WAKE UP with BroadwayWorld - Friday, March 28, 2014 - Sutton Foster, Neil Patrick Harris and Idina Menzel Hit Broadway!

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.

TGIF, everybody! Happy weekend!

The Bacon: See what's on the griddle this weekend...

• TONIGHT: Roundabout's VIOLET, starring Sutton Foster, begins previews on Broadway!
• SATURDAY: Neil Patrick Harris begins previews in HEDWIG! Check out Pat Cerasaro's FLASH FRIDAY feature here.
• SUNDAY: IF/THEN, starring Idina Menzel, opens on Broadway! Take a look at Menzel's sell-out Billboard cover...

Cup of Joe: Perk up and revisit yesterday's big stories...

• A.R.T. in Cambridge announced its 2014-15 season, featuring the new musical FINDING NEVERLAND, plus a new play by Eve Ensler, Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac in an "Apocalyptic Vaudeville" and more!
• Norm Lewis will lead an industry reading of a new musical centered on Nelson Mandela's personal life.
• Cameron Mackintosh is moving ahead on a new film version of OLIVER!
• PETER AND THE STARCATCHER canceled its Boston gig and will finish early in Pittsburgh this May...
• Heather Headley announced she is expecting her second child!
• Off-Broadway's DISASTER! set its closing date for next month.
• And Hollywood favorite Emma Watson revealed her stage ambitions!

Broadway Weather Forecast: Spring Is Here! High of 58 (yay!) with showers off and on throughout the day.

Quote of the Day: In theatre, all the "editing" gets done before-the-fact. Actors and creatives, is this a welcome challenge, terrifying, or somewhere in between?

"There's nowhere to hide in the theatre. You can't be the one in rehearsal who doesn't know their lines."
-- Keeley Hawes (via BrainyQuote)

What we're reading: We could lie and report that we're being studious and re-reading John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN for the first time since high school... but James Franco just wrote a column for Vice about his Broadway experience since the show began previews. It's an interesting perspective from a film actor on the process of creating theatre, and it's filled with observations such as: "With a classic play--especially if the writer is dead, like John Steinbeck is dead--it's the opposite. The words are holy; do NOT fug with them." Enjoy!