As a long-time Gleek — the affectionate term for fans of the cult classic TV show “Glee,” which features a melange of musical performances, satire and high school and college drama — I was always pretty amazed by the amount of Jewish representation on the show.
“Glee” takes place in small-town Lima, Ohio, which is not exactly a locale where one would imagine a large Jewish community. Nevertheless, “Glee” contains a disproportionately high number of Jewish characters and Jewish-related content.
Sometimes the show broke barriers in that regard. As far as I know, it’s the first mainstream TV show to feature a Jew of Color teenage character: Jake, who is introduced in season four.
Resident bad boy with a secret soft heart, Puck, is Jewish and proud of it; Rachel, the star diva of the New Directions club, is Jewish with two openly gay fathers. There’s a Hanukkah song performed on the show (inevitably on a Christmas episode, but it’s something), and we even get a tune from “Yentl” and a subtle reference to Tevye’s dream sequence from “Fiddler on the Roof.”
One of the uniquely Jewish elements of “Glee” is that a large portion of one episode of the show revolves around a bar mitzvah plotline. In the show in season two, New Directions member Sam tries out his Justin Bieber impression at bat mitzvah parties (spoiler: he is a hit), but in season six, we get a full on dedicated episode to the Jewish coming of age ceremony in “Child Star.”
“Child Star,” I regret to say, may be a peak episode in the category of “huh, what on earth were the writers thinking?” (This is a fairly universal feeling amongst “Glee” fans for most of seasons five and six, to be honest.)
A bar or bat mitzvah depicted on a TV show or a film is theoretically a wealth of artistic possibility. It’s a life event that can blend the profound and touching with pop culture and comedy. .
Alas, that’s not what happens in “Child Star.”
The focal plot point is that Sue Sylvester, legendary coach of the cheerleading team in “Glee,” is now the high school principal and craves a Principal of the Year award. To obtain this, she needs a letter of recommendation from the superintendent, whose young nephew Myron Muskovitz is about to become a bar mitzvah.
The deal: Sue must help Myron prepare for both his ceremony as well as his party, where he wants to make his performance debut. The preparations involve Sue reading Myron his Torah portion in his sleep, having the Glee club members come up with performance numbers for Myron’s party, and — apparently most importantly — getting Myron prepped to make a grand appearance in a stage pod to perform for his adoring fans.
Unfortunately, it all manifests as a cynical view of the entire b-mitzvah ceremony and celebration. Myron is a spoiled diva and wants everything to revolve around him and his wild party desires, and since his family is clearly supposed to be well-off and indulgent, he’s going to get what he wants.
There’s no portrayal or even mention at all of the actual Jewish aspect of having a bar mitzvah; the entire second half of the episode simply takes place at his party. In a particularly cringe-inducing moment, Myron soils his pants during the preparation of the stage pod, causing a delay that prompts all the musical performances for his party until he is able to change clothes, emerge and finally give his star turn in “Break Free” with the Glee kids.
While the song and dance performances are fun and campy, Myron’s portrayal ends up being a borderline offensive caricature, and Gleeks are generally unanimous as viewing him as one of the most annoying characters on the entire show. The episode’s ending even has Myron offering money to New Directions member Kitty to give him “a little sugar.” Icky, on every level.
Since “Glee” is generally meant to be a satirical comedy, viewers obviously aren’t going to expect a super hard-hitting episode for the subject matter, but it’s disappointing to see that every negative stereotype about an American Jewish ceremony gets played for cheap laughs.
“Child Star” can be added to the small but existing canon of media portrayals of b’nei mitzvah ceremonies done poorly (though there are certainly others that have been done well).
Watch at your own risk… and then, maybe consider going back to an earlier season of “Glee” to cleanse this episode from your memory. Might I suggest Glee club member Rachel performing the iconic number “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from “Funny Girl”? Now there’s an opportunity for some onscreen schepping naches.
Late Take is a series on Hey Alma where we revisit Jewish pop culture of the past for no reason, other than the fact that we can’t stop thinking about it?? If you have a pitch for this column, please e-mail submissions@heyalma.com with “Late Take” in the subject line.
