WAKE UP with BroadwayWorld - Friday, April 18, 2014 - Michael Urie Doc, VIOLET and 'INISHMAAN' Open and More!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? For your most important theatre meal of the day, we've rounded up the big news you missed yesterday, what's on the agenda today, and a few extras to start your day off right.

Happy Easter Weekend!

The Bacon: See what's on the griddle this weekend...

• BUYER & CELLAR star Michael Urie's THANK YOU FOR JUDGING documentary, which follows high school students participating a state speech competition in Texas, hits select theaters around the country today!
• Albert J. Repicci's new drama HONOR BOUND begins previews off-Broadway tonight at St. Luke's Theatre.
• ACT ONE opened last night (see what the critics thought), so check back later on for curtain call photos and party interviews!
• And finally, we have two Broadway openings on Easter Sunday - VIOLET with Sutton Foster and THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN with Daniel Radcliffe, so stay tuned for both of our Review Roundups!

Cup of Joe: Perk up and revisit yesterday's big stories...

• The new JERSEY BOYS film adaptation revealed its first official poster and trailer!
• The 2014 Tony Awards unveiled a first look at its key art.
• Geoffrey Rush will play Lionel Bart in an upcoming musical biopic about the OLIVER! composer!
• The Public Theater's HERE LIES LOVE is headed overseas to the National Theatre this fall, and FATHERS AND SONS announced the cast for its June run at the Donmar Warehouse.
• BULLETS OVER BROADWAY could be setting a precedent with its new "no f*ck" policy at Wednesday matinees...
• James Franco called out New York Times critic Ben Brantley for his OF MICE AND MEN review on Wednesday, to which Brantley responded, "he's entitled to say whatever he likes about me."
• Ari Graynor, Jerry O'Connell and more will lead AMERICAN HERO at Second Stage this May.
• In other off-Broadway news, York Theatre has extended INVENTING MARY MARTIN through the end of May, and THE AWESOME 80s PROM will be returning to NYC for five performances this summer!
• Ahrens and Flaherty will release a live at 54 Below album called NICE FIGHTING YOU this June; plus, Elaine Paige's ULTIMATE COLLECTION track listing came out.
• And, just in case you weren't already certain of Meryl Streep's super-human status, the actress revealed she learned to rap for the upcoming INTO THE WOODS movie.

Broadway Weather Forecast: In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it/You'll be the grandest fella in the Easter Parade... Partly cloudy with a high of 52 degrees, with slightly higher temperatures (topping out in the low 60s) on Saturday and Sunday, and a little more sun for Easter.

Quote of the Day: Theatre as a religious experience...

"It is brilliant going to the theatre and being forced to sit and listen and think about life. It can be almost a near-religious experience."
-- Emily Mortimer (via BrainyQuote)

Video of the Day: In honor of THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN's Broadway opening this Sunday, let's revisit Daniel Radcliffe in another dark role as 'Alan Strang', opposite the late Richard Griffiths as 'Dr. Martin Dysart', in the 2008 Broadway transfer of EQUUS!

And finally, a triple Happy Birthday shout-out to America Ferrera, turning 30, David Tennant, hitting 43, and Reeve Carney, who celebrates his 31st today!

Ferrera was last seen off-Broadway in 2012's Bethany. She also appeared as 'Roxie Hart' in the West End's revival of Chicago in 1997. Her recent TV credits include Ugly Betty and The Good Wife. Best known as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running, cult British TV series DOCTOR WHO, Tennant began onstage at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and went on to star in As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, The Rivals, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Love's Labours Lost and more for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2011 he appeared in Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham's, and last year, he returned to the RSC for Richard II. Carney made his Broadway debut as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which just finished its run in January. The singer-songwriter is set to appear in the upcoming series Penny Dreadful.