Wake Up With BWW 2/24: 10th Annual BROADWAY BELTS FOR PFF! and More!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld!

Tonight is the 10th annual Broadway Belts for PFF! Performers include Sierra Boggess, Charles Busch, Robert Creighton, J. Harrison Ghee, Stephanie Gibson, Jason Gotay, Lisa Howard, Orfeh, Bernadette Peters, and Bernie Williams!

We'd like to wish a happy opening to both Cambodian Rock Band and All the Natalie Portmans, both opening off-Broadway tonight!

Read more about these and other top stories below!

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1) BWW TV: Tony Goldwyn Opens Up About His New, Epic Role in THE INHERITANCE
by Backstage With Richard Ridge

Tony Goldwyn is back onstage this season in one of the most poignant roles of his career, which happens to be in one of the most powerful plays that Broadway has seen in many years. The play is The Inheritance, and you can catch it now through March 15 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. . (more...)

2) BWW TV: Watch Just-Released Promo for THE MINUTES on Broadway!
by BroadwayWorld TV

In just a a matter of minutes... well, days... The Minutes will begin Broadway previews at the Cort Theatre (138 W 48th St), where it will officially open on Sunday, March 15, 2020. This is a 16-week limited engagement through Sunday, June 14, 2020.. (more...)

3) BWW Flashback: Relive the Greatest Onstage Moments of Jessie Mueller!

Jessie Mueller was a little-known performer from Chicago when she made her Broadway debut in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 2011. Since then, she has taken Broadway by storm, appearing in three Broadway revivals (Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Carousel) and creating two original characters (Beautiful and Waitress)- the former of which earned her a Tony Award in 2014.. (more...)

4) BWW Review: Encores! MACK & MABEL Boasts Jerry Herman's Best Score and Terrific Turns By Alexandra Socha, Douglas Sills
by Michael Dale

Count this reviewer among those who, contrary to conventional musical theatre wisdom, never thought there was anything horribly wrong with Michael Stewart's original book for MACK & MABEL, the big, splashy 1974 musical about silent movie director Mack Sennett and the star he discovered, Mabel Normand.. (more...)

5) BWW Review: NEARLY HUMAN, VAULT Festival
by Cindy Marcolina

Except for Hydrogen, all the atoms that make each of us up [...] were manufactured in the interiors of a collapsing star. But we amount to something more than the simple sum of our atoms, and Perhaps Contraption are proof of it. Their latest work, perfectly titled Nearly Human, is a joyous celebration of life. We follow the a little particle as it makes its way from being to being in what is a mesmerising blend of music and theatrics.. (more...)

Today's Call Sheet:

Tonight is the 10th annual Broadway Belts For PFF!

BROADWAY BELTS FOR PFF! will feature performances by Sierra Boggess (School of Rock, It Shoulda Been You), Charles Busch (The Confession of Lily Dare, The Divine Sister, Tony Award-Nominee for Broadway's The Tale of the Allergist's Wife), Robert Creighton (Frozen; Cagney, Fred Astaire Award-Winner), J. Harrison Ghee (Kinky Boots, upcoming Mrs. Doubtfire), Stephanie Gibson (Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ), Jason Gotay (Evita, upcoming Between the Lines), Lisa Howard (Escape to Margaritaville, It Shoulda Been You), Orfeh (Tony Award-nominee for Broadway's Legally Blonde, Pretty Woman), Tony Award-Winner Bernadette Peters (Hello Dolly!, Follies, A Little Night Music), and New York Yankees legend and Latin Grammy-nominee, Bernie Williams, whose father passed away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Bernie Williams will perform with vocalist Hailey Nicole.

Signature Theatre's CAMBODIAN ROCK BAND officially opens tonight!

The cast of Cambodian Rock Band includes Francis Jue as Duch, Abraham Kim as Rom/Journalist, Jane Lui as Pou/S21 Guard, Joe Ngo as Chum, Courtney Reed as Neary/Sothea and Moses Villarama as Ted/Leng/Cadre.

Guitars tuned. Mic checked. Get ready to rock! This darkly funny, electric new play with music tells the story of a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia for the first time in thirty years, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of Cambodia's most infamous war criminals. Backed by a live band playing contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian oldies, this thrilling story toggles back and forth in time as father and daughter face the music of the past.

ALL THE NATALIE PORTMANS opens off-Broadway tonight!

All The Natalie Portmans is a fantastical new coming-of-age comedy written by C.A. Johnson (MCC debut) and directed by Kate Whoriskey (Sweat, Ruined). The cast features Joshua Boone, Montego Glover, Elise Kibler, Renika Williams and Kara Young.

Keyonna is sixteen years old, extremely close with her older brother Samuel, and dreams of a better tomorrow. When brother and sister find themselves on the brink of eviction, their tenuous life on the edge of poverty is forever changed by a few hundred dollars, a pretty girl, and a famous Hollywood actress. Too smart, "too gay", and too lonely to fit in, Keyonna escapes by writing to her muse (or muses) Natalie Portman in her most iconic roles. When All the Natalie Portmans start talking back to her, Keyonna finally has to finally face her own off-screen drama in this imaginative new play about the beauty of life even if we can't see the stars.

What we're geeking out over: Watch How the Olivier Award Statue Gets Made!

Have you ever wondered how the Olivier Award statue is made? Now you can find out in this all new video from Official London Theatre!

They headed to the Foundry, to meet with owner Chris Nash, to see how the Olivier Award is made.

What we're listening to: BroadwayRadio Chats with Tovah Feldshuh about Powerful Women, her Connection to SIX, and Broadway by the Year

On the latest episode of "Tell Me More," Matt Tamanini talks to a literal legend. A four-time Tony nominee and two-time Emmy nominee, Tovah Feldshuh is like the energizer bunny of performers.

With nine Broadway shows, over 100 TV and film credits, and her busy concert schedule, Feldshuh has been an indomitable presence on stages and screens for nearly 50 years.

Social Butterfly: Ashley Park and Priscilla Lopez Dance to A CHORUS LINE Backstage at GRAND HORIZONS

Ashley Park took to Instagram to share a video of herself and Grand Horizons castmate Priscilla Lopez dancing to A Chorus Line.

Lopez starred in the original cast of A Chorus Line in 1975.

"Actual footage of me fully geeking out over my BFF," Park wrote in the caption of the video. "She may have sung 'Nothing' in A Chorus Line, but Priscilla Lopez is literally everythinggggg."

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!