WAKE UP with BWW 6/17/14 - 'WE WERE YOUNG' Off-Broadway, Tower in MOTOWN, Cast Album Bonanza 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: WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID raises the curtain off-Broadway, MOTOWN gets a new 'Berry Gordy', a great selection of new cast albums hit the shelves and more!

TODAY'S TOP ITEMS:

• WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID opens off-Broadway tonight.
• Josh Tower takes over the role of 'Berry Gordy' in MOTOWN!
• So many ablums hit the shelves today -- ALADDIN (the cast is celebrating at Barnes & Noble today), HEATHERS (and prom is tomorrow!), the JERSEY BOYS film soundtrack, an AFTER MIDNIGHT-inspired Duke Ellington CD and Michael Mott's new album WHERE THE SKY ENDS, featuring Sierra Boggess and more!
• The cast of BEAUTIFUL accepts this year's Actors Equity Award for Outstanding Broadway Chorus this afternoon, and the Off Broadway Alliance Awards are set for today at Sardi's...
• And Andy Karl, Jennifer Simard and more lead an industry reading of Todd Graff's KIDS IN THE BUSINESS today!

NEWS YOU MISSED YESTERDAY:

• Kyle Taylor Parker, Steven Booth and Lindsay Nicole Chambers will lead the KINKY BOOTS National Tour! Check out the full cast announcement here.
• A Broadway revival of A.R. Gurney's LOVE LETTERS could be headed to Broadway in 2015, with Gregory Mosher in the driver's seat and Anjelica Huston on the marquee!
• James Franco will make his stage directorial debut with THE SHRIFT at Rattlestick this summer.
• We got a first look at MTC's THE LION, plus Jessie Fisher as 'Girl' (see here!) alongside Paul Alexander Nolan as 'Guy' in ONCE on Broadway!
• SUBMISSIONS ONLY's Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Kate Wetherhead and more will appear as part of the Drama League's UP CLOSE Series later this month.
• And speaking of Andrew Keenan-Bolger, he and Justin Guarini and Patti Murin will lead a reading of Stageworks Media's GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN later this week!
• The ASD has released a statement the Tony Committee's decision to eliminate sound design categories next season...
• Anika Larsen, Darius Nichols, Enrico Rodriguez and more are set for the upcoming ZANNA, DON'T! reunion concert at 54 Below!
• In two days, BROADWAY ROCKS TIMES SQUARE will feature the casts of 'GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE,' PIPPIN, ROCKY and more!

Broadway Weather Forecast: High of 83 degrees and partly cloudy today, with thunderstorms rolling in tonight -- so bring your umbrella to the show!

Quote of the Day: Cherry Jones, star of WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID off-Broadway, on the intensity of acting...

I think there's something about being absolutely at the height of intensity at almost every moment of one's job that makes it a lot easier if you don't have time to think much, just sort of barrel through the next crisis.
-- Cherry Jones (via BrainyQuote)

What we're listening to: You saw the wonderful list up top! Any of those albums will do, though we have to admit it's feeling like a jazzy Tuesday, and we've got Duke Ellington in our ears...