WAKE UP with BWW 6/23/14 - 'Thrilling' Gala at the Public, THE NANCE, Beacon Awards, Pride Week & More!

TODAY'S TOP ITEMS (busy, busy Monday!):

• This evening, The Public Theater hosts its ONE THRILLING COMBINATION gala honoring Marvin Hamlisch, with performances from Sutton Foster, Jonathan Groff, Zachary Quinto and more.
• Anika Noni Rose, Andy Karl and ALL THE WAY will be honored at Inside Broadway's 2014 Broadway Beacon Awards tonight.
• Speaking of awards, tonight Nathan Tysen and Arthur Perlman receive the 2014 Kleban Prizes for Musical Theatre...
• Mint Theater's revival of Jules Romains' DONOGOO opens tonight Off-Broadway!
• Alan Cumming will appear today at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for I AM NOT A CHEESE; I DO NOT HAVE A PROCESS.
• Robin de Jesus, Christine Dwyer and more celebrate Pride Week at 54 Below tonight!
• Town Hall's BROADWAY BY THE YEAR series continues tonight with songs from 1990 to 2014, featuring selections from NEWSIES, FALSETTOS, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, RAGTIME and more...
• Tony Danza, Gina Gershon, Rachel Dratch and more join CELEBRITY AUTOBIOGRAPHY for its June show tonight.
• Alice Ripley, Laura Osnes, John Treacy Egan and more join the Music Conservatory of Westchester Dinner to honor Barbara Cook this evening.
• And Project Shaw continues its season tonight with GETTING MARRIED, featuring the talents of Max von Essen, Karen Ziemba, Julia Murney and more!

NEWS YOU MISSED THIS WEEKEND:

• NEWSIES announced it will close on Broadway this August before launching its national tour in October!
• Mega-producer Cameron Mackintosh says he still wants Neil Patrick Harris to star in BARNUM, which launches a UK tour this fall.
• Author and lawyer Henry Bushkin is working on a musical about Johnny Carson's years with THE TONIGHT SHOW.
• MOTHERS AND SONS closed on Broadway yesterday, but the show is developing a national tour!
• Kelli O'Hara might not star in THE KING AND I on Broadway after all -- it looks like the show is still searching for its leading lady...
• Julie Taymor has finished her film version of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and is eyeing a premiere at TIFF.
• Just after the new Tupac Shakur musical HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME raised its curtain on Broadway, we could have more Hip-Hop coming to Broadway! Russell Simmons is reportedly working on his own show à la ROCK OF AGES, but for the Hip-Hop genre...
• TUTS Underground was forced to cancel its production of HANDS ON A HARDBODY after reordering and reassigning many of the show's songs. Read about the controversy here.
• In the same vein, Alchemist Theatre just received a cease-and-desist letter for taking liberties with Mamet's OLEANNA...
• Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lindsay Mendez and more are featured in THIS AMERICAN LIFE's "RadioLoveFest" show at BAM, now available online!
• IN THE HEIGHTS' Arielle Jacobs will make her solo cabaret debut with BACK TO FREE in NYC and LA.

Broadway Weather Forecast: Sunny with a high of 79 degrees. And no rain. Yay Monday!

Quote of the Day: In honor of the Public's gala tonight, thoughts from the one and only Marvin Hamlisch...

I have always thought of music as a highway with many lanes.
-- Marvin Hamlisch (via BrainyQuote)

What we're watching: THE NANCE, starring Nathan Lane. The production hits movie theaters today!

And finally, a Happy Birthday shout-out to Frances McDormand, who turns 58 today (and shares her birthday with the legendary Bob Fosse)!

McDormand last appeared on Broadway in Good People, for which she won a Tony Award in 2011. She has also starred in The Country Girl, A Streetcar Named Desire and Awake and Sing! She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie Fargo in 1996 and was nominated for her roles in Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous and North Country.