WAKE UP with BWW 5/28/14 - OUR NEW GIRL, BAKERSFIELD MIST 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? Today's big news: Atlantic Theater Company's OUR NEW GIRL opens off-Broadway tonight, and BAKERSFIELD MIST, starring Kathleen Turner, kicks off in the West End!

TODAY'S TOP ITEMS:

• Atlantic Theater's OUR NEW GIRL opens off-Broadway tonight!
• BAKERSFIELD MIST, with Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid, opens in the West End this evening.
• MOTHERS AND SONS continues its talkback series with Huffington Post Gay Voices...
• ONE TOUCH OF VENUS' Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett and Ron Raines appear at Barnes & Noble for a performance and CD signing tonight!
• Broadway vet Rita Harvey brings I KNOW THESE THINGS to 54 Below.
• And DOG AND PONY, helmed by Roger Rees, begins performances tonight at The Old Globe in San Diego!

NEWS YOU MISSED YESTERDAY:

• The celebrity roster keeps growing! Bradley Cooper, Kevin Bacon, Carole King, Will Ferrell and more will be appearing at the 2014 Tony Awards ceremony.
• BULL DURHAM's Atlanta premiere will star John Behlmann, Melissa Errico and Will Swenson, which means Swenson is set to take a hiatus from LES MIS this summer and into the fall...
• Encores! PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES will feature Hunter Foster, Mamie Parris, Katie Thompson and more in July!
• Public TV is getting in on the Tonys buzz with a series of nominees visiting CUNY TV this month, and theatre critics Ben Brantley, Peter Marks and Terry Teachout on THEATER TALK...
• HBO's THE NORMAL HEART drew at least 1.4 million viewers this weekend!
• Michael Feinstein has joined York Theatre's MARSHALL BARBER PROJECT.
• The APRIL IN PARIS UK Tour announced its leads, and the Donmar Warehouse revealed its season lineup, including CITY OF ANGELS with Samantha Barks, Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser!
• FUN HOME, HAND TO GOD topped the 2014 Off Broadway Alliance Awards, and Broadway's Bryan Cranston, Jim Parsons and Valerie Harper are among the nominees for the 2014 TCA Awards.
• Also in the off-Broadway world, we got a sneak peek at the new musical version of A LITTLE PRINCESS, and we learned that MARAT/SADE will open this week, with Irish Rep's SEA MARKS extending through mid-July.
• In regional news, Lea Michele and Kristin Chenoweth are set to team up at the Hollywood Bowl next month!
• Alfre Woodard will lead Dorset Theatre Festival's reading of ZEALOT by Theresa Rebeck.
• We also got a first look at Sarah Paulson and more in Bay Street's CONVICTION.
• Finally, some Broadway extras -- a Hip-Hop exhibition will coincide with HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME's run at the Palace; and Broadway's end-of-year stats show that more than 12 million people saw shows in 2013-14!

Whew! Busy day yesterday!

Broadway Weather Forecast: Morning rain showers with a high of 64 degrees.

Quote of the Day: Sweep away the audience...

"When you go into the theatre and the lights dim, you want to entertain people from beginning to end. You want them to be swept up in your story, on the edge of their seats, unable to wait to see what happens next, be blown away and afterwards just go, 'Wow!'"
-- John Lasseter (via BrainyQuote)

What we're listening to: The ALADDIN (more here) and ROCKY (here) Original Broadway Cast Recordings, both out as of yesterday. A little bit of a contrast, but variety never hurt anyone!

Video of the Day: In honor of BAKERSFIELD MIST's opening in London, rewind to Kathleen Turner's 2011 appearance on Broadway in HIGH, which had its pre-New York tryout in Cincinnati the year before.

And finally, a Happy Birthday shout-out to Carey Mulligan, who turns 29 today!

Mulligan appeared on Broadway in 2008's The Seagull, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. She made her professional onstage debut in Forty Winks at the Royal Court in 2004. She also appeared in off-Broadway's Through a Glass, Darkly in 2011. Mulligan is set to star opposite Bill Nighy in Skylight in the West End this summer. Her upcoming big screen projects include Suffragette, Far from the Madding Crowd and Hold on to Me. She was recently seen in Inside Llewyn Davis, The Great Gatsby, Shame, Drive, Never Let Me Go, Public Enemies and An Education, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009.