This Week’s Picks! Sing Along with Idina, Get Aca-Awesome with a Mormon & Meet the New Miss Hedwig

Hey you. Yeah, you, the one who insists nothing happens on Broadway in August. Well, you'd better cancel that beach vacation because we're about to prove you wrong. This week, there’s a new transgender rock goddess from communist East Berlin in town, two screen stars and a fashion maven making their Broadway debuts, a Mormon singing a capella (aca-scuse me?) and tons more. Check out our top picks!


Spend the Night with a Mormon
August 18 & 25 at 54 Below
Ben Platt is one talented guy: He’s the star of Broadway’s The Book of Mormon, he made the ladies swoon with his a capella stylings in Pitch Perfect, and he’ll be back to get aca-awesome once more in the movie’s sequel. Now, you can hear him sing everything from soul to pop to R&B at NYC hotspot 54 Below—oh, and he’ll share stories about his “family of singing Jews,” too. Click for tickets!


Travel Back to 1982
Begins performances August 18 at the Cort Theatre
Kenneth Lonergan’s iconic slacker play This Is Our Youth is back on Broadway, but the show’s young stars are anything but slackers. Screen stars Michael Cera and Keiran Culkin and fashion wunderkind Tavi Gevinson are all making their Broadway debuts in the new production, directed by Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County). No, we can’t spot you the cash for tickets, you’ll have to ask your parents. Click for tickets!


Hit the Books with Santino & Mario 
August 18 at The Triad, Stage 72
What’s better than reading a celebrity’s autobiography? Having actually celebrities read it for you! For your listening pleasure, Broadway faves Mario Cantone, Santino Fontana, Gina Gershon and more will perform selections from a variety of hilarious celeb autobiographies—that are never, ever written by ghostwriters. Click for tickets!


Sing the Hits with Liz (and Beth)
Available in stores and online August 18
Don’t lie—we know you sing “Here I Go” from If/Then in the shower every morning. Now you can accompany yourself on the piano, guitar or recorder (um, actually we’re not sure how that last one is possible), thanks to this handy dandy If/Then songbook, featuring all the hits from the musical! (Idina Menzel not included.)


Bow Down to Andrew Rannells
Beginning August 20 at the Belasco Theatre
Ladies and gentlemen...Andrew Rannells is stepping into the glittery gold boots of Hedwig and the Angry Inch star Neil Patrick Harris! He’s played the role before in a regional production, and we know he does a killer “Origin of Love,” but will he nail Hedwig's infamous “carwash”? Guess we’ll have to see the show and check out his lap-dancing skills firsthand. Click for tickets!