Grey's Anatomy Musical Episode: Confirmed!
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The rumors are true. Grey's Anatomy is doing a musical episode.
The ABC medical drama is planning the event later this season, but don't expect the doctors to just burst into song and start dancing down the halls of Seattle Grace.
Thank goodness. What can we expect? TV Guide tells us ...
Creator Shonda Rhimes says the Grey's musical episode will differ from other shows that have attempted one. She cites Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an example.
"[Ours] is sort of the opposite of that in a weird way," Rhimes says. "They did an all-out, show-stopping, Broadway kind of musical episode. This is very different."
Okay, but the question remains ... why on earth would Grey's Anatomy do a musical episode at all, and how the heck will it be anything but cheesy and lame?
Read on for her answers to that and much more ...
"We keep saying that Seasons Six and Seven are the seasons to try anything and everything we've always wanted to do," says Shonda. "I've wanted to do a musical episode since the day Season One started shooting. Now, we have the space to try it.""Also, I finally have the right idea and the right talent to make that happen."
Chandra Wilson and Sara Ramirez can carry a tune. What about the others?
"You will be surprised to discover that some people sing well. That's sort of a little gift to the fans, to discover that people who are not necessarily known for singing have pretty great voices. Also, some people won't [sing] because it doesn't go with the story."
"It's definitely a Callie-heavy story, but it's a story we would've told whether there was singing or not. It's always nice to have a Tony winner on deck to do a little singing."
"The storyline is in very early stages. We're not going to have an episode where you turn on the television and people are singing for no reason. It has a reason, there's a story underneath it and there's a point to the whole thing. I'm still nervous about it."
"You can do something like this and it can come out not the way you intended. I have been working very carefully because I want it to still be our show, but heighten it."
As for the songs themselves, the show-runner says we can expect some of the Grey's Anatomy music that's helped define the show over the six-plus seasons so far.
"Our show is known for its music. I very much wanted to do something that was musical without being a musical. Part of the way I figured out that we could do this was to take the songs that our show has made iconic and have them be sung by our cast members."
"We're singing songs that Grey's Anatomy has made famous."
"I don't want to talk about any particular songs yet because we're still in the process of clearing everything. But when [executive producer] Betsy Beers and I sat down to make the list, we joked that we have too many songs that we could use."
In the end, says Rhimes, "It just became about picking the most iconic ones, the ones that best suited our singers, and the ones that made the most sense."
What do you think? What songs will we hear the cast members belt out - and is this the worst idea you've ever heard? Maybe it'll actually be cool? Discuss!
Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.