Jeff Goldblum is looking forward to his first appearance on a Pittsburgh stage since the CMU summer pre-college program or maybe high school at West Mifflin North.

	The Summer Lineup Pittsburgh CLO's summer season kicks off June 15 with "The King and I." All performances are at the Benedum Center, Downtown. For subscription and ticket information, visit www.pittsburghclo.org or call 412-456-6666. The season lineup: "The King and I," June 15-20. "1776," June 25-July 3. "The Music Man," July 6-18. "Hello Dolly," July 20-Aug. 1. "Me and My Girl," Aug. 3-8. "Dreamgirls," Aug. 10-22.

And the popular movie star (80-some films, including "Jurassic Park" and "The Fly") isn't just dipping his toe in the water, but taking the full plunge. He'll play that voluble, honey-tongued, older-but-wiser con man, Prof. Harold Hill, in Pittsburgh CLO's "The Music Man" at Benedum Center, July 6-18.

"I'm working on it already," he said yesterday by phone from Los Angeles, on location for "My 11:30," a TV pilot by Paul Reiser he's shooting for NBC.

"I'm humbled by it. When I was a kid in Pittsburgh, my parents went to New York to see Robert Preston [the original Harold Hill] and came back with the cast album. I've loved it."

Snagging Goldblum is a coup for CLO, which has announced some other high-profile casting for its six-show season, joining the initially announced trio of Sandy Duncan in "The King and I" and James Brennan and Sutton Foster in "Me and My Girl."

Former "Caroline in the City" star Malcolm Gets will return to star as John Adams in "1776," having previously headlined in 2001 in CLO's "Company." Also in the large cast, which is still to be announced, will be former CLO head Charles Gray.

To headline its first-ever production of "Dreamgirls," CLO has lined up Frenchie Davis, who made an impressive debut on "American Idol" and is now appearing in "Rent" on Broadway. Davis will play Effie, as she did in a recent West Coast tour.

Joining her as Deena will be CMU grad Vanita Harbour, who did "Once on This Island" on Broadway and on tour, and who appeared in a memorable 1990 "Dreamgirls" at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Broadway veteran Norm Lewis ("Chicago," "Tommy") will play Curtis, with Manoly Farrell as Michelle.

The 51-year-old Goldblum looks forward to acting in his old hometown, where his mother, Shirley Tyson, and brother, Lee Goldblum, still live. Adding to his pleasure is the prospect of sharing the stage with his 23-year-old fiancee, Canadian Catherine Wreford (pronounced Ree-ford), who will play Marion, the librarian who succumbs to the veteran con man's charms.

In contrast to Goldblum, Wreford has already played Pittsburgh, starring as Peggy Sawyer, the tap-dancing lead in the national tour of "42nd Street" which came here in October, 2002. "All small-town charm and bright-eyed wonder, Wreford dazzles with lightning dance steps and lovely singing," Post-Gazette reviewer Anna Rosenstein wrote at the time.

So we know she can do it, but what about Goldblum?

He doesn't seem worried. In fact, the casting was his and Wreford's idea. "When I got together with Catherine, we said we should do something together. We got out the album and started to sing ['Music Man']. Wreford heard CLO was casting and now the die is cast."

Goldblum grew up in Homestead, went to Walnut Street grade school, Calhoun Junior High and West Mifflin North. He took piano lessons and went to the Chatham College summer music camp run by Misha and Kay Stolarevsky.

"I adored that," he remembers. "The first time I did any acting was in a little drama program my second summer, when I played the lead in a take-off G&S musical." He says he leapt on stage and felt at home.

When he graduated from high school at 17, he went right to New York to study under the legendary Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. His first Broadway job was at 18 in the ensemble of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (1971), under the direction of Mel Shapiro.

Right after, he appeared in "El Grande de Coca Cola," off-Broadway, where he caught the attention of Robert Altman. Soon he was in Los Angeles launching a movie career.

Stage work since includes another Broadway musical, "The Moony Shapiro Songbook" (1981), which earned him good reviews but closed precipitously and was the last show ever at the Morosco Theater. Just a year ago he did a stint as the guest star in Broadway's "The Play What I Wrote." He also took a turn in "The Exonerated," off-Broadway, and he teaches acting (using the Meisner Method) at Los Angeles' Playhouse West.

Goldblum says rehearsing intensely here for 10 days and performing for two weeks leaves him time for a movie he's shooting in Rome, Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic," with a cast including Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston and Michael Gambon.

"I don't really know the city Pittsburgh has evolved into," Goldblum says. He'll get a chance to rectify that.