How to Succeed's Darren Criss Hopes to Bring Original Musical Starship to Broadway

Darren Criss is making his Broadway debut in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and the rising star hopes to add Broadway composer to his growing resume by bringing his original musical, Starship, to the Great White Way. Criss would like for the show—or another production from his theater company StarKid Productions—to open on Broadway within the next five years, according to the New York Times.

Starship, which features music by Criss and a book by Criss, Matt Lang, Nick Lang, Brian Holden and Joe Walker, made its world premiere at Chicago's Hoovert-Leepen Theatre at Center on Halsted in February 2011. The musical, which Criss called "my baby," is described as a love note to sci-fi fans, and combines live actors and puppetry to tell the story of an insect named Bug, who idolizes a group known as the Starship Rangers.

Co-founded by Criss at the University of Michigan, the now Chicago-based StarKid is a self-described "ensemble of writers, actors, directors, designers, producers, and other goof-offs. Blending live performance with the accessibility of the internet, StarKid has taken the long-revered art of parody and fumblingly marched forward with it into the 21st century." The group is best known for their hit YouTube Harry Potter parody, A Very Potter Musical. 

In addition to Starship, Glee and How to Succeed Criss told the newspaper he has "four or five projects" in the works, noting his current Broadway stint is "the easiest thing I’ve done in a while, in the best sense,” as Glee's shooting schedule often begins at 6 AM. “This lifestyle isn’t so different from when my mom drove me from theater rehearsal to soccer practice to violin lessons in a single day.” 

Click below to take a look at "Kick It Up a Notch," a scene from Starship, and be sure to catch Criss as J. Pierrepont Finch at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre through January 22.