Odds & Ends: Darren Criss Hops on the Hairspray Live! Beat, Idina Menzel & Jennifer Nettles Belt for Baby Jesus & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.

Darren Criss to Go Behind the Scenes for Hairspray Live!
In case you were looking for yet another reason to get excited for Hairspray Live! on NBC, here you go. Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner and frequent Culturalist Challenge Top 10 maker Darren Criss will give fans a behind-the-scenes look throughout the December 7 broadcast. Criss will drop in during the pre-show special and in moments between the performance with updates, and will also host a Facebook Live digital companion show. Make sure to have all your devices at the ready to watch the show, watch Criss and (of course) live tweet.

Idina Menzel & Jennifer Nettles Go Rum-Pum-Pum-Pum
At the 2014 CMA Country Christmas special, country superstar Jennifer Nettles wished to be best friends with Idina Menzel before dueting on the then-ubiquitous “Let It Go” with the blazing supernova. Two years (and a Broadway debut) later, it looks like she’s gotten her wish. Nettles and Menzel reunited at the annual show on November 28 to perform “The Little Drummer Boy,” which appears on Nettles’ new album. Watch the energizing performance, featuring a meteor shower, pint-sized So You Think You Can Dance alum J.T. Church as a nimble drummer boy and plenty of screlting, below.


Anthony Rapp Will Study Space Mushrooms
If you were hoping to be the first person to play an openly gay astromycologist lieutenant on screen, find a new goal (also, that’s a weirdly specific goal). Rent and If/Then favorite Anthony Rapp has been tapped to join the cast of Star Trek: Discovery as Lt. Stamets. For those wondering, astromycologists study fungi in space. Someone has to, right? The CBS All Access digital series, which will also star Doug Jones and Michelle Yeoh, is set to premiere in May 2017.

Ann Harada Finds Her Host of Hunks
A Christmas Eve miracle! The lineup is now set for the previously announced return of Christmas Eve's Holiday Hunkfest. Ann Harada will reprise her performance as Avenue Q's Christmas Eve for the December 12 event, which will feature the talent (and bodies) of Bandstand-bound Corey Cott, Colin Cunliffe, Aaron C. Finley, Santino Fontana, Jordan Gelber, Aladdin Tony winner James Monroe Iglehart, Devin Ilaw, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Donald Jones Jr., Michael Mindlin, Ryan Silverman, Howie Michael Smith and Bobby Conte Thornton. Proceeds will go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

P.S. Here’s the full clip of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson singing and rapping a Lin-Manuel Miranda tune in Moana. As the demigod himself says, you’re welcome!