Elsie Fest 2016 Highlights

Elsie Fest celebrated its second year last night at the Ford Amphitheater on Coney Island and it was pure magic, to say the least. Co-creator and producer Darren Criss brought audiences to their feet with his unexpected choice for last song – Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. A rock song at a musical theatre festival wasn’t the only highlight of the night. Here are our top 6 favorite moments of the night!

Darren Criss sings a duet with Liz Callaway.

During his set, Criss began to sing “Journey to the Past” from the 1997 film Anastasia. He then proceeded to tell the audience that his voice isn’t high enough for the song and introduces Liz Callaway, the voice of Anastasia. Audiences went absolutely wild. Talk about blast from the past for all the ’90s kids!

Tituss Burgess and Todrick Hall sing Disney hits.

These men’s voices are out of this world and fans can’t get enough. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star relived his The Little Mermaid days when he sang “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and even joked that Ursula was the part he should’ve portrayed (instead of Sebastian). If there’s ever a revival, we are totally in favor of that Mr. Burgess. Later, singer-songwriter Todrick Hall (and Kinky Boot‘s new Lola) sang a mash-up of ’90s songs and Disney songs. Um. Can we get a studio recording of that in the near future? Nothing gets the musical theatre community as excited as throwbacks to their childhood.

Corey Cott was the very best, like no one ever was.

The crowd was extremely pleased with Newsies‘ Corey Cott’s choice of opening song – the Pokémon theme. The rest of his set was just as energetic and lively. Fans are excited to welcome Cott back to Broadway; he and past Elsie Fest guest Laura Osnes will star in the upcoming musical about the 1940’s swing scene, The Bandstand.

The Stranger Things kids go back to their roots.

The crowd let out a collective “AW!” when Criss introduced Stranger Thing‘s Caleb McLaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo. If they weren’t adorable enough on their own, both stars decided to sing duets with their sisters! The Matarazzo siblings serenaded the audience with their cover of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down” and the McLaughlin duo sang The Lion King‘s “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”, a song Caleb sang when he was Young Simba on Broadway.

Pasek and Paul revive Dogfight (kind of).

Composing duo Justin Paul and Benj Pasek were a fan favorite last night when they sang tunes from Dear Evan Hansen, Smash and Dogfight with special guests. One of those guests was Lindsay Mendez, who starred as Rose in Dogfight. The musical opened on July 16, 2012 at Second Stage Theatre and although short-lived, it was a hit. Until we see Dogfight on Broadway, it was nice to have a mini revival of it last night. Mendez brought many to tears when she sang “Pretty Funny.”

Cynthia Erivo, the queen.

Another guest during Pasek and Paul’s set was Tony award winner Cynthia Erivo. She sang a beautiful rendition of “You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen with the Pace University choir and received a standing ovation (duh). If Ben Platt ever needs a break from Dear Evan Hansen, who else is in favor of having Ms. Erivo step in? Please? She returned to the stage later that night to sing “I Can Do Better Than That” from The Last Five Years with composer Jason Robert Brown and the crowd was in awe. We’re sure she could sing the phone book and people would be in tears (us included).

If you missed this year’s Elsie Fest, don’t stress! Nothing is confirmed yet but we’re sure Criss is already planning next year’s festival and it will be just as incredible.

Who’s going with us next year?

Photo Credit: Elsie Fest