STAGE TUBE: Darren Criss Chats Upcoming Michael Jackson Episode on GLEE

In an exclusive interview with E!Online, 'Glee' star Darren Criss talks about his temporary absence from the hit TV show, the upcoming Michael Jackson tribute episode and the guest starring appearance of superstar Ricky Martin. The actor is currently making his Broadway debut in the musical 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'. 

When asked how long he will be away from the Fox series 'Glee', Criss explains, "I'll be gone for maybe one or two [Glee] episodes. There's a lot going on on that show. You won't even notice!" The actor was able to film the upcoming Michael Jackson tribute episode just before leaving for the Big Apple. Commented Criss, "I thought that before I was going to leave, they might write Blaine out just to make things easier on everybody. Nope! Right before I left, Blaine had a lot of really cool things to do for the Michael Jackson episode. When you see that episode, I shot all my stuff in four days. It was quick! It was a shotgun of crazy, exhausting stuff and it was both a thrill-because you really wanna do justice to these awesome songs-but frustrating, because I wanted it to be perfect and amazing. So hopefully they cut it right."

In the tribute episode, Criss will give a solo performance of Jackson's hit song 'You Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'. "I'll be doing a few [songs] with New Directions. But Blaine is doing 'You Wanna Be Startin Something' by himself, which is a great tune. Wildest lyrics ever! It's cool because it's Michael Jackson." said Criss. 

Unfortunately, the actor's busy schedule with the 'How to Succeed' production did not allow him to participate in the upcoming Glee episode starring superstar Ricky Martin. "I'm actually kind of bummed out about this but Ricky Martin is going to be the substitute Spanish teacher on Glee, and we'll be ships passing in the night. He'll be coming to New York to be doing Evita. It's a big Latin episode with Gloria Estefan."lamented Criss. "But hey, if I'm going to miss something like that at least it's for something like this."