WAKE UP with BWW 5/19/14 - Obies, LuPone in CRADLE WILL ROCK, MTC Gala & More!
By: Jessica Showers May. 19, 2014
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: Tonight is this year's Obie Awards ceremony, Patti LuPone returns to the stage for THE CRADLE WILL ROCK and Manhattan Theatre Club's starry spring gala will be in full swing!
TODAY'S TOP ITEMS:
- Tamara Tunie and Hamish Linklater will host the 2014 Obie Awards ceremony this evening, with a special Lifetime Achievement honor going to THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN's Estelle Parsons.
- Patti LuPone and her son Josh Johnston star in Acting Company's CRADLE WILL ROCK benefit tonight!
- Tonight, Manhattan Theatre Club will host its Spring 2014 Gala, featuring performances from AFTER MIDNIGHT, ALADDIN, BEAUTIFUL, BRIDGES, BULLETS, GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE, HEDWIG, LES MIZ and ROCKY!
- MURDEROUS MUSICAL MONDAYS continues with Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham tonight...
- And finally, A RAISIN IN THE SUN's Denzel Washington will host a "Broadway Junior" event today, in which hundreds of students from New York City Public Schools make their Broadway debut!
WHAT YOU MISSED THIS WEEKEND:
- The 2014 Drama League Award winners were announced on Friday, with ALL THE WAY and GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE topping the play and musical categories. Check out the full list here!
- We got a peek at new footage in a TV spot for the upcoming JERSEY BOYS film.
- Kathleen Turner stars in the West End in BAKERSFIELD MIST through August, and we got a first look at her in action!
- In other West End news, Charlotte Wakefield and Helen Hobson will lead PICTURE PERFECT at the St. James this summer, and PERFECT NONSENSE will feature John Gordon Sinclair and James Lance on tour next month.
- Plus, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS will now play through March 2015 at the Savoy!
- Adam Guettel, Scott Alan and Maria Friedman judged the Stephen Sondheim competition (SSSSPOTY) in London on Sunday.
- Glenn Close, Jonathan Groff and more will celebrate the 1870s at this year's DECADES BALL for Lapham's Quarterly.
- Eric Bogosian's 100 (MONOLOGUES) hit the shelves, and the book's release coincides with the launch of a website with videos of all of the book's monologues performed by a different renowned actor. It's pretty darn cool.
- FROZEN isn't done dominating the cultural landscape just yet; a new ride could be opening at Epcot's Norway Pavilion soon!
- Actress Valerie Harper and producer Matthew Lombardo have settled their LOOPED lawsuit...
- And finally The New York Times featured three Broadway greats at the end of last week: Audra McDonald and Will Swenson appeared in the Real Estate section talking about their country house in Westchester, and Harvey Fierstein pleaded for help for a teenage girl who has been abused because she is transgender...
Broadway Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny with a high of 71 degrees.
Quote of the Day: On the self-discipline required for any kind of entertainment career...
"I like the detail work of telling a story in small pieces, as is done in movie-making, and also the long leap of faith needed to see a theatre performance through each night. Both require focus and self-discipline."
-- Viggo Mortensen (via BrainyQuote)
What we're watching: Forget SOUND OF MUSIC and the upcoming MUSIC MAN -- if you missed THE TONIGHT SHOW on Saturday, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots' Tariq Trotter put on her own live NBC musical. Watch the skit below!
Video of the Day: In honor of Patti LuPone's appearance in tonight's benefit performance of THE CRADLE WILL ROCK, check out a clip of her singing "Nickel Under the Foot" as part of The Acting Company's 1985 production!
And finally a Happy Birthday shout-out to Rebecca Hall, who turns 32 today, and a moment of remembrance and celebration for Nora Ephron, who was born on this day in 1941!
Hall made her Broadway debut in Roundabout's Machinal last year. Originally from the UK, she has also appeared onstage in Mrs Warren's Profession at the Strand and As You Like It, The Fight for Barbara, Man and Superman, Galileo's Daughter and Don Juan at the Theatre Royal. She later reprised her role as Rosalind in As You Like It, directed by her father in a tour across the UK and the US. She then starred in Sam Mendes's The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard, followed by a turn in Twelfth Night at the National Theatre, again directed by her father. Hall just hit the big screen in Transcendence and has also been seen in Iron Man 3, The Awakening, The Town, Dorian Gray, Frost/Nixon, The Prestige, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and more.
Playwright and filmmaker Nora Ephron passed away on June 26, 2012 at the age of 71, just before her play Lucky Guy, starring Tom Hanks, opened on Broadway in January 2013. Ephron is well known for her films When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Go Mail and more recently, Julie & Julia. For the stage, Ephron has written Short Talks on the Universe, the Drama Desk Award-winning Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Imaginary Friends and more.
See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!
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