Wake Up With BroadwayWorld January 17, 2024

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is January 17, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours: 

But first..

Ariana DeBose Responds to Comment About Her Singing on the Critics Choice Awards
by Stephi Wild
Ariana DeBose spoke out on Instagram about a rude comment made about her singing abilities during the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday Night.. (more...) 

Why MEAN GIRLS Was Not Marketed as a Musical: 'You Have the Potential to Turn Off Audiences'
by Michael Major
After two trailers not featuring music from the film, the new film adaptation of Mean Girls was not explicitly sold to general audiences as a musical. After its triumphant opening at the box office, Variety reports that Paramount elected not to market the film as a musical, in an effort to not 'turn off audiences.'. (more...)

Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 1/14/24
See Broadway grosses from all the shows for the week ending 1/14/2024

President of The Broadway League, Charlotte St. Martin, to Step Down After 18 Years
by Chloe Rabinowitz
Charlotte St. Martin, renowned President of The Broadway League since 2006, has decided to retire from the League, effective February 16, 2024.. (more...)

Actor Sues 1776 Tour Producers for Racial Discrimination and Retaliation
by Cara Joy David
Over the years, I’ve heard several black actors complain about how their preferred hair plan was dismissed by producers. Now one is suing producer NETworks Presentations, 1776 Touring, and several of their employees, claiming that increasing tensions led to her being terminated after she expressed a desire to submit a written racism complaint.. (more...) 

Video: Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford Take Their Final Bows in SWEENEY TODD on Broadway
by Stephi Wild
Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford took their final bows in Sweeney Todd on Broadway on January 14. Following their last curtain call, the stars gave a speech on stage at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Check out the video here!. (more...) 

Video: Get a First Look at Boy George as Harold Zidler in MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL
by Chloe Rabinowitz
Get a first look at footage of Boy George as Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway.. (more...)

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones recently had a Broadway theatre, formerly the Cort Theatre, named in his honor. Jones's Broadway career began in 1957, and in 1958 he played his first role at the Cort Theatre in Sunrise at Campobello. Over the following six-and-a-half decades Mr. Jones rose to star in countless stage and screen productions (including 21 Broadway shows), becoming one of a small number of lifetime "EGOT" (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners. Jones's Tony Awards include Best Actor in a Play for The Great White Hope (1969) and Fences (1987), as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. He has additionally won seven Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor.

Jones has appeared in fourteen Broadway productions at Shubert theatres, including two at the Cort Theatre. Most recently he starred opposite Cicely Tyson in the 2015 Broadway revival of Donald L. Coburn's The Gin Game at the Golden Theatre.

Other birthdays on this date include:
Denis O'Hare
Andy Kaufman
Eartha Kitt 

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!