I completely agree with the points you’ve made but respectfully, I’d like to add one of my own. I believe Glee really opened the world of musical theatre to an audience that may well have never heard of any musical before. The show referenced so many productions, including Chicago, Rocky Horror, Funny Girl, Wicked etc and after an episode, countless people-for the first time in their lives-downloaded musical theatre scores and their interest in the genre was born.

For me, it’s this that made Glee a major influence on theatre, coupled with, as you rightly say, the sheer talent of the cast.

I don’t think its influence can be overstated especially as Glee is still on many streaming sites and therefore generating a whole new generation of fans who will want to see the stars perform onstage.

“Formerly successful artist nicki minaj” 😭😭 super bass is now a sue sylvester original

Very minor cast member, but Ali Stroker who came second on season 2 of the Glee Project and appeared in one Glee episode won a Tony for her performance in the revival of Oklahoma!.

I think Glee made musical theatre more accessible for a “new” audience, and now the actors and the musicals reap the benefits of it.

Chris Colfer is enjoying a successful writing career.  His Land of Stories series is immensely popular among pre-teens.

GRANT GUSTIN - Water for Elephants...dont forget his Glee character threw slushie with salt at Criss and then did iconic "Smooth Criminal"

Chris Colffer is currently a prolific author! He writes a lot of middle grade book series which I am told is delightful. I think he is enjoying that creative persuit. I think he also wrote and directed a film Struck By Lightning.

I became a fan of Darren Criss through Team Starkid first in 2009 and then started watching Glee, and by the end I was pretty much only watching for him. I will always harbor a grudge against the hairstyling people on Glee for that crime of a gelled-down plastic helmet they turned Darren’s hair into on the show. He has such beautiful natural curls, it is just wrong not to let them fly free! I’ve seen Darren on Broadway in MHE (where I’m funnily enough okay with the plastic hair because it has a character purpose, since he’s a robot) and also in American Buffalo. (And several concerts of his own music and one time with Team Starkid!) Even if Chris Colfer ever came back to acting, I doubt he and Darren would ever play romantic partners again because of how intense and invasive the Real Person Shippers were about insisting they were really in love and harassing their actual partners. I felt so bad for them when that was going on.

I have also been lucky enough to see Jonathan Groff in Merrily and Lea Michele in Chess (I actually went for Aaron Tveit, I would see anything for him; and I stayed for Nicholas Christopher!)

I would love to get to see Alex Newell on Broadway someday, I’ll always be heartbroken that I missed their turn in Once On This Island in particular! I would be SO here for them and Amber Riley splitting the role of Effie. We can always dream!

Dont forget Laura Dreyfuss! She was in GLEE season 6 (she sang a cover of Sia’s Chandelier) and originated the role of Zoe in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway.

in one sentence : glee's casting director was amazing !!!!

I would love to see Harry Shum jr and/or Jacob Artist on Broadway, their dancing was a highlight of Glee for me. They do one routine together and I will be forever salty that’s all we got.

Glee introduced me to the world of musical theatre when I was 11 haha. I can’t wait for that Chris broadway debut. I think he’d do it someday, as a fun little side quest! For now, I’m glad he’s found so much peace and success as an author. Glee took a lot from him as the youngest main cast member, especially since he was back then, completely unknown and closeted. He was such a huge part of my teen years, that even if he chooses to stay away from the public eye forever, seeing him happy and healthy is enough for me!

we as gleeks won broadway this year. 2009 is SO 2026. and I STILL STAN LEA MICHELE TO THIS DAY.

One of the things that really gags me is that one of the jobs Amber Riley does is that she does voice dubbing for other artists. Like if they can’t hit a note, they go to her, I heard her say on a podcast once,

I think Melissa Benoist made her bway debut in beautiful the Carole king musical and then fun fact - Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas O'Connell, won an Oscar for the Barbie movie and was also on Glee.

Still crossing my fingers for a Chris Colfer led The Boy From Oz!

For a long time I’d only seen Amber Riley in Dreamgirls, and this was before ever watching Glee!! She was amazing. More recently I’ve also seen Kevin McHale and Alex Newell in London.

I saw OBC of Hairspray on a high school theater trip and when Glee first came out I couldn’t figure out why I recognized Matthew Morrison until I was back in my childhood bedroom and saw my stage door picture with him on my bulletin board 😂

I think one thing that's interesting is that Glee was one of the final major TV shows that came before streaming took over and TV became less unifying culturally. So once the Glee cast are done, we won't really see this particular kind of stunt casting, with this kind of universal pull, again.

lindsay pearce as elphaba!