This Week's Picks! Turn 30 with Lin-Manuel Miranda, See Alan Cumming's Anti-Process & More!

With this sultry Tennessee Williams weather, you probobaly only want to venture outside to flag down the ice cream truck. That’s stinking thinking, guys! There are too many great things awaiting you, including the departure of two nostalgia-tinged gems, Alan Cumming talking shop and a musical trip through a quarter-century of Broadway. It’s all part of this week’s must-see list!


Get in a Broadway Time Machine
June 23 at Town Hall
Sample Broadway’s past without getting woozy from the rigors of time travel. A roster of familiar faces—including Terri White, Chad Kimball, and Barrett Foa—lend their prodigious pipes to Broadway by the Year, a one-night event packed with memorable songs from 1990 to 2014. Featuring chestnuts from Aida to Wicked, this show should thrill newcomers and veterans of the Great White Way’s musical scene. Click for tickets.


Salute Multiple Sensations
June 23 at the Delacorte Theatre
It’s gala time! Wash the ketchup stains out of your formal wear and head to Central Park, where the Public Theater hosts its annual starry event. This year it’s “One Thrilling Combination,” which celebrates one of the Public’s defining works, A Chorus Line, and its composer, the late, great Marvin Hamlisch. Expect stars, songs from Hamlisch's career beyond ACL, and (we hope) a colossal sundae bar. Click for tickets.


See Unprocessed Cabaret Star Alan Cumming
June 23 at New York Library for the Performing Arts
Libraries are great. You can get books, DVDs and pamphlets—for free! And today, the comps include a Broadway treasure and Tony winner. In “I Am Not a Cheese, I Do Not Have a Process,” Alan Cumming employs materials such as rehearsal notes and personal photos in sharing the stories behind his performances. How cool is that? And you thought libraries were just for pretending to study. Free admission.


Blow Out the Candles with Lin-Manuel Miranda
June 25 to June 28 at New York City Center
Before Jonathan Larson had us singing along to “La Vie Boheme” and looking up who Pablo Neruda was, the late Rent composer was creating stunning work. In 1990, he wrote and starred in tick, tick…BOOM!, an autobiographical rock monologue about a composer reflecting on his life before his 30th birthday. Long renovated into a three-actor show, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. and Karen Olivo star in this reincarnation for Encores! Click for tickets.


Say Goodbye to Two Favorites
Through June 29 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre
Broadway has so many alluring options—not to mention all the wonderful street vendors—that it’s easy to put things off. That ends now. This is the last week to catch Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina and the jazz-infused After Midnight, which features Patti LaBelle as special guest star. Catch them before you become enchanted with something new. And you will. Broadway will not stop manufacturing magic, people. It’s a blessing and a curse. Click for tickets to Casa Valentina and After Midnight.