The Grey’s Anatomy Musical Event!

March 31, 2011...the much-anticipated Grey’s Anatomy musical event has finally aired. We’ve been hearing rumors since October, then it was a reality in January, and now, today, it is here.

            The show opened with picking up the car accident scene from the previous episode and one line from the discontinued show opener song, Cosy in the Rocket (by Psapp). As Callie Torres (played by Sara Ramirez) sings “nobody knows where we might end up”- I thought the same thing about this episode. And so it begun.

First full song, Chasing Cars (by Snow Patrol), was sung with in beautiful harmony by Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd), and Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez). It was such an emotional moment with Callie and the life of her baby in jeopardy. It took me back to season five finale when George O’Malley was brought into the hospital but he didn’t live through the surgery. I had to remind myself the episode just started five minutes ago. Who kills a cast member within the first five minutes of an episode and not the season finale? [Rhetorical question]

As the emotion crescendo, Lil Grey (Dr. Lexie Grey played by Chyler Leigh) sings one of my favorite songs, Breathe [2AM] (by Anna Nalick). I have to say I wasn’t too fond of her going back and forth between singing and dialogue. She has a beautiful voice but the audio between her singing voice and talking voice doesn’t match and it was enough to bother me.

Ladies and Gentlemen...Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) just stepped off the helicopter and arrived in Seattle, WA. Sadly, for the current OBGYN, also known as Alex Karev’s (Justin Chambers) current like interest, Addison had to bring an extra set of balls for her. The moment I found out Callie’s baby was in trouble I knew Addison had to be on the show. Whom else are you supposed to trust with your baby’s life in the TV world? Of course, anyone who watches the show knows Addison is a certified neonatal surgeon; she can handle anything.

One thing I’d like to mention is that it had to be a little weird to act out singing in front of a bunch of other people who are having dialogue lines around. The two scenes of music on top of other actors arguing was too much going on. I wasn’t feeling the song Wait (by Get Set Go) sung by Dr. Bailey and then the song How We Operate (by Gomez) sung by Dr. Hunt. The music was sung very good but it needed to be the scene and not part of a scene.

I was relieved to see how Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Karev did not lose their snarky personalities in this sea of a crisis. Things got really serious and heated between Dr. Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) and Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and I felt bad when they were tearing into each other.

After all this fighting and drama, there is an out of place upbeat song, Runnin’ on Sunshine (by Jesus Jackson). It was a bright and shiny song with all the bright and shiny couples. It was a great happy song but it did not belong in this episode. On another note, at first I thought Dr. Jackson Avery (Jesse Williams) was being too sensitive but then I saw Lil Grey stroking Mark’s hair in that song and I got a bit angry. Mark and Lexie had their time and now she has moved onto Jackson. If she breaks his gorgeous looking eyes’ heart, I will never forgive her. Once with Jackson how could one go back to Mark?

I never knew Eric Dane could sing but the voice that surprised me was Justin Chambers. He had one line in the song Runnin’ on Sunshine but his voice was definitive and strong; I would have loved to hear him sing more. Another song I really liked was Universe & U (by KT Tunstall). It was cut short but Jessica Capshaw and Sara Ramirez did a beautiful job singing that song together; their voices mesh well.

Speaking of Callie...if it wasn’t her watching herself, she would totally have the creeper status.  For example, Callie starring herself in the face or sitting on top of herself going into surgery. Shonda Rhimes likes to do stuff like that: having people “in between” watch the living or give them guidance. For instance, in season 3 there was a cameo from a bunch of people, Ellis Grey [Dr. Meredith Grey’s mom], the bomb squad guy, the girl who was stuck on a pole with the older black guy, Doc [Meredith and Derrick’s dog], and Denny DuQuette.

The Song Grace (by Kate Havnevik) was wonderfully sung by Callie. I might be a little bias because I am the Grey’s Anatomy fanatic who has a playlist on my iPod of all of these songs from over the seasons. Right after that serene heartfelt song came How to Save a Life (by The Fray) which I was looking forward to very much. The intro started by Dr. Hunt himself was horrible and then everyone else joined in and didn’t make it any better. As much as I love that song it was being butchered in the OR [operating room]. At one point, the song did flat line until Callie’s voice revived it. In the mist of everyone singing and cutting...the baby was born and the song almost ruined that moment. I was so distracted with how I felt about the singing, next thing I know Mark and Arizona run into the OR, I hear the baby’s BP [blood pressure] go up, and Dr. Webber (James Pickens Jr.) say “the mothers heart is stable.” What happened?!? I like totally missed everything that led up to that moment.

The Story (by Brandi Carlile) was the song I was looking forward to the most. I play that song in my car all the time and I love Brandi’s voice raspy voice. When Callie sung it, she did not disappoint. In that same song, I was heartbroken because Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) cardio divorced Christina. They were the team I was rooting for after the MerDer marriage. Within the same five minutes of despair, Callie woke up and gave Arizona a YES answer.

I have to look at this episode as either a Grey’s Anatomy musical episode or a serious emotional episode but it’s difficult to concentrate on both when actors are singing, talking, and shouting about surgery. All of this is combined into one episode but only one at a time can possess one’s undivided attention. This episode would have almost seemed better if the audience did not focus on the music. The episode went by so fast and there was so much emotion that it could have been more powerful if people were not distracted by the actors singing. Music can either make or break you and Grey’s Anatomy had a great attempt at music but should not do it again. The show is already so much without the actors singing about the drama. The Grey’s Anatomy musical event was a nice change in pace but the music was not needed. I don't want to take anything away from the actors/singers, SOME have great voices while others shouldn't sing, but I don't want to hear them sing on Grey's Anatomy ever again. Grey’s Anatomy music needed to be a soundtrack that heightens the emotion not distracts it.