Owen High School grad competing in ‘The Glee Project’ for spot on ‘Glee’

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

1

Story by Paul Clark for the Asheville Citizen-Times:

Five down, seven to go, and “Glee” hopeful Hannah McIalwain hopes to be the very last one remaining.

If she’s the top talent in “The Glee Project,” then she wins a spot on the popular Fox-TV series “Glee” for seven weeks, beginning in September.

…

“At first he made me think I didn’t make it,” McIalwain said. “He said there was so much talent there, it was so hard to decide. But then he said ‘Welcome to “The Glee Project!’” I think I asked him, ‘Are you kidding?’ Like over and over again.”

The show’s producers assembled everyone at a high school in Long Beach, where the pilot for “Glee” was filmed. McIalwain didn’t have a game plan, but she was ready. She sang “One of Us” and Celo Green’s “Forget You,” which Gwenyth Paltrow sang on “Glee.”

“I was just myself, and I think that made me stand out,” she said. “Just being me — that’s what ‘Glee’ is all about.”

When it was over, she went back to Queens College in Charlotte, where she was studying theater. About a week later in her dorm room, trying to focus on her studies with a head full of her L.A. experience, she got a Skype call from Ulrich, one of the judges.