For impassioned, young theatergoers who live for the cast albums of "Les Misérables," "Hamilton" and other hit musicals, Elsie Fest was, undoubtedly, the pinnacle event of the season.
Fresh off his stint in Broadway's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," Darren Criss co-devised the Sept. 27 event as a one-night-only fête of all things Broadway, teaming up with manager Ricky Rollins, producer Jordan Roth and a bevy of stage and screen pals. The aim, he said, was to meld the pulse of outdoor music festivals like Coachella and the pizzazz of Broadway with the intimacy of cabaret.
The result was a splashy, seven-hour celebration that saw the beloved "Glee" veteran take the stage at New York's Pier 97 with fellow stars Aaron Tveit, Laura Osnes, Leslie Odom Jr. and Lea Salonga for energetic sets comprising show tunes, contemporary pop and even Disney classics. A portion of the proceeds went to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
While he is hopeful that it would become an annual tradition, Criss was quick to stress that the event was very much an experiment. Whether or not fans used to seeing big-scale musicals in big Broadway theaters would greet their favorite performers with the same enthusiasm in a rock-and-roll, Bonnaroo-type setting, he said, remained to be seen.
“I’m all about fusing things together that people don’t necessarily know would work,” he told theater blog Center on the Aisle ahead of the show. “The biggest danger is when you start to rely on things that have worked in the past, and when you play it safe.”
Still, Broadway's fall season is shaping up to be its most diverse yet, a fact not lost on Criss and the Elsie Fest team. In fact, those who immediately associate musical theater with jazz hands and top hats (not to mention a stuffy, older crowd) would find none of that here. Each performance felt geared toward the hip audiences who are making shows like "Hamilton" unprecedented smashes.
Judging by the thunderous applause that greeted Tveit's cheeky take on Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and Criss's heartfelt version of "I Dreamed A Dream" from "Les Mis," the show needn't worry about finding an eager audience. Bravo to Criss and the rest of the performers for not only shining the spotlight on musical theater, but giving the genre a blast of modern cool. Now we're just counting down the days until news of the 2016 lineup!
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misidentified the song from "Les Misérables" performed by Criss.