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It’s been several years since Lea Michele and Darren Criss were in the New Directions, but that doesn’t mean they don’t still sing classic Glee songs together. In an adorable TikTok posted to the Funny Girl star’s account Monday (Dec. 5), the former costars jammed out in the car to Journey‘s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
“Streetlights, people,” they sang from the back seat, big smiles on their faces as Criss nailed the high note.
“When you’re with your best friend and don’t stop believin’ randomly comes on the radio,” Michele captioned the nostalgic video.
Not so long ago, Michele and Criss starred together as New Directions teammates Rachel Berry and Blaine Anderson, respectively, on Ryan Murphy’s hit Fox show Glee. “Don’t Stop Believing” was a song performed often by the show choir after first being included in the series’ pilot.
In fact, Rachel Berry sang the song during one of her final auditions for Funny Girl, a fictional season four plot point on Glee that became reality earlier this year when Michele was cast as Fanny Brice in Broadway’s ongoing revival of the musical. She took over for Beanie Feldstein after a series of high profile casting changes, including fellow Glee alum Jane Lynch’s earlier-than-expected departure from the show.
Another fiction-turned-reality moment came when Criss came to see Michele perform in Funny Girl in October, paralleling the show moment when Blaine watches Rachel play Fanny from the audience. “The amount of times this guy has heard me sing Don’t Rain On My Parade,” the Scream Queens actress said at the time. “I love you.”
Watch Lea Michele and Darren Criss’ adorable TikTok below:
Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy had fans buzzing earlier this month when he shared that he was feeling open to the idea of rebooting the popular musical comedy series in some way, but Kevin McHale is now sharing that he wouldn’t be onboard with reprising his role as Glee club member Artie Abrams.
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“I don’t know if Artie could be in it,” McHale told Insider about a potential reboot. “Knowing what we know now, I don’t think I should be playing a character that’s in a wheelchair. So, if they let me grow out of my beard and play a different character, I’ll do it.”
In the show, McHale’s character Artie got into a car accident at 8 years old, which resulted in him being in a wheelchair. The actor has also previously stated that at the time, neither he nor the Glee production team “knew better” when he — an able-bodied actor — was cast as a disabled character. “What were we thinking? I can’t play that part.”
McHale’s Glee cast mate and And That’s What You Really Missed podcast co-host Jenna Ushkowitz also told Insider that she’d only take part in a reboot if Murphy was involved. “I look to the leader. Ryan Murphy said something on our podcast about it, so you’ll have to listen,” she said. “I think if it could be done in the right way, he would do it. The stars have to align in order for something to make sense to do it, or he’s not gonna do it. Like, the integrity has to be there.”
“If Ryan was involved, I mean, that’s when you consider it,” she added. “That’s when you talk about actually the possibility of doing it. Otherwise, you can count me out.”
During its time on air, Glee had a slew of superstar guest appearances by people like Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Neil Patrick Harris and more.
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Turns out, one icon who was also supposed to appear on the show was Whitney Houston. In a new episode of Glee stars Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz’s podcast And That’s What You Really Missed, the duo shared a conversation they had with the popular series’ creator, Ryan Murphy.
Murphy revealed that Houston initially agreed in 2009 to play the part of Grace Hitchens — a choir director at a school for female juvenile delinquents — over the phone. The season one role ended up going to Eve. “She just loved that it was about kids in choir, and she was like ‘This is phenomenal. Like, that you’re doing a show about show choir,’” he recalled of Houston’s enthusiasm for the role.
“She didn’t end up doing it, and Eve was phenomenal,” Murphy continued, noting that he didn’t think Houston “was in the right place and time” to play the role. Houston died just a few years later in 2012.
In a new Billboard cover story, Houston’s longtime manager and sister-in-law Pat discussed a string of events that aim to put the public image surrounding Whitney focused back on her voice and not the tabloid drama. Earlier this year, Pat and music publisher and marketer Primary Wave announced a partnership giving the company a 50% stake in Whitney’s assets and since then, Primary Wave says it has quadrupled the estate’s fortunes.
“With everything that’s going on right now, she’s still touching lives, and that’s what I want to do in a very positive way,” Pat told Billboard. “She should be remembered by her music and the work that she’s done in the community, not by her relationships. And the fact that all these things are happening proves that. It’s a clear path without any distractions to make things continue to happen for her legacy.”
Listen to the full conversation with Murphy and more on the latest episode of McHale and Ushkowitz’s And That’s What You Really Missed podcast below. Listen to more episodes here.
Chris Colfer has plenty to say about Glee that doesn’t involve drama with Lea Michele.
“I think there is a lot about my time on Glee that I would love to discuss in detail,” the actor said during a Tuesday (Oct. 18) appearance on the KTLA 5 Morning News. “Not just about the drama everyone knows about, but also my time on the show and what it was like to be an out teenager in this industry, back then.”
However, Colfer was quick to point out that he’s not exactly in a hurry to take a trip down memory lane for some kind of New Directions tell-all. “I’ve had many opportunities to do it and I just feel like my books are doing so well and I’m making so many families happy right now,” he went on. “So, why go back and relive some painful memories?” (His 18 published children’s books include the best-selling The Land of Stories series and its prequel trilogy.)
Part of keeping the past in the past also involves Colfer choosing not to see Michele in Funny Girl on Broadway. When asked by SiriusXM host Michelle Collins earlier this month if he wanted to attend his former’s co-star’s show with her, he deadpanned, “Oh … My day suddenly just got so full” before telling her, “No, I can be triggered at home.”
Other former Glee stars who’ve thrown shade at Michele’s turn on Broadway include Samantha Ware, Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, while Darren Criss, Becca Tobin and Jonathan Groff have all supported their pal in her leading role as Fanny Brice.
