Glee’s heartbreaking season 5 episode, “The Quarterback,” featured Broadway classic “Seasons of Love,” but an unused version of the track, recorded by the Glee cast several years ago, was recently leaked online.
Glee season 5, episode 3, “The Quarterback,” paid tribute to the life of Finn Hudson – and, in turn, late star Cory Monteith, who died in July, age 31. The episode opened on New Directions past and present coming together on “Seasons of Love,” the showpiece of Jonathan Larson’s Tony award-winning musical Rent. You can watch Glee’s “Seasons of Love” tribute performance below:
“Seasons of Love” is an incredibly significant musical number, known to every Broadway lover. Speculation on how the song would one day be used on Glee has abounded right from the show’s first season – there was no doubt among Glee fans about whether it would eventually be covered. Some theories included at a Nationals, as the final performance of the original twelve New Directions, or in the final episode of the entire series.
Chance, or perhaps instinct that it was needed for something greater and more important than the creators ever originally envisioned, kept the song unused until Finn’s tribute, but it was a close thing, because it was recently discovered that the cast – including Monteith himself – once recorded a version of “Seasons of Love” for an earlier episode, but the number did not make the final cut.
The track, leaked online earlier this week, seems to have been intended as part of season 3, and features most of the original New Directions seniors – Rachel, Santana, Mercedes, Quinn, Brittany, Puck, Kurt and Finn. It’s possible it was an intended extra track for Glee: The Music, The Graduation Album, or an extra scene from one of season 3’s final episodes. It is unknown how the leak came about, but you can listen to the unreleased recording below.
Given how it ended up finally being used on the show, it’s oddly fitting, and a very emotional experience to hear Cory perform this song.
What’s your take on Glee’s two versions on “Seasons of Love?” Would you like the earlier track, featuring Cory, to have been added to The Quarterback EP along with the final version?