Darren Criss, Rachel Zegler and Broadway's Best Strike a Pose for PEOPLE Backstage at Elsie Fest 2024 (Exclusive)

Ryan Miller, Nkeki Obi-Melekwe, Nick Blaemire and Taylor Trensch

Derek Connolly's beloved 2012 time-travel film Safety Not Guaranteed has been transformed into a new musical by book writer Nick Blaemire and composer/lyricist Ryan Miller.

Both were on hand Sunday with stars Nkeki Obi-Melekwe and Taylor Trensch, who previewed the song "Go Time." Performances of the musical begin Sept. 17 at the BAM Harvey Theater for a limited engagement through Oct. 20. 

Joe Serafini and Dara Reneé

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star Dara Renée surprised the crowd with an appearance by her costar Joe Serafini, the two singing the tune "Born to be Brave" from the Disney+ series.

Fans also got to hear Renée sing "Perfect Revenge," from the soundtrack to the new movie Descendants: The Rise of Red, in which she stars as Uliana, younger sister of Ursula.

Jordan Fisher

One of the most emotional performances of the evening came from Fisher, who is currently starring in Hadestown, when he took the stage to sing  "I'm Not Afraid Of Anything" from Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World — a tune he said was a favorite of his wife, Ellie Woods.

The Hamilton vet also duetted with Criss on "Dear Theodosia," the ballad from the Lin-Manuel Miranda hit.

Julia Mattison and Noel Carey

Elsie Fest attendees got a preview of the season's most anticipated hits when Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, the lyricist and composer of the musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her, appeared to sing "Let's Run Away Together." Their performance also featured the debut of new lyrics for the song, which was first heard when the musical premiered in Chicago this past spring.

"We're so excited for audiences to finally see it," the pair tell PEOPLE of the show, which stars Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard in the roles made famous by Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn on screen. "We begin previews Oct. 23 and are still making tweaks, trying to get the most amount of jokes in there as we can. It's been such a fun process."

Alaska

The RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars champion will conquer Off-Broadway with Drag: The Musical, the original show she wrote and created alongside collaborators Tomas Costanza and Ashley Gordon. Performances begin Sept. 30 at New World Stages, with opening night set for Oct. 21.

Taking the stage with co-star Nick Adams, Alaska and the cast performed two songs from the show: "Queen Kitty" and "Two Bitches Are Better Than One."

Darren Criss

Criss offered Glee fans plenty to cheer about with five nods to the show that made him a household name, beginning with "Teenage Dream" — the Katy Perry hit he famously covered when his character, Blaine Anderson, was first introduced on the series. He also sang "Cough Syrup" and "Arthur's Theme," two others tunes he covered on the Fox hit.

Later, Criss reunited with "Warblers" Telly Leung and Curt Mega, as well as Max Adler (who played Dave Karofsky on Glee) for a performance of "Sincere" from The Music Man.

The special guests kept coming when former costar Chord Overstreet came out to end Criss' set, reprising another song they duetted on while on Glee: Billy Joel's "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)."

JC Chasez

Elsewhere in his set, Criss brought out Chasez — who is penning the musical to the upcoming Frankenstein musical, Playing with Fire — for a performance of two *NSYNC hits: "It's Gonna Be Me" and "Bye Bye Bye."

"I’ve known JC Chasez for a long time from my time in Los Angeles," Criss tells PEOPLE. "I met him and we got on really well. We were writing music together and he’s just been such a bench in my life. I’ll ask him to show up for shows that I’ll play, if I’m doing ‘90s songs, he’ll come up and say yes, which is beyond my wildest dreams."

"I have to play it cool as if I think I belong singing his songs with him on stage," Criss adds." I was — I think people say this to be nice in interviews, like, ‘I was such a fan.’ But I was a f---ing fan! I am a f---ing fan of *NSYNC. I know that whole album like the back of my hand, No Strings Attached. And he was always one of my favorite singers so getting to be with him is pretty amazing."

Jordan Fisher, Dez Duron, Helen J Shen

Other guests in Criss' set included an appearance from his Maybe Happy Ending costars Dez Duron (center) and Helen J Shen (right)

Criss and Shen performed the title track, while Duron sang the ballad, "A Sentimental Person."

Dez Duron, Andrew Barth Feldman and Joe Serafini

Shen later joined Criss and boyfriend Andrew Barth Feldman (center) for a performance of "Granger Danger" from A Very Potter Musical.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Will Butler

Butler, Arcade Fire alum and Stereophonic composer rocked out to two songs from the Tony Award-winning play, "Drive and Masquerade."

Joining him on stage was a pair of background singers, and Justin Craig, Stereophonic's music director.

Joy Woods

The stage actress, currently treading the boards in The Notebook, covered two pop hits: "Happy" by Natasha Bedingfield and "Hummingbird Heartbeat" by Katy Perry.

Woods then sang her hit "My Days" from The Notebook, which has become a viral hit on TikTok.

Lola Tung, Solea Pfeiffer, Maia Reficco

As the music played on stage, pals Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty), Solea Pfeiffer (Moulin Rouge!) and Maia Reficco (Pretty Little Liars) hung out backstage.

All three have Hadestown in common, Tung and Pfeiffer previously cast in the role of Eurydice, which Reficco is currently is playing on Broadway.

Rachel Zegler

The West Side Story screen actress makes her Broadway debut in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet this month. But before that, Zegler made her Elsie Fest debut, taking the stage to belt out "Gimmie Gimmie" from Thoroughly Modern Millie while wearing a sparkling gold glitter two-piece.

It was a highlight of the evening, and a performance that had the crowd cheering — especially as Zegler sang the song's iconic line, "Romeo and Juliet me!" If only Kit Connor was there...

Wayne Duvall, John Gallagher Jr., Stark Sands and Adrian Blake Enscoe

As the evening drew to a close, Tony winner Gallagher Jr. (Spring Awakening) took the stage to perform selections from his new album, Goodbye or Something.

He was then joined by Stark Sands, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Wayne Duvall — his cast mates from the upcoming Broadway musical Swept Away, which opens Oct. 29. The actors play four survivors bound together after a storm sinks their whaling ship off the coast of New Bedford, Mass

At Elsie Fest, the group performed two songs from the new musical, which features a score from chart-topping folk-rock band The Avett Brothers.

Derek Klena and Lizzy McAlpine

The festival's final performer was McAlpine. But rather than play her own hits, the singer-songwriter went full Broadway, singing a series of her favorite musical theater songs.

Among the tunes in her set? "Everything Else" (from Next to Normal); Hadestown ballad "Flowers" (which she sang with the musical's composer Anaïs Mitchell); "Another Life" (from Bridges of Madison County); "Pretty Funny" (from Dogfight), another Next to Normal tune, "Wish I Were Here" (this one a duet with Zegler), and "People from "Funny Girl."

There was also "First Date / Last Night" from Dogfight, which she sang with the Pasek and Paul musical's original star, Derek Klena.

Darren Criss and Rachel Zegler

Of course, no musical could be complete with a finale. And for Elsie Fest 2024, Criss brought out the full-lineup of performers and guests for a group singalong of "Defying Gravity" from Wicked.