Fox show sparks a surge in show choirs, bringing an aura of cool to another part of school

Chino Lopez, a junior at Waltham High School, didn’t mean to join the school’s show choir, Music Unlimited. Two of his friends, who were members, dragged him along.

Still, he thought it would be smart to keep it to himself. “People would make fun of me, and I didn’t know what to say back,’’ said Lopez, 18. “They’d say, like, ‘It’s for gay people.’ ‘I wouldn’t do that.’ ’’

Around the middle of the year, though, things started to change. “Now they come up to me, and say, like, ‘I take it back,’ ’’ Lopez said.

Could this have anything to do with “Glee,’’ the Fox television series about an Ohio high school glee club full of losers? A club that bears a striking resemblance to Music Unlimited? Lopez prefers to think the change of heart occurs when his classmates see how good his show choir is. Still, he says “Glee’’ has made a huge difference in his life. The series “brought more of my personality out,’’ said Lopez, who had never danced before. “I used to be really shy. I used to have stage fright. I used to be scared, a lot. Now I’m not scared of going up on stage anymore.’’

“Glee,’’ which just returned after a four-month hiatus, has struck a chord among high school choral students. It has emboldened students who are tired of being seen as dorky, and bolstered music programs across the country, with students lobbying for show choirs at their own schools.

The National Association for Music Education recently polled choral teachers to see whether the Fox show has had an impact on their music programs: 43 percent said it had, reporting that students had been turning out in record numbers for auditions and pleading for choral arrangements of songs from the show.

“ ‘Glee’ has helped make chorus cool again,’’ one teacher said.

Show choirs — the term glee club isn’t used much anymore — combine choral pop singing with choreographed dance movements in glitzy productions reminiscent of the TV variety shows of the 1960s.

“We used to have a T-shirt that said ‘600 kids, 6,000 sequins,’ ’’ said Connie Panselinas, a volunteer who does the hair and makeup for members of “Panache,’’ the show choir at Easton’s Oliver Ames High School, which took fifth place in its division last weekend at the Southern California Performance Show-Choir Invitational competition.

Show choirs are particularly popular in the Midwest and California, although more than a dozen schools in Massachusetts have them. Competitions are ambitious, fierce and expensive, with $400 costumes, pricey choreographers, arrangements, and sets.
Waltham High’s show choir director, Christopher Landis, said it can easily cost $15,000 to take two of his show choirs to competitions where they will perform five or six songs in a 30-minute show.

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