WAKE UP with BWW 3/20/2015 - WOLF HALL, ALADDIN's Anniversary, Sondheim's Birthday and more!
By: Jessica Showers Mar. 20, 2015
Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? This weekend's big news: WOLF HALL comes to Broadway, ALADDIN marks a milestone and Stephen Sondheim gets a starry birthday party!
THIS WEEKEND'S TOP ITEMS:
- Broadway's WOLF HALL: PARTS 1 & 2 begins previews this evening...
- ALADDIN celebrates one year on Broadway tonight, and its star James Monroe Iglehart hosts THE VIEW today!
- THAT BACHELORETTE SHOW opens off-Broadway on Saturday.
- And Stephen Sondheim marks his 85th birthday with a starry concert this Sunday!
NEWS YOU MISSED YESTERDAY:
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe are set for SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK!
- Penn & Teller are headed back to Broadway this summer!
- The Tony Awards committee met to rule on HONEYMOON IN VEGAS and CONSTELLATIONS...
- Tom Hanks is producing a film adaptation of Broadway's BEAUTIFUL for Sony!
- Russell Simmons is working on a new hip-hop musical -- THE SCENARIO.
- We got a first look (right) at La Mirada's new, immersive version of CARRIE THE MUSICAL; plus highlights from THE HEIDI CHRONICLES!
- Peter Parnell's DADA WOOF PAPA HOT will launch LCT's 2015-16 season...
- Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre is developing a musical based on Anne Rice's CRY TO HEAVEN!
- Justin Guarini will star in Bucks County's COMPANY, directed by Hunter Foster.
- And the script for the MEAN GIRLS musical is almost ready!
Broadway Weather Forecast: It's the first day of spring -- and the forecast is snow. But never fear! Saturday and Sunday will be partly cloudy, with temps in the high 40s and low 50s.
Quote of the Day: A word from the amazing Stephen Sondheim, who turns 85 this weekend...
"Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art."
-- Stephen Sondheim (via BrainyQuote)
What we're looking forward listening to: BEAUTIFUL star Chilina Kennedy's new folk-pop album, out next month!
Video of the Day: Watch Laura Benanti "workin' it" in dance rehearsal for the NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR!
And a Happy Birthday shout-out to Chip Zien, who turns 68 today!
Zien is starring in It Shoulda Been You, currently in previews on Broadway, and is well known for originating the role of 'The Baker' in Into the Woods. He has also appeared on Broadway in The Big Knife, The People in the Picture, The Country Girl, Les Miserables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Boys from Syracuse, Falsettos, Grand Hotel, The Suicide, All Over Town and Ride the Winds. Among his off-Broadway credits are The Twenty-Seventh Man, A New Brain and more. Zien has starred on the big screen in United 93 and on the small screen in Law & Order, Deadline and All My Children.
Photo by Joan Marcus
See you bright and early on Monday, BroadwayWorld!