Glee fans are praising newcomer
Darren Criss' debut performance on the Fox musical-comedy hit.
Criss' addition to the show created a
buzz among fans who speculated that his character, Blaine, an out and
proud student from a rival glee club named the Dalton Academy
Warblers, would woo gay McKinley High student Kurt Hummel, played by
Chris Colfer.
But Tuesday's episode, suggestively
titled Never Been Kissed, presented Blaine as more of a mentor
than a love interest for Kurt.
Criss' inaugural performance of Katy
Perry's Teenage Dream is earning him high praise from fans.
(The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
A whopping 97.28% of readers responding
to an online poll Wednesday morning at celebrity website Zap2It.com
called Criss an “absolute teenage dream.”
“Darren Criss is the best thing to
ever happen to Glee,” gushed one commenter.
In
a Wall Street Journal interview published Tuesday, Criss
would neither confirm nor deny that his character's friendship with
Kurt evolves into something romantic.
“I can't confirm or deny,” he said.
“I really don't know how long I'll be on the show. I will tell
you that I've done more than one episode. I want to stay on as long
as possible.”