Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by co-creator Ian Brennan, it aired on Fox in the United States on April 29, 2014, and features the introduction of Shirley MacLaine as rich socialite June Dolloway.
Newly minted Broadway star Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) signs with an agency called the ICA, and meets with her new agent Mr. Rifkin (Richard Kind), who urges her to branch out as much as she can from her leading role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.
She travels to LA under the guise of being sick to audition for a television pilot, Song of Solomon, against the advice of her roommate Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer).
She tells Blaine at a meal of a show she's planning to center around him, and refuses his request that Kurt be in it, going as far as to advise him to break off his engagement and venture out into the world instead of settling down.
Guest star Shirley MacLaine debuts this episode in a multi-episode arc as June Dolloway, a rich, "powerful socialite" and major NYADA donor who takes an interest in Blaine and wants to make him "a superstar".
[6][7] The episode was written by supervising producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by co-creator Ian Brennan, and was in production on April 9, 2014, when Academy Award-winners MacLaine and Rash were shooting scenes for him.
[10] Recurring characters appearing in this episode include aspiring singer Mercedes Jones (Riley),[1] Funny Girl producer Sidney Greene (Michael Lerner)[2] and NYADA teacher Alain Marceau (Nicholas Kadi).