‘Duet‘, the musical crossover episode between Supergirl and The Flash, is shaping up to be a truly unique hour of superhero television. But for many of its cast members, as a recent piece in Entertainment Weekly revealed, filming the episode proved to be a very friendly reunion.
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With both Grant Gustin (Barry Allen) and Melissa Benoist (Kara Danvers) getting their starts on the popular Fox series Glee, it made sense for the episode’s antagonist, Music Meister, would also be a fellow Glee alum.
For Darren Criss, who plays the villain, getting to reunite with his former cast mates proved to be a surprisingly familiar experience, with the actor saying that the episode is “just [like] Glee.”
One thing about the episode that is different, however, are the allegiances of Criss and Gustin’s characters. As Glee fans probably remember, Gustin’s role of Sebastian Smythe was often an antagonist to Criss’ Blaine Anderson.
“It is funny” Criss explains, “that the last time I worked with Grant, he was the bad guy and he was singing at me, and now I’m the bad guy singing at him.”
As it turns out, Criss has a menagerie of connections to the casts of both shows. Besides previously working with Benoist and Gustin, Criss went to college with Flash star Carlos Valdes. The pair even wrote a handful of amateur musicals as part of the popular amateur theater troupe Team Starkid.
“I was wondering why everybody else I knew had been on the show but me.” Criss joked, before reassuring how positive the reunion was. “It’s been a very sentimental crossover on so many levels. Every day, every scene my mind is being blown. I can’t believe I’m here with Melissa Benoist and Carlos Valdes. ‘How do you guys even know each other? Oh, that’s right, you’re both superheroes!’”
For the other Glee alums of the Berlanti-verse, filming the episode with Criss had a similar impact on them as well.
“I could not be happier that he’s here,” explained Benoist, “He’s killing this role. He’s bringing such a fun energy, the way he did on Glee as well.”
DARREN CRISS (“GLEE”) GUEST STARS AS THE MUSIC MEISTER IN THE FLASH AND SUPERGIRL MUSICAL CROSSOVER – Barry (Grant Gustin) and team are surprised when Mon-El (guest star Chris Wood) and Hank Henshaw (guest star David Harewood) arrive on their Earth carrying a comatose Supergirl (guest star Melissa Benoist) who was whammied by the Music Meister (guest star Darren Criss). Unable to wake her up, they turn to Team Flash to save her.
However, the Music Meister surprises The Flash and puts him in a similar coma, one that Team Flash can’t cure. Kara and Barry wake up without their powers in an alternate reality where life is like a musical and the only way to escape is by following the script, complete with singing and dancing, to the end.
Dermott Downs directed the episode with story by Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg and teleplay by Aaron Helbing & Todd Helbing (#317). Original airdate 3/21/2017.
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The Flash airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
