By Andrew Gans
05 Sep 2008

Lea Michele

Two Broadway favorites — South Pacific's Matthew Morrison and Spring Awakening's Lea Michele — have been cast in the new hourlong Fox comedy "Glee."

The musically themed series is aiming for a March 2009 launch, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Each episode will feature as many as four musical numbers.

Ryan Murphy's new comedy, according to the industry paper, centers on Will, a "thirtysomething Spanish teacher at an Ohio high school who has the daunting task of taking over the school's glee club, which has become a haven for outcasts."

Morrison will star as Will with Michele as the glee club's star female singer.

Matthew Morrison, who is currently starring in the Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific, received a 2005 Tony nomination for his performance as Fabrizio Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza. He also appeared on Broadway in Richard Greenberg's A Naked Girl on the Appian Way and received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for his role as Link Larkin in the original cast of Hairspray. Morrison's other Broadway credits include Footloose and The Rocky Horror Show as well as the national tour of Footloose. His screen credits include "Marci X," "Primary Colors," "Simply Funky," "Sex and the City," "The Journey of Allen Strange" and "Hack." He was also seen in the new television production of "Once Upon a Mattress."

Lea Michele received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance as Wendla in Spring Awakening; she also created that role in the show's Off-Broadway mounting. The actress' other Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Ragtime and Les Misérables. Michele also appeared in a regional production of The Diary of Anne Frank.