WAKE UP with BroadwayWorld - Friday, April 25, 2014 - Drama Desk Noms, Tony Decisions, SLEEPING BEAUTY 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 Friday!
The Bacon: See what's on the griddle this weekend...
- FROZEN's Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and CINDERELLA's Fran Drescher will announce the 59th Annual Drama Desk nominations this morning at 54 Below. Stay tuned for all our coverage!
- Also in awards season news, the Tony Awards committee meets for last time to figure out the fates of this season's shows. We'll let you know their final determinations!
- Roundabout's CABARET revival opened on Broadway last night (Review Roundup), so check back for our coverage of the curtain call and all the festivities!
- The World Premiere of 17 ORCHARD POINT, starring Michele Pawk, begins tonight off-Broadway.
- KINKY BOOTS' Jeanna de Waal joins WICKED's Mandy Gonzalez, Jenna Leigh Green, Alli Mauzey and more in Martin and Realbuto's OUTCASTS LIKE US concert tonight at 54 Below.
- Matthew Bourne's SLEEPING BEAUTY airs on PBS's "Great Performances" tonight (read more here)!
- TITANIC film star Billy Zane appears as 'Captain von Trapp' in THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Lyric Opera of Chicago, beginning tonight.
- On Sunday, BEAUTIFUL will present its Actors Fund performance, and York Theatre's INVENTING MARY MARTIN opens off-Broadway!
Cup of Joe: Perk up and revisit yesterday's big news...
- Remember when we said we couldn't wait for more Shakespeare in the Park casting news? Well, it's here! Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kathryn Meisle, Steel Burkhardt and more will join Lily Rabe in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING this summer!
- CABARET announced on its opening night its extension through January 2015!
- The casts of Broadway's HEDWIG, IF/THEN, CABARET, PIPPIN and more will participate in May's STARS IN THE ALLEY event!
- TIME's 100 Most Influential People issue featured some big theatre names, including Diane Paulus, Amy Adams, and Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez, with tributes written by Audra McDonald and THE BOOK OF MORMON creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone (here)!
- Plus, MOTHERS AND SONS playwright Terrence McNally wrote a Huffington Post column about AIDS and the modern gay movement...
- THE FANTASTICKS is welcoming a high-profile, two-week cast addition in SCANDALOUS's Edward Watts. He starts Monday!
- Betty Buckley launched her own YouTube Channel, featuring flashback performances from CATS, GYPSY, SUNSET BOULEVARD and slew of others.
- The upcoming MONTY PYTHON reunion show -- their last -- will be streamed live in theaters this July!
- And finally, THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is headed from its UK tour to the West End this fall.
Broadway Weather Forecast: Partly cloudy with a high of 59 degrees today, followed by Saturday showers, then back to half clouds, half sun on Sunday...
Quote of the Day: Banish regret and start that passion project you keep putting off... ALW says so!
"The regrets in the theatre have always been the shows that you know ought to have worked but for one reason or another haven't."
-- Andrew Lloyd Webber (via BrainyQuote)
Video of the Day: Get a sneak peek at Matthew Bourne's dark, vampiric SLEEPING BEAUTY before it airs on PBS tonight!
And finally, a triple Happy Birthday shout-out to Al Pacino, turning 74, James Barbour, who turns 48, and Hank Azaria, hitting the big 5-0 today!
Best known for his iconic role in the movie The Godfather, Pacino is at much at home onstage as on-screen. His Broadway credits include Glengarry Glen Ross (he also appeared in the film version), The Merchant of Venice, Salome, Hughie, Chinese Coffee, American Buffalo, King Richard III, Camino Real, and The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? The last two won him Tony Awards in 1977 and 1969, respectively. He also appeared in a TV mini-series version of Angels in America in 2003 and the recent TV movie Phil Spector.
Barbour has been seen on Broadway in A Tale of Two Cities, Assassins, Urinetown, Jane Eyre, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel and Cyrano - The Musical. He is set to star as 'Jean Valjean' in Les Miserables at La Mirada Theatre in California this summer.
Azaria's Broadway credits include The Farnsworth Invention and Spamalot, which earned him a 2006 Tony Award nomination. He has voiced characters for The Simpsons since 1989 and also made appearances in the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Friends. His recent big screen credits include The Smurfs, Love & Other Drugs, Year One and more.
See you bright and early on Monday, BroadwayWorld!

Videos