Wake Up With BroadwayWorld March 20, 2024

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is March 20, 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...

Meet the Cast of LEMPICKA, In Previews Now on Broadway
by Nicole Rosky
Performances are underway at the Longacre Theatre for Lempicka, the new musical celebrating the true story of renowned artist Tamara de Lempicka.  Meet the cast of Lempicka here!. (more...) 

Kristin Chenoweth Says the WICKED Movie Will 'Blow Everyone Away'
by Michael Major
Kristin Chenoweth is sharing her thoughts after seeing 'a little bit' of the Wicked movie. When speaking about her good friend Ariana Grande taking over the role of Glinda, Chenoweth has always 'wanted this to happen.' Chenoweth has not confirmed if she and co-star Idina Menzel are making cameos in the new movie, she says that she's 'very proud.'. (more...) 

Don Stephenson & Caden Brauch to Lead BACK TO THE FUTURE North American Tour
by Chloe Rabinowitz
The North American tour of Back to the Future: The Musical will star Broadway veteran Don Stephenson as “Doc Brown” and newcomer Caden Brauch as “Marty McFly.”. (more...)

Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 3/17/24 - MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG & More Top the List
Grosses for all the Broadway shows for the week ending 3/17/2024.. (more...) 

THE PIANO LESSON Broadway Revival Officially Recoups
by Chloe Rabinowitz
The Broadway revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson which concluded its Broadway engagement on January 29, 2023, has officially recouped its investment.. (more...)

Chip Zien

Chip is best known for playing the lead role of The Baker in the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. He has appeared in all of the “Marvin Trilogy” musicals by William Finn: In Trousers, March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland and Falsettos. 

He also played Monsieur Thénardier in the Broadway production of Les Misérables. Just prior to his role in the off-Broadway production of Harmony, he was seen as the bombastic Mr. Stopnick in the Roundabout Theatre’s acclaimed production of Caroline, Or Change. Other Broadway credits include It Shoulda Been You, The Big Knife, The Roundabout’s The People in the Picture, The Country Girl directed by Mike Nichols, The Boys from Syracuse, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, All Over Town, directed by Dustin Hoffman, The Suicide with Derek Jacoby and Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel playing Otto Kringelein, the memorable dancing bookkeeper.

His many off-Broadway credits have included The 27th Man, Anonymous, Peter Parnell’s An Imaginary Life, Wendy Wasserstein’s Isn’t It Romantic (Drama Desk Nomination), Michael Weller’s Split and Moonchildren, Lanford Wilson’s Hot L Baltimore (both in NY and LA’s Mark Taper Forum, Alan Ginsburg’s Kaddish, William Finn’s A New Brain (Drama Desk Nomination), and the Delacorte Theatre’s revival of Into the Woods for the Public Theatre. TV audiences have seen him on the final season of “House of Cards”, HBO’s The Night Of and regular roles on “The Caroline Rhea Show”, “Almost Perfect”, “Now and Again”, “Deadline”, “Shell Game”, “Love Sidney” and “Reggie”.

His most recent film role was in Simchas and Sorrows, now on the festival circuit. He also appeared in The Siege, Brian De Palma’s Snake Eyes and was even the voice of the infamous Howard the Duck. Zien’s writing credits have included the musical The History of War presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), and he appeared and toured in his one-man show Death in Ashtabula. He has performed his solo cabaret and concert act at New York’s 54 Below and his CD, “Seriously Upbeat”, recorded live, is available on the web.  

Other birthdays on this date include:
Fred Rogers
Holly Hunter
Spike Lee 

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!