BREAKING NEWS: And the Next HEDWIG is... Darren Criss!

It's official - Broadway has its next Hedwig! It's been buzzed online all day, but now we've got the real news!

The breakout star of GLEE, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS and more - Darren Criss will return to Broadway in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the Tony Award winning Best Musical Revival, for a limited 12-week engagement starting Wednesday, April 29 at the Belasco Theatre.

Composer and lyricist Stephen Trask said, "The first time I saw Darren I knew he was a game changer. He's that good. Then, when we hung out it was like we were old friends. I'm excited to spend the next few months making the show and getting to know each other better. I'm happy that Hedwig can be Darren's next stop on his way to world domination."

Book writer John Cameron Mitchell said, "I've got a grin plastered on my face that Darren is joining the brotherhood of Hedwigs. I LOVED him in How to Succeed. His stage presence is electrifying, his rock and roll credentials and comic timing impeccable and I'm thrilled to be working with him to create a brand-new Hedwig!"

Criss, musician, composer and actor, currently stars as Blaine Anderson on Fox's Emmy and Golden Globe Award?winning series Glee. He made his Broadway debut in January of 2012 as J. Pierrepont Finch in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. With Criss at the helm, the revival made just over $4 million, which proved to be the most lucrative three weeks of its 11-month run.

Prior to his rise to stardom, the San Francisco-native pursued a BFA in Acting at the University of Michigan. In his senior year, he and his friends created what would become the viral YouTube hit, A Very Potter Musical. With that same group, Criss and his writing partners founded the now Chicago-based theater company, StarKid Productions, whose works have spurred multiple Billboard charting cast albums, and sold-out national tours. Their original show, Starship debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Cast Album, for which Criss composed and penned the lyrics. His additional film, TV and stage credits include Girl Most Likely opposite Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening, The Wind Rises with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Web Therapy, ABC's Backstage with Disney on Broadway, Michael Feinstein's New Year's Eve Special on PBS as well as hosting duties for the NewNowNext Awards and Teen Choice Awards. He also opened, along with the Warblers for the Barbra Streisand MusiCares tribute.

As previously announced John Cameron Mitchell will play his final performance as Hedwig on Sunday, April 26.

Hedwig and The Angry Inch, with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer, has received rave reviews and is the winner of four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. It was also awarded Best Musical Revival by the Drama Desk Awards, Drama League Awards, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. The Grammy nominated Original Broadway Cast album for Hedwig and the Angry Inch is available from Atlantic Records.

"Internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Robinson (Darren Criss) brings her fourth-wall-smashing rock and roll saga to New York to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that "angry inch."

Hedwig and The Angry Inch was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies in 2001. It won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award. Time Magazine named Hedwig the Top Musical of 1998.

The film of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, won the Audience Award and Best Director Awards at Sundance. Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the LA Critics Society. Stage productions have played for many years in Japan and in 2008, Korea hosted a popular televised reality show about the search for a new star to play Hedwig.

The creative team for Hedwig and The Angry Inch features Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (musical staging), Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Julian Crouch (scenic design), Tony Award and two-time Oscar nominee Arianne Phillips (costume design), four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Mike Potter (hair and makeup design), Tony Award nominee and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir (sound design), Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions (projection design), John Bair/Phosphene (animation), James Calleri (casting), Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ethan Popp (music supervisor & music coordinator), Justin Craig (music director), Liz Caplan (vocal supervision), Stephen Gabis (dialect coach), and Johanna McKeon (associate director).

The members of "The Angry Inch," Hedwig's band, are music director Justin Craig (guitar and keyboards), Matt Duncan (bass), Tim Mislock (guitar), and Peter Yanowitz (drums).

David Binder, who first produced Hedwig in 1997, is producing the musical on Broadway with Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Patrick Catullo, Raise The Roof, Paula Marie Black, Colin Callender, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Martian Entertainment, Stacey Mindich, Eric Schnall, and The Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.