I know I recently spoke about Glee's return season, but last night I watched and rewatched a particular snippet from the show (specifically from the episode Laryngitis) and I need to talk about it for a variety of reasons.

Before we begin, come up to speed with me (don't worry, there are no "spoilers" for those who are out of step with the US broadcast, unless you consider choice of song tantamount to a spoiler):


You guys, this is a huge moment for me.

Rose's Turn is from the musical Gypsy, which was a collaboration between Jule Styne (music) and my personal god, Stephen Sondheim (lyrics). It's one of Broadway's greatest "musical nervous breakdowns", if not the definitive one, and the song itself is a star-maker (or breaker).

Ethel Merman, Tyne Daly, Patti Lu Pone and Bernadette Peters have all tackled the unforgiving song and come out "smiling" (it's not exactly a toe-tapper).

In fact, here's Peters performing it at the 2003 Tony Awards telecast (which also includes a handy discussion of the song's context in the show):



Had I known in advance that Kurt (Chris Colfer) would be singing it on the show, my feelings would have swung somewhere between horror and trepidation - sure, the young dude can sing, but can he carry one of musical theatre's most formidable character pieces?

(The great thing about Sondheim's catalogue is also what makes it bittersweet for the younger performer to approach: it's full of incredible songs for older performers, and particularly older women, that need the depth of feeling that life experience brings to a performance. In essence, they are prizes that you have to wait to claim - young musical theatre stars can relax, in a way, knowing that in the twilight years of their career there are glittering jewels like Send In The Clowns and Losing My Mind waiting for them, songs that sound naff if offered up by a 25-year-old.)

The answer, thank goodness, is YES YES YES! And it goes beyond a mere matter of age-appropriateness.

You see, when I was Kurt's age, I dreamed of being able to sing Sondheim. I was a high school misfit, too - I used to try to convince people that Sondheim was "cool" because there was "swearing" in his musicals (it didn't work).

That Glee is potentially introducing a generation of teenagers to the marvellous back-catalogue of Sondheim is nothing short of a miracle.

But beyond that, I've come to realise that Kurt is my favourite character on the show, and the one with the most resonant character arc.

It feels slightly redundant to remark on the fact that the way Glee treats Kurt - a young gay boy struggling in the face of his father's (perceived) expectation and the homophobia (both casual and unintentional) of his friends and peers - is sympathetic and emotionally resonant; after all, it's the second decade of the 21st century, so why shouldn't a television show get it right?

The answer is clear in so much of television's depiction of GLBTI people: in many corners of the television world, you can still find plenty of hollow caricatures (the mincing queen, the butch lesbian, the "confused" transgender or intersex person - or, worse, the "psycho" transgender character).

And when you look at opinion pieces like Newsweek's Straight Jacket by Ramin Setoodeh (who argued that gay actors can't convincingly play straight, citing Glee's Jonathan Groff, gay, who plays Jesse St James, straight), it's clear we still have miles to go.

In Kurt, a brace of younger viewers are introduced to a young gay person who is struggling to find confidence in himself (swinging between singing songs from Wicked and then dressing in outdoorsman clothes, singing John Cougar Mellencamp, and trying to make out with girls), and grappling with feelings and thoughts that so many young people go through.

His storylines are handled with the perfect balance of nonchalance (his struggles are no more or less important than those of the other characters) and empathy.

At times it feels both natural (bordering on "well, duh") that a show that is essentially a musical itself has carried it off with aplomb, and slightly disappointing (is the show merely preaching to the converted?). The latter is a small quibble, however.

I was lucky, in a sense, that my grappling with my own sexuality occurred long after I escaped the war-zone of the schoolyard. And I would certainly never suggest that being a bullied musical theatre-loving nerd was in the same ballpark as the experiences of young people struggling with their sexuality; they are on vastly different emotional planets.

But watching Kurt barrel through Rose's Turn - only to be overheard by his father, who then assured his son that he loves him exactly as he is - felt like a sort of homecoming for me, an eternal outsider for whom musical theatre has formed the lifeblood of existence.

So I can only imagine what watching Rose's Turn must have been like for the millions of real-life "Kurts" out there.

And for that, Glee, I thank you.