In honor of the return of Glee

{Yet another installation of in-praise-of-men's-voices.}

Around here we are Gleeks with reservations. I don't think it's for everyone in the family but I personally love the campiness and the fun musical adaptations. So, in honor of its return tonight, I bring you this gleeky, geeky retrospective.

Recognize this guy?

Yep, that's Mr. Schuster from Glee playing the lead--years ago--in The Light in the Piazza. Sigh. It's brilliant. I might admit to seeing it three times. He played a young Italian boy, Fabrizio, in the 1950s who falls in love with a visiting American girl named Clara. The love songs are amazing. Here's Matthew Morrison and Kelly O'hara (go ahead, treat yourself to a little listen--even if you're not a Glee fan):

Say It Somehow

Love to Me

A couple of years later I also saw them both in South Pacific, in the exact same theater where TLITP played. It was a small, in-the-round theater at Lincoln Center. It was weird. Suddenly Fabrizio and Clara were grown-ups.

With fewer clothes.

So, bottom line:  I like to think Matthew Morrison and I go way back. Break a leg, Mr. Shu.

{Thanks for indulging me...back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.)