GLEE - Interview with Tina & Artie

We caught up with the kids from Glee during their recent trip to Australia...
Interviews by Demeter Stamell

Jenna Ushkowitz & Kevin McHale – Tina & Artie

You paid a visit to the set of Australian Idol. Can you see any similarities between Glee and Idol?
Kevin: Definitely. We’re real people. We’re not trained artists/professionals who have been doing this forever. They’re people who enjoy singing and have the platform to do it, and that’s also what Glee’s about. It’s about these kids who love to sing and they’re doing it, regardless.
Jenna: It’s about coming together as a group, and performing is what they love to do. It’s fun.
Kevin: It was really interesting, because it’s a competition, but they weren’t even like that, which is cool! They’re all competing against themselves to improve each week. That’s what we do – in the glee club, you have to get better in each episode to compete against other glee clubs to win.
Jenna: Just to see the Idol group backstage in the green room. They were so supportive of each other and they just bonded together. We feel the same way – we support each other in everything.
Kevin: [Pauses] I hope they feel the same way about us! They’re probably like, “They were obnoxious! They wouldn’t leave us alone!” [Laughs]

What’s it like going back to high school?
Kevin: It’s funny. We’re all going through this overly dramatised high school experience that I personally didn’t get because I went to a really small school. I tried to stay away from the drama, so it’s nice now to be able to go back and relive it. Besides the fact that we all know what’s going to happen to each other... [Laughs] It would be really nice to know everything’s going to work out, or most likely it doesn’t work out.
Jenna: It’s so funny because in high school you’re like, “This is the end of the world!” But now it’s like, “Meh. It’s okay.” [Laughs]

If you got the chance to go back to high school in real life, would you do anything differently?
Kevin: Yes. You know what it is, in high school people are trying to find out who they are. As soon as you graduate, it’s kind of a relief. In college you can be who you are, but in high school, everybody’s judging everybody. It’s because you’re insecure. Knowing that now, I would have done whatever I wanted to do and not let other people influence me. And I definitely would have dressed differently! [Laughs]
Jenna: I wore a uniform. I don’t think I would change anything, because it’s shaped me into the person I am today and I’m learning more and more about myself. I feel like I didn’t change all that much in high school, but I really learnt who I was in college.

The musical numbers are really well done. Does it take a long time to film?
Jenna: It takes eight days. It’s too long!
Kevin: But that’s not including the recording and the rehearsing. It’s eight days just to film it. There’s a lot of prep work that goes into each episode.
Jenna: In the morning or after lunch or at night – whenever we’re not shooting, we’re in the recording studio. It’s a lot.

If you could perform any musical number on the show, what would it be?
Jenna: It kind of changes daily. I’ll be like, “Oh my God! That would be such a great number to do!” I would love to do “Baba O’Reilly” (by The Who).
Kevin: I would love to do any Michael Jackson song. I think that would be so awesome. You could do so much with it. I would love to do that.
Jenna: It would be a nice tribute.
Kevin: Definitely.

BACK TO MAIN GLEE PAGE