“It’s literally a ‘Glee’ episode!” Grant Gustin quipped while shooting ‘Duet’ the much buzzed-about musical episode of ‘The Flash’ which reunites Gustin with Melissa Benoist and Darren Criss, who are both also alumni of FOX’s long-running musical hit. Of course, Gustin and Benoist now inhabit The CW’s superhero universe, Gustin as the star of ‘The Flash’ and Benoist as ‘Supergirl’.
The Flash and Supergirl first met on the first season of her show, when it still aired on CBS. Barry Allen traveled to Kara Danvers’ parallel universe via the recently discovered multiverse– Barry lives on Earth-1,while it was established that Kara’s world was Earth-38. Since then, the two heroes also crossed paths when Supergirl journeyed to Earth-1 to help during the ‘Invasion!’ crossover event, which also incorporated the stars of ‘Arrow’ and ‘Legends of Tomorrow’.
Now for something completely different!
The pair will face off against baddie the Music Meister, on the March 21 episode of ‘The Flash’, entitled ‘Duet’. The Music Meister will be played by yet another ‘Glee’ alum, Darren Criss, who remarked “It is funny that the last time I worked with Grant, he was the bad guy and he was singing at me, and now I’m the bad guy singing at him… It’s just Glee.”
Indeed, Gustin’s bully Sebastian nearly blinded Criss’ Blaine with a rock salt-spiked slushie. Is Criss getting his revenge now?
Either way, Benoist is ecstatic to reunite with Criss, saying “I could not be happier that he’s here. He’s killing this role. He’s bringing such a fun energy, the way he did on Glee as well.”
The Music Meister arrives as both Barry and Kara are facing turmoil in their personal relationships and the villain “whammies” them, causing them to burst into song. Here is a brief synopsis for the episode:
Being fans of movie musicals as kids, the power-stripped heroes end up trapped in a golden-age send-up involving rival gangs and their kids falling in love — though expect many of the couples to come with a twist. The only way out? Follow the Meister’s script till the end.
Though her character may be trapped, Benoist is in heaven on the vintage movie-inspired set.
“Not that I don’t love the [Supergirl] suit, but it just feels good playing the same character in a completely different setting. I’m eating this up.”
Benoist will also surely eat up her solo on the classic ‘Moon River’. The cast will also perform an upbeat cover of Jackie DeShannon’s ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’, plus some new original songs. ‘Runnin’ Home To You’ was penned by the Academy Award-winning teambehind ‘La La Land’, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Meanwhile, ‘Super Friend’ comes via fellow CW resident Rachel Bloom, star of ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ which is set to a tap dance number choreographed by ‘Glee”s Zachary Woodlee.
Gustin and Benoist found themselves slipping back into their dancing shoes fairly easily.
“More than anything else, my true foundation was tap dance,” Gustin expressed. “It’s been cool to get back to it.”
Benoist added, “It’s funny how things stay in your muscle memory. It was fun to pick it back up again and see your body and be like, ‘Oh, we remember how to do this.’”
Not as naturally adept? Song and dance man John Barrowman, who plays Malcolm Merlyn on the various CW shows and who will be portraying a gangster in ‘Duet’. “I’m exceptionally confident vocally, but they show me the dance steps and I’m not a hip-hopper, no way. I panicked.” But despite the extra effort, once Barrowman heard about the musical episode, he insisted on being included. “I hadn’t heard anything and I just basically then said, ‘I think you would be daft or stupid not to have me in this, really. But they planned on it all along.”
Barrowman’s gangster will be locked in a war with those played by Jesse L. Martin, whose Joe West was a jazz crooner on Earth-2 and Victor Garber a.k.a. Martin Stein on ‘Legends of Tomorrow’. Other cast members who will find themselves slightly recast in this episode include ‘Supergirl”s Winn Schott, Jeremy Jordan who serves as a club pianist and ‘The Flash”s Vibe/Cisco Ramon, Carlos Valdes who plays a busboy with aspirations to be an artist.
A musical superhero crossover might sound crazy, but Valdes sees them as a natural fit.
“Some things are just star-crossed. Some things are just destined and written in the stars. This felt like one of those instances where it was just something that was going to happen.”
Jordan agrees, adding:
“Ever since they announced the cast of our show — plus the casts of Flash and other shows having so many musical theater people in them — it was only a matter of time before they harnessed those talents and made something into it.”
Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg hopes that the episode is successful enough to spawn a sequel, something Criss is keen to see happen.
“I would have liked to have written some songs. I want to come back, I’m not done — then I’ll have my true payback!”
The musical crossover kicks off at the end of ‘Supergirl”s March 20 episode. ‘Duet’ takes place in relish on ‘The Flash’ March 21 episode, which airs at 8pm ET on The CW.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
