansites and forums. The trilogy release of Disney’s High School Musical, would only mark the beginning of what would spiral into 'theatre fandemonium', with musical theatre making its way to the forefront of mainstream media outlets and finally gaining in popularity. It took the following year after the final High School Musical film to set the world ablaze with covers of show tunes populating on YouTube and climbing the iTunes charts weekly. Soon enough, not only did the entire world know what it meant to be a ‘theatre geek’, they celebrated and dubbed themselves as a new word that would sweep social media in the years to follow - ‘gleeks.’ So, where exactly did the term ‘gleek’ come from? Well, if you clicked on the episode or you consider yourself a “Gleek’, then you already know it stems from the hit Fox TV Series Glee. Join Cris and Joce as they recount the early days of the Glee Phenomenon, the impact the series and songs had on the theatre community, The Glee Project competition, the ultimate decline in viewer numbers and more!