The episode features cover versions of five songs, all of which were released as singles, available for digital download, and three of which are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.

Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) informs Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) that she can no longer dress as a goth, alarmed by a spate of pseudo-vampirism in the school, inspired by the Twilight series.

While spying on a Vocal Adrenaline rehearsal, Rachel shockingly realizes that their director, Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), is her biological mother.

Kurt's father Burt Hummel (Mike O'Malley) invites Finn (Cory Monteith) and his mother Carole Hudson (Romy Rosemont) to move in with them.

Meanwhile, at the end of the episode, while Figgins walks out of the office, he has an illusion that Tina is really a vampire, and threatens to kill him if he doesn't let her wear her usual clothing.

Series creator Ryan Murphy, who also directed the episode, stated that, because of the elaborate staging and costuming, the performance of "Bad Romance" was the show's most expensive number to date.

[4] Kurt's costume is inspired by the Alexander McQueen outfit Gaga wears in the "Bad Romance" video, described by Colfer as "George Washington meets an Oceanic whale disco ball type thing".

[4] The most complicated costume was the Philip Treacy lobster hat,[8] worn by Brittany (Heather Morris), as to get it to stay in place during the "Bad Romance" dance, Eyrich had to build a Buckram orb which could be safety–pinned on her head, then solder steel tentacles onto the sphere.

"[16] The male glee club members, except Kurt, perform "Beth" and "Shout It Out Loud" by Kiss,[17] while Shelby also sings "Funny Girl" from the film of the same name.

[27] Other recurring characters who appear in "Theatricality" are glee club members Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera), Brittany Pierce (Heather Morris), Mike Chang (Harry Shum, Jr.) and Matt Rutherford (Dijon Talton, who gets his first lines in this episode), school reporter Jacob Ben Israel (Josh Sussman), school athletes and bullies Karofsky and Azimio, Principal Figgins, Vocal Adrenaline coach Shelby Corcoran and Finn's mother Carole Hudson.

[32] In Australia, the episode drew Glee's highest ever overnight ratings, watched by 1.41 million viewers and leading in all key demographics in its time slot.

[33] Following the episode's original broadcast, "Asian Vampires" became the fifth most discussed topic on the social networking website Twitter, in reference to Tina's storyline.

[35] Entertainment Weekly's Tim Stack deemed "Theatricality" one of his favorite episodes of the season, writing: "it does what Glee does best which is combining comedy, music, and emotional truths."

"[38] Eric Goldman of IGN rated the episode 8.3/10 for "Impressive", and felt that there was "a lot to enjoy", with "some very fun material mixed in with one of the heaviest scenes Glee has delved into.

"[39] Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle called the episode "pretty great", also praising O'Malley's acting and noting: "I was impressed with how visceral the confrontation between Kurt's dad and Finn got and how the writers kept the language as raw as the emotions.

She called the Rachel and Shelby storyline "very well-handled, another emotional story that the series is mostly nailing the execution of", and opined: "Chris Colfer and Mike O'Malley (always good together) brought out the best in Cory Monteith, who sometimes struggles with the weightier stuff."

[41] James Poniewozik of Time was "pleasantly surprised" by the episode, praising the Kurt/Finn and Rachel/Shelby story lines; however, he found the Tina, Quinn and Puck subplots "ridiculous and dispensable.

"[42] Henrik Batallones of BuddyTV felt that "Theatricality" was a "pretty strong, albeit not perfect, episode", deeming O'Malley the star of the show.