Full of Glee, my heart sings again to see artsy-geeky kids getting the spotlight on TV

I was one of those high school kids who lived for band practice, choir practice and drama group. Life began after 3:30 p.m., as far as I was concerned. (I think back on everything I did, including piano lessons and, in my senior year, taking on organist duties at church, and I wonder how the day managed to have so many hours back then.)

My TV heroes were the kids on Fame. Their hopes and fears felt like a mirror of my own roiling teenage hormones.

So it's no surprise that I've joined the legions of fans of the new TV series Glee. Much of the adult stuff is way more cynical than anything I would've seen way back when, but the teenage angst -- and ability to channel it and overcome it through music and movement -- is exactly the same.

Just as Fame helped validate my decidedly unpopular artsy cravings, there's a whole new generation of musical drama queens who can gain strength and comfort from realising that there are so many more like-minded souls out there.

There's a nice little story in The New York Times on how the theatre community has been drawn to Glee, like Neil Patrick Harris to an awards show.

Here, to cap my little burst of nostalgia, is Valerie Landsburg (who is 51 now) singing her stuff in Fame: