Raising a glass to Darren Criss

LOS ANGELES—One recent afternoon, a long line of mostly girls, spontaneously breaking into song, snaked its way on the top floor of Barnes & Noble at The Grove in LA. Standing up or squatting on the carpeted floor, the chanting mass giddily waited for Darren Criss to be done with his media interviews so he could sign their CD copies of “Glee: The Music Presents The Warblers.”

Behind closed doors, the object of this anticipation was dressed simply in a red polo shirt and jeans. Darren remembered his guests from last January’s Golden Globe Awards. When told that we have a friend who knows his uncle, Darren quipped, “Well, I guess Filipinos do know each other and everybody!” We all laughed. With Filipino and Irish blood in his veins, he could only turn out to be friendly, easygoing and blessed with singing genes.

“It’s tough because they live outside LA,” he said of the Filipino relatives we mentioned. “I don’t see my friends and family a lot because of my job. I would love to see them more often.”

In the seventh soundtrack album of the hugely popular musical comedy-drama TV series, the New Directions’ rivals, The Dalton Academy Warblers, sing 13 tracks. The fictional male a cappella group features vocals by Darren, Chris Colfer and the Tufts University Beelzebubs.

<strong>Background</strong>

As the fans’ chants grew louder, Darren calmly, albeit energetically answered when asked about his personal favorites in The Warblers’ repertoire: “It’s tough. The thing about ‘Glee’ is that it’s not just about the music. The reason why ‘Glee’ does so well is because the music is associated with the visual and contextual background. You’re not just singing a song, you’re telling a story and experiencing a performance. When we recorded ‘Raise Your Glass,’ I didn’t know how it would turn out. Then, I saw how it looked in the scene. It was so much fun. The feeling of regionals (the show choir championship where the rival groups compete) really heightened everything.”

The Warblers’ version of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” which had the best first-week sales of any “Glee” track, is also featured in the CD. Darren’s well-received rendition of the song virtually assured him of frequent appearances in the series.

He said, “‘Teenage Dream’ was very special, because we didn’t know that (phenomenal sales) was going to happen. So, that was really unexpected and mind-boggling. We weren’t trying to do anything other than do a good job. The fact that people have enjoyed it so much is a bonus.”

<strong>Vocalist</strong>

When we asked Darren to pick from some of the older material that he and the Warblers cover in the CD, like Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Silly Love Songs,” Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb’s “What Kind of Fool” and Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and talk about it, he chose “Silly.” “It’s a great song,” he said. “I am a huge fan of Sir Paul McCartney. He is a vocalist I have grown up trying to imitate. The fact that I did that song as a job is pretty cool. I like all the songs, because the arrangements are really special. The arrangements made the songs our own take on them.”

Darren and Chris Colfer, who play Blaine and Kurt, respectively, duet on “Animal” and “Candles.” Chris sings “Blackbird.”

Darren quipped, “Sometimes, I wondered, ‘Where did Chris go?,’ because they gave me so many songs to sing. I felt odd that I got all these nice songs. These are too much, I thought. But, Chris sings ‘Blackbird’ and does a very good job and makes it sweet and special—he made it memorable! In this number on the series, Blaine realizes his feelings for Kurt.”

As for his own album, Darren, who also composes, shared, “I had an EP that I released right before ‘Glee’ happened. I was planning to make a full-length studio album. I was on track for that, but ‘Glee’ came. So, I put that aside. Of course, I was happy to do ‘Glee.’ When I have time again, I will be happy to do that album.”

He laughed when asked about his “Yippie Man” role, as listed on IMDb.com, in “The Chicago 8,” director Pinchas Perry’s take on the famous trial of the eight antiwar protesters accused of causing the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. “If you find me in that movie, let me know,” he answered, still chuckling. “That’s all I can say.”

<strong>Commitments</strong>

As it stands, Darren is too busy with his commitments to pursue a film career, although he told us he is interested in having one. “I am extremely busy with the ‘Glee’ world tour,” he explained. “I have so many different projects. I just finished writing a musical for a company in Chicago (his StarKid Productions, which has staged ‘Harry Potter’ musical spoofs). I’m also working on my own music.” In the face of this hectic schedule, he added with his winning grin, “I’m also trying to stay healthy.”

Landing the Blaine role, which instantly endeared him to Gleeks and saw his star rise quickly, was a turning point for the curly-haired talent who originally auditioned for the Finn role that went to Cory Monteith.

Darren struck a modest tone when queried about this second chance on “Glee.” “Well, the fact that I went out for Finn is neither here nor there,” he mused. “It’s not like I went for that and they kept me on hold. I don’t think Ryan Murphy even knows that I went for that role. [Ryan told us that he does remember Darren trying out.] As an actor, you sometimes go out for roles, even though you know you’re not right for the part.”

<strong>Slim build</strong>

Grinning, Darren pointed at his slim build as he added, “Look at me, I am not the size of a football player. I am the size of a pea!”

“All things have their place and time,” Darren said of the happy turn of events. “Things turned out for the best. I lucked out, to say the least.”

Will his Blaine be back next season? “I hope they get me again,” Darren replied. “I totally enjoy the character of Blaine. But, there are no talks yet. As an artist, your general mantra is: Hope for everything; expect nothing.”

At the rate breaks are coming Darren’s way, expect everything wonderful to happen to his career.

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