Newell giddy over ‘Glee’ return

LYNN – Alex Newell may have been the third runner up on Oxygen’s “The Glee Project” but he’ll be a star Thursday when the fourth season of “Glee” premieres.”Alex will be on season four as a recurring guest, so he’s in L.A. (Los Angeles),” said his mother Brenda Newell from her Lynn home.Alex Newell debuted his cross-dressing character, Wade Adams/Unique, on “Glee” last season alongside three other “Glee Project” winners but only Newell will be on hand for the season premiere. Since he was invited back, Brenda Newell said her son, who graduated from Bishop Fenwick last June, packed his bags and moved to California, deferring a college career in the process.Brenda Newell said her son had been accepted to Berklee College of Music in Boston and was planning to study voice when he learned he had been invited back to Fox’s hit television show.”He had to make a decision in July,” Brenda Newell said. “He decided to defer Berklee. I’m okay with that because he is young.”Brenda Newell said acting is what makes her son happy, it is what he wants to do and he has plenty of time to pursue a college career.”I did not pressure him in any way,” she added. “And this is something he really wanted.”The fact her son is doing what he wants is her consolation for the fact that he’s moved across the country.”I’m a little sick about it but I’m managing,” Brenda Newell said with a small laugh. “I’m just kind of taking it in stride.”It is a sign, she said, that her little boy is growing up.”Well, he’s grown up,” she said. “Over the last year he’s made sound decisions on his own and he’s really made me proud.”She said, like many parents, she’s often wondered if Alex ever actually heard the lessons and wisdom she tried to impart to him over the years.”I’ve seen over the last year that he has been listening,” she said. “He’s grounded and that’s the way I like it.”Which is good because Alex’s character does not quite have his confidence, yet. Wade Adams is a cross-dressing “Gleek,” who in season four transfers to the series’ fictional William McKinley High School.Brenda Newell said she believes the fact that “Boogie Shoes,” a number her son performed last season as Unique, became one of the top downloads on the “Glee” soundtrack smoothed the way for the alternative character. Although she noted that Bill O’Reilly, a conservative television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator, was not a fan of the new character or the idea of anyone being transgender.”I don’t really think of it as a transgender thing but I do worry because my son is openly gay,” she said. Thus far, however, Alex Newell has faced no backlash for his character and Brenda Newell said she hopes it stays that way.”He’s happy,” she said. “He has an agent, he’s settled in L.A. ? he has the opportunity to do what he loves.”The season premiere of “Glee” shows on its new night, Thursday, on FOX at 9 p.m.Chris Stevens can be reached at [email protected] Newell perform at The Glee Project Panel