This Week’s Picks! Meet Darren Criss in an Alley, Get Mean with Pink & Celebrate #TBT Broadway-Style

Hey, you, still recovering from a near three-bean salad overdose! The holiday weekend isn’t over yet. Slow down and step away from the tray of cheeseburgers. You need your strength for the awesomeness that lies ahead. We have a ton of new plays for your consideration, some “old” ones to enjoy on your lunch break and Betty Buckley’s new show. Save room for this week’s picks!


Taste What’s New at EAT
Begins May 26 at the TADA! Theater
Being a theatergoer means having stories. I saw Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in The Producers! My mother’s cousin’s optometrist saw a poster of the original A Chorus Line! OK, they’re not all great, but you should get a memory or two at the Emerging Artists Theatre’s New Work Series, which runs through June 14. Among the premieres: Mean (The Musical) by Alecia Moore, a.k.a. Pink. Click for tickets!


Have Broadway’s Best for Lunch
May 27 in Shubert Alley
Working in New York has its disadvantages, namely eating lunch between 1 and 2--it’s a riot in business casual. Today is your lucky day. Head over to Shubert Alley, where from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., performers from new and long-running Broadway shows—from Beautiful: The Carole King Musical to Wolf Hall Parts One & Two—will trot out their best numbers in “Stars in the Alley.” Darren Criss hosts the free concert.


See Laura Osnes & Co. Sing the Past
May 28 at 54 Below
One person’s trauma is another person’s entertainment. Ask us to sing a few numbers from our high school production of Bye Bye Birdie—and show the accompanying photos/videos of us—and we would literally die from embarrassment. But Bryce Pinkham, Laura Osnes, Harriet Harris, and other Broadway pros undergo this nostalgic exercise with a cool title—#tbtLIVE Throwback Thursday: The Concert. We’ve never been so excited to take a walk down memory lane. Click for tickets!


Belt the Blues with Betty Buckley
Begins May 28 at Joe’s Pub
Betty Buckley is a Broadway institution, so it’s easy to dismiss seeing her perform. That’s stinking thinking. Think of all the things you’ve put off; getting six-pack abs, making ravioli from scratch, learning calligraphy. It’s time to do right. Buckley—whose new show, Dark Blue-Eyed Blues, runs through May 31—is entertaining and enchanting. Plus, you don’t have to worry about getting ink or dough in your hair. Click for tickets!


Get a Broadway Backstage Pass
May 30 on WABC-TV
You’ve had a long week, so tonight let Broadway come to you in Broadway Backstage: Spring Preview, hosted by Aladdin's James Monroe Iglehart. The program features highlights from shows and comments from a galaxy of stars, including Vanessa Hudgens and Christian Borle. Also, you’ll meet a top theatrical photographer and learn other insider stuff, like how the stars prepare for two-show days. Our guess: some combination of nicotine, caffeine, and fairy dust.