WAKE UP with BWW 5/8/14 - THE FEW, BOOGIE STOMP!, NYC Ballet, MAMMA MIA! & 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: THE FEW and BOOGIE STOMP! open off-Broadway, and the New York City Ballet is hosting its starry spring 2014 gala with songs from CAROUSEL and more!

TODAY'S TOP ITEMS:

• Samuel D. Hunter's THE FEW opens off-Broadway tonight at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and BOOGIE STOMP! begins performances at the Chain!
• Christine Sherrill, Kimbre Lancaster, Sean Allan Krill and more star in MAMMA MIA!, beginning performances tonight in Las Vegas.
• New York City Ballet's Spring 2014 Gala, held this evening, will include works by Sufjan Stevens, CAROUSEL, and is also set to feature FROZEN star Kristen Bell.
• Set your DVRs! Showtime airs BROADWAY IDIOT, the AMERICAN IDIOT/Green Day documentary tonight, and IF/THEN's Idina Menzel performs on LETTERMAN!
• 54 Below welcomes IF/THEN's Joe Cassidy in ROCK STAR (more here), and JEKYLL AND HYDE's Teal Wicks in her solo debut at the venue.
• Encores! IRMA LA DOUCE opened last night, so be sure to check back for curtain call photos and BWW's other opening night coverage! In the meantime, check out highlights and production shots from the show!

WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY:

• BWW continued our "Meet the Tony Noms" series with playwright Terrence McNally and leading lady Tyne Daly from MOTHERS AND SONS!
• Patti LuPone's son Josh Johnston and cousin Johann Carlo will join her and a cast of Broadway regulars for The Acting Company's CRADLE WILL ROCK benefit concert later this month...
• The West End's MATILDA released a fresh crop of production photos!
• Gina McKee and more joined the cast of Trafalgar Transformed's RICHARD III, which runs this summer and fall in London.
• Scott Foley, Eric Lange and more will appear alongside Blythe Danner in THE COUNTRY HOUSE at Geffen Playhouse this summer...
• And in more regional casting news, Elizabeth Stanley and Paul Anthony Stewart are set to star in Barrington Stage's KISS ME, KATE in Boston!
• Vanessa Williams will depart AFTER MIDNIGHT on May 11, and the cast made her a farwell video; plus, check out new TV spots for LES MISERABLES (here) and BEAUTIUFL (here)!
• The Public Theater's Oskar Eustis, playwright Lynn Nottage and more will present at the 2014 Otto Awards for Political Theatre this month.
• And finally, Disney's FROZEN soundtrack remains at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart for the 13th week running. That's crazy!

Broadway Weather Forecast: It's a rumbly Thursday, with rain and thunder in AM and cloudy skies in the afternoon. High of 57.

Quote of the Day: Theatre houses a higher power...

"If there is any God in this world, He lives in a theatre."
-- Kathe Koja (via Goodreads)

What we're watching/listening to: The dance piece EVERYWHERE WE GO, choreographed by Justin Peck and set to music by Sufjan Stevens. The work will be performed at New York City Ballet's Spring 2014 Gala tonight. Here's a gorgeous sneak peek for you...

Video of the Day: BROADWAY IDIOT airs tonight on Showtime. The documentary (which is also streaming on Netflix!) follows Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong as he turns his album -- "American Idiot" -- into a rocking stage incarnation. Check out the trailer below!