WAKE UP with BWW 7/16/2015 - AMAZING GRACE Opens and More!

By: Jessica Showers Jul. 16, 2015

Click Here for More on WAKE UP WITH BROADWAYWORLD

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: AMAZING GRACE sails to Broadway, SOMETHING ROTTEN! gathers at B&N and more!

Next up in our series of stars introducing BWW's morning feature is Brittany Vicars (portrait by Walter McBride), currently starring in THE 39 STEPS off-Broadway!

Brittany Vicars wants you to WAKE UP with BWW!
Photo by Walter McBride

TODAY'S TOP ITEMS:

- AMAZING GRACE opens on Broadway tonight - be sure to check back for our Review Roundup!
- The cast of SOMETHING ROTTEN! celebrates their album release at Barnes & Noble today.
- And Brandy Norwood and more are slated for today's BROADWAY IN BRYANT PARK!

Encores! Off-Center's THE WILD PARTY!

NEWS YOU MISSED YESTERDAY:

- Jane Krakowski, Gavin Creel and more have signed on for Roundabout's SHE LOVES ME revival!
- Cicely Tyson, Rita Moreno and Carole King are among the 2015 KENNEDY CENTER honorees.
- AN ACT OF GOD has recouped on Broadway!
- In honor of last night's dimming of Broadway's marquees, Hugh Panaro told a personal story about Roger Rees...
- We got a look (right) at photos and footage from Encores! Off-Center's THE WILD PARTY!
- AN AMERICAN IN PARIS star Robert Fairchild is among the 2015 Bessie nominees.
- Dylan McDermott will take the stage in BABY DOLL at McCarter Theatre...
- And Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Bogardus, Lauren Molina and more will star in Huntington's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC this fall!

Broadway Weather Forecast: High of 81 degrees and sunny! It's almost Friday, folks!

Quote of the Day: In honor of AMAZING GRACE opening on Broadway, here are some of the lyrics to the iconic song...

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

What we're watching: National Theatre Live's broadcast of EVERYMAN, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor!

Video of the Day: Check out "Look Up," a response to Broadway's recent cell phone plague, written by Laura Benanti and arranged by The Skivvies: Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley!

And a Happy Birthday shout-out to Tony Kushner, who turns 59 today!

Kushner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. The work also took home the Tony and the Drama Desk for Best Play that year, with Part 2, 'Perestroika', receiving another Tony and Drama Desk in 1994. Kushner also wrote the book and lyrics for Broadway's Caroline, or Change. Among his other works as a playwright are Homebody/Kabul, Slavs!, Love's Fire: Fresh Numbers by Seven American Playwrights, A Bright Room Called Day, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Short Talks on the Universe and more. He also directed off-Broadway's Helen. Kushner co-wrote with Eric Roth the screenplay for Munich, and penned the script for 2012's Lincoln. He received the National Medal of Arts in 2013.

Tony Kushner speaking at Vineyard Theatre's 2015 Gala.
Photo by Walter McBride

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!

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