Marc Malkin

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T.R. Knight hasn't really been keeping up with Grey's Anatomy.

And it has nothing to do with not being on the show anymore or even the not-so-nice ending he had with Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes.

"Right now I'm working on a house so the TV is in a box, so unfortunately I don't know a lot of what's going on right now," Knight told us yesterday at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum theater, where he's starring in the musical Parade (opening on Sunday, Oct. 4). "I have to catch up."

He did, however, manage to catch the season premiere. What did he think? Keep reading to find out…

"It's fascinating to see it, not being involved in it anymore, because it was a very different experience," Knight said. "I knew a couple of things that were going to happen, but not being there, not seeing it, not being a part of the filming process, being removed from it—you are able to see it in a different way."

In Parade, Knight plays Leo Frank, a real-life Jewish factory worker in Atlanta who was sentenced to death in the early 1900s after being found guilty of killing a 13-year-old child laborer.

Craig Schwartz / Center Theater Group

Being onstage isn't new for the 36-year-old Knight, but musical theater is.

"I had two months of working with a voice teacher. We did six hours a week and tried to figure out how to make sound and not have it sound like screeching brakes," Knight said, adding, "It's kind of a terrifying new world [because] it's not something that I've ever done professionally. So there's a great deal of fear that I'm having to get through."

Not so scary? Babies!

Knight said his best bud Katherine Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley's recent adoption of a baby girl makes his desire to have children even stronger.

"She's such a beautiful baby," Knight said. "I'm so happy for her and Josh. I've wanted [kids] for a while, so it reinforces it."

But that probably won't be happening too soon. After Parade, Knight heads to New York City to star in the Stanley Tucci-directed revival of the Tony Award-winning Lend Me a Tenor.

—Reporting by Brett Malec

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Check out this photo gallery to see some more actors playing real-life people.