Matthew Morrison brings heart to ‘Glee'

Matthew Morrison brings heart to ‘Glee'
By Christopher Smith
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
April 18, 2010
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sc-ent-0414-celebs-matthew-morrison-20100418,0,7481419.story


LOS ANGELES
— In early March, the Paley Center for Media held its annual festival saluting notable new TV shows, showcasing the likes of "Modern Family" and "Men of a Certain Age." The evenings of PaleyFest have a comfortable charm — an episode screening, cast appearances and polite questions from an attentive audience.

Then there was March 13, and the salute to "Glee." Lines formed early outside the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, with fans — self-described "Gleeks" — hanging out, many of them singing and dancing as they waited. The mood inside the packed, 1,900-seat auditorium — attendance was later announced as biggest in the festival's 27 years — was ebullient.

Things quieted during the showing of the first of nine new episodes, which began airing April 13 on Fox, but the lights came up, the cast was introduced one by one and enthusiasm grew. Finally, out bounded a smiling Matthew Morrison, "Glee's" bedrock character, glee club director Will Schuester, and the place blew apart.

For those non-Gleeks who don't know what the shouting is all about, "Glee" is an hourlong confection set in high school and played out against a background soundtrack of catchy cover tunes popping up about every 10 minutes. At the core of it is Morrison. The 31-year-old actor has a decade of Broadway and a Tony nomination under his belt, but it wasn't until "Glee" that he catapulted into the public eye as the show's decent-guy centerpiece, albeit one with a dreamboat-looks twist. Schuester functions as den father to a group of harmonic teens amped on high tones as well as hormones; he's also the object of dueling affections from a wily wife and winsome co-worker; and, perhaps the highlight of it all, is the victimized combatant in a death-match rivalry with the predatory cheerleading coach, played by the titanic Jane Lynch.

"Glee" co-star Lea Michele — a breakout in her own right — appraises Morrison's role on the set to the gaggle of younger cast members as a "big brother type. He's not overbearing or parental, but someone who, when things get a little chaotic, will settle everyone else down with a ‘hey guys, let's get on our game.'"

On the set, Morrison is nicknamed "Triple Threat," a nonironic description of his formidable talents as singer (a stirring, high-range tenor), dancer (he got his first Broadway gig dancing at 19) and actor, where his emotional accessibility and empathy for fellow characters manifests itself with a depth rare in television prime-time comedies.

Late on a Saturday afternoon in March, at a home recording studio in Silver Lake, Morrison is taking a day away from the 16-hour "Glee" taping sessions to focus on the first project of his career that is just about him. Off the "Glee" heat, Mercury Records signed him to do a solo album. This is just a demo session; work begins later this month. Tony, Grammy and Emmy winner Marc Shaiman is on board to write material. An orchestra is envisioned. Morrison can see a tour if the album hits.

"But it won't be lightweight pop," he says, during a break. "It's gotta be …. meaningful."

Michelle Stern contributed to this report.