And "Guy Love" is but one of the pleasures of tonight's half-hour, which is among the best song-and-dance episodes of a TV show I've seen, rating close to the unforgettable "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" musical. With its expressionistic love of wild fantasy sequences, "Scrubs" seems to have been built by creator Bill Lawrence to accommodate such bursts into song. And the songs, with influences ranging from "Les Miserables" and "Grease" to Gilbert & Sullivan, fit effortlessly into the wacky environment of "Scrubs." They were written and composed by Debra Fordham, a "Scrubs" supervising producer, and two of the show's musical consultants, all in collaboration with the Tony-winning creators of "Avenue Q."
Frankly, they had me at "Everything Comes Down to Poo," an early number about the diagnostic value of bowel movements that actually includes the couplet: "All across the nation / We trust in defecation." The plot of the episode finds a woman (played by Stephanie D'Abruzzo, an original lead in "Avenue Q ") at Sacred Heart because she can only hear singing, not talking. Naturally, the ever-crusty Dr. Cox thinks she's"cuckoo-pants," which gives actor John C. McGinley an opportunity to digress into one of his breathless tirades -- in song. But her poo, along with an MRI, of course, indicates that something more urgent is wrong.
It's no surprise that, as Turk, Donald Faison can handle a musical number like a pro. When "Scrubs" has briefly popped into song or choreography over the years, Faison has often been at the forefront, exuberant as always. That he has never been honored with a supporting actor Emmy nomination is just too irritating and unfair. He masterfully evokes the show's juvenile sweetness and its poignancy all at once.
