Wake Up With BWW 5/29: FRANKIE AND JOHNNY Opening Celebration, and More!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld!

A new Queen Bee is taking over! Jimmy Award winner Renee Rapp will make her Broadway debut as Regina George in Mean Girls! She will begin performances officially this September, but make her debut during Taylor Louderman's leave of absence this June.

Yesterday, The Broadway League revealed that the 2018/2019 Broadway season is the best attended and highest grossing season in Broadway history! Total attendance reached 14,768,254 and Broadway shows yielded $1,829,312,140 in grosses!

Read more about these and other stories below!

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1) Jimmy Award Winner Renee Rapp Will Make Her Broadway Debut as Regina George in MEAN GIRLS

Renee Rapp, winner of the Best Actress Award at the 2018 National High School Musical Theatre Awards (commonly known as the 'Jimmy Awards'), will make her Broadway debut as 'Regina George' in Mean Girls!. (more...)

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2) Tickets On Sale Now for Starry INTO THE WOODS

Tickets are now on sale for Cleveland Musical Theatre's star-studded July 8th benefit concert of Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine's Into The Woods at Town Hall in New York City.. (more...)

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3) BWW Review: TOSCA, Royal Opera House
by Gary Naylor

Gorgeous and gruesome, this revival of Jonathan Kent's production fills the Royal Opera House with emotion and passion - and a warning of what chaos can ensue in a failing state.. (more...)

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4) Review Roundup: THE FLAMINGO KID at Hartford Stage; What Did The Critics Think?

The Flamingo Kid, inspired by the 1984 Garry Marshall coming-of-age film starring Matt Dillon is now on stage in Hartford! What did the critics think? Read all the reviews!. (more...)

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5) Photo Flash: It's a Whole New World On Tour with Disney's ALADDIN

We've got an all new look at the North American tour of Disney's Aladdin, featuring new tour cast members Major Attaway (Genie), Kaena Kekoa (Jasmine), Ben Chaves (Omar) and Colt Prattes (Kassim), along with original tour cast members Clinton Greenspan (Aladdin) and Zach Bencal (Babkak).. (more...)

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Today's Call Sheet:

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE has its opening night celebration on Broadway tonight!

In the new Broadway production, Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon, two of the most acclaimed actors of their generation, bring new life to the bruised dreamers of Terrence McNally's timely and timeless romance. Director Arin Arbus, in her Broadway debut, directs this portrait of a lonely waitress and a short order cook whose first date turns into a one-night stand - and maybe more.

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30 Days of Tony: Day 13- Lilli Cooper & Gideon Glick Make Their Tonys Debut With SPRING AWAKENING

In 2007, the new musical Spring Awakening stormed the Tonys bringing future 2019 nominees for Best Leading Actress In A Musical and Best Featured Actor In A Play, Lilli Cooper & Gideon Glick, with it!

Check out Lilli & Gideon making their Tony Awards debut with the original Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Spring Awakening!

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BWW Exclusive: Zooming in on the Tony Nominees: Lilli Cooper

The Tony Awards are like Christmas in June for theatre lovers, and that makes this year's nominees the reason for the season. This year's Tony nominees transported us with the magic of theatre, and we're saluting their work by taking a closer look at their extraordinary accomplishments. Today we're studying up on Lilli Cooper!

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What we're geeking out over: 2018/2019 Is The Best Attended And Highest Grossing Season In Broadway History

The Broadway League has released end-of-season statistics for the 2018 - 2019 season, which began May 28, 2018 and ended May 26, 2019.

For the 2018 - 2019 season, total attendance reached 14,768,254 and Broadway shows yielded $1,829,312,140 in grosses, making it the best attended and highest grossing season in Broadway recorded history. All new and continuing productions ran a record total of 1,737 playing weeks.

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What we're watching: The Queens Of SIX Hit The Stage At Britain's Got Talent

See the queens of the new musical 'Six' take the stage on last night's episode of Britain's Got Talent!

The six ex-wives of King Henry VIII headline an electrifying pop-concert spectacle-flipping the narrative on the one-sided story from our history books.

After its runaway debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a sold-out UK tour, the musical phenomenon is now taking London by storm with an open-ended run on the West End, now nominated for five Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.

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And a Happy Birthday shout-out to Annette Bening, who turns 61 today!

Annette Bening is a Tony and Academy Award-nominated actress with a celebrated career across stage and screen. She is currently starring in All My Sons on Broadway. Theater credits include: King Lear for Public Theater's 2014 Shakespeare in the Park; Ruth Draper Monologues at Geffen Playhouse; The Cherry Orchard at Mark Taper Forum; Talking Heads at Tiffany Theater; Hedda Gabler at Geffen Playhouse; and Medea at UCLA. Her work as Holly Dancer in Costal Disturbances earned her the 1987 Clarence Derwent Tony Award for Outstanding Debut Performance of the Season.

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See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!