"Scrubs" Musical Episode, with Q's D'Abruzzo, Premieres Jan. 18

A musical episode of the NBC comedy "Scrubs" — guest-starring Avenue Q Tony nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo as a Sacred Heart patient — premieres Jan. 18 at 9 PM ET.

The episode, which was penned by "Scrubs" supervising producer Debra Fordham, features songs by Tony Award-winning Avenue Q composers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Other tunes were written by Fordham, Jan Stevens and Paul Perry.

D'Abruzzo plays Patti Miller, a woman "who checks into Sacred Heart complaining of hearing incessant music — and the hospital is soon turned into a stage." The episode — which is simply titled "My Musical" — also boasts several other Broadway connections. Tony Award-winning orchestrator Doug Besterman arranged two of the songs featured in the situation comedy: "Welcome to Sacred Heart" and "Everything Comes Down to Poo." Another Tony winner, Karen Ziemba, makes a brief cameo in the episode, and the director of this special episode, Will Mackenzie, played Cornelius opposite Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!. Several of the series regulars — including Ken Jenkins, Judy Reyes and Sarah Chalke — also have many theatre credits.

About D'Abruzzo's work on the NBC show, writer-producer Fordham recently told Playbill.com, "This really is a deceptively difficult role. A good deal of [Stephanie D'Abruzzo's] time was spent simply reacting to what's going on around her. And if you think that's easy, you've never had to do it! Stephanie found her own throughline and developed this whole arc for how her character responds to the singing. There's an actual progression to it that was neither directed, nor scripted. Then, to make the role even more challenging, after spending most of the episode off to the side, she has to suddenly take center stage and make the whole story mean something! It really was a lot to ask, but Stephanie absolutely nailed it."

"Scrubs," according to the show's official website, "focuses on the strange experiences of J.D., a medical resident, as he continues on his healing career in a surreal hospital crammed full of unpredictable staffers and patients — where humor and tragedy can merge paths at any time." Zach Braff portrays Dr. John "J.D." Dorian, and the cast also features Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, John C. McGinley and Judy Reyes. Bill Lawrence is the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series; Will Mackenzie directed the musical episode.

Stephanie D'Abruzzo made her Broadway debut in Avenue Q at the Golden Theatre. She received a Tony nomination and a Theatre World Award for her work in the Broadway production and a Drama Desk nomination for her work in the Off-Broadway mounting of Q. She has also been seen on stage in I Love You Because, the City Center Encores! production of Carnival, the all-star Chess concert, the Encores! 10th Anniversary Bash and the Stephen Sondheim celebration, Children and Art. D'Abruzzo has spent several seasons on "Sesame Street" and the kids show "Oobi" and was seen in VH-1's "I Love the 70s Part II" and "I Love the 80s 3-D." She also made her solo cabaret debut at the famed jazz club Birdland. Visit www.nbc.com/Scrubs for more information.