Top 10 Unscripted Glee Moments That Were Kept in the Show

The “Unholy Trinity,” as fans have dubbed the trio of Quinn, Santana, and Brittany, can do no wrong in the eyes of Gleeks, even when they’re totally messing up their choreography. During “Mustang Sally,” sung by Roderick Meeks as his audition for the glee club, the three former Cheerios get onstage to sing backup in support of the student. The song is fantastic and all four performers sound amazing, so much so that the editors must have been distracted getting this scene to its final version. In a close up shot of Roderick, the three women can be seen breaking character and laughing in the background over Naya Rivera messing up her choreography. Looking back on it now, the simple editing flub has become a beautifully candid moment of a beloved actress gone too soon.

One of Glee’s first guest stars, Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes, was thankfully utilized to her full potential. The Tony winner was given multiple showstopping musical numbers throughout her time on the show. In fact, “Maybe This Time,” sung by both April and Rachel, was so moving it literally brought Chris Colfer to tears. Kurt’s reaction to April’s performance was completely real, and Colfer was surprised to see it in the final cut of the episode. His emotional reaction to such a heart-rending performance is totally understandable. Kristin Chenoweth’s top-notch talents could make even the most cold-hearted audiences weep.

It seems like Chris Colfer had an excellent feel for his character right from the beginning of the series judging by how easily he was able to ad lib lines. It’s established from the beginning that Kurt receives a lot of negative attention from the jocks at his school. In the second episode of “Glee,” just before Kurt is again thrown into a dumpster by some of the bullies from the football team, he stops them to deliver an unscripted line that allows Kurt to recover some of his dignity. The confidence and certainty with which Colfer says this line is perfectly in line with Kurt’s character and his big dreams of stardom. Since his character was actually based on Colfer’s initial audition, it makes sense he was both able and allowed to improvise some of his lines.

Heather Morris was first brought onto the “Glee” set to help with the iconic choreography for “Single Ladies” due to her previous experience as one of Beyonce’s backup dancers. Morris was also made a member of the Cheerios and eventually given her own character, Brittany Pierce. However it was Morris herself who made Brittany into the character we all know and love, thanks to the improvised non-sequiturs she was known to interject into various scenes. That’s right, the shocked and surprised faces of the other characters around her were also the real reactions of her actual co-stars, who knew none of the content or timing of these lines beforehand. This of course led to Morris being given more scripted lines, and Brittany quickly became a fan favorite character.

In season five of “Glee,” Blaine is feeling jealous and insecure about Kurt spending increasingly more time with his new friend Elliott, played by Adam Lambert. With an admirable understanding of Blaine’s outburst, Elliott is able to calm him down and reassure him of how much Kurt loves him. Part of Elliott’s method of calming Blaine includes letting him hold a guitar for comfort, which allowed Lambert and Darren Criss to add their own improvised musical collaboration into the scene. The made-up song, “Glitter Rock Vampire,” is based on an insult Blaine delivered just moments earlier and was completely created on the spot by Criss and Lambert, likely making for a very memorable day on set.

Over the length of the series, the Glee club was frequently looking for new blood. While on a recruiting mission, Tina, Puck, Sam, Mercedes, and Quinn speak to the members of the Tea Party Patriot Club, only to realize they wouldn’t be a good fit for the glee club. They all leave one by one, and Chord Overstreet, who plays Sam, must have been distracted while delivering his last line, because he bumps straight into Dianna Agron. This was completely unscripted and accidental, and it’s obvious from Agron’s very genuine laughter that she was caught by surprise and didn’t expect this shot to make the final cut. The mistake in this scene definitely makes it more memorable, and gives us a glimpse into the behind the scenes friendships of the cast.

In one of Glee’s stranger episodes, we learn that there is no bigger Klaine shipper than Sue Sylvester. She goes so far as to trap the two in an elevator together in the hopes of rekindling their relationship. If the conversation between Kurt and Blaine felt strangely natural and authentic to you, that’s because it basically was. Much of their scene in the elevator was ad-libbed, which definitely shows in the final product. Chris Colfer and Darren Criss had been working closely together for years at this point. Surely it was no challenge for the two talented actors to channel their characters for some improv, despite the truly strange context of the scene.

For Sam’s “guilty pleasure” song, he chose to perform Barry Manilow’s classic “Copacabana.” In the original script, this number was just supposed to feature Sam singing and dancing solo while wearing the iconic costume. During filming, however, Heather Morris thought the song was just too fun to not get up and dance, and she encouraged the rest of the cast to do so as well. The song’s lyrics mention various characters in a narrative story, and members of the “Glee” cast each assigned themselves a certain character to play while dancing to and acting out the song. This made for a fun, slightly silly number that looks like it was a blast to film.

This lighthearted and joyful performance wasn’t supposed to be included in this early season one episode, and was actually inspired by the cast’s behind the scenes jam sessions. Instead of being pre-recorded like many of Glee’s songs, this number was sung live, and is one of only five songs in the entire series to be filmed like this. For characters like Brittany, Mike, and Santana, “Ride Wit Me,” was the first to feature their actual singing voices. It’s easy to pick out the distinctive sound of each cast member’s voice. The happy expressions of the singers is obviously more than just good acting. It makes it easy to imagine how much fun this series’ talented cast all had working together.