Wake Up With BroadwayWorld May 20, 2024

Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is May 20, 2024 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed this weekend. 

But first...

Exclusive: Lily Santiago Is in Love with the World of MARY JANE
by Robert Bannon
Welcome to another Edition of The Roundtable on BroadwayWorld! Manhattan Theatre Club is on an award show tear this season! Tony nominations galore! We had the chance to chat with one of the stars, Lily Santiago, about her Broadway debut! 

Wayne Brady to Depart THE WIZ, Alan Mingo Jr. Will Return to the Title Role
by Stephi Wild
Alan Mingo Jr. will return to the title role of ‘The Wiz’ on Broadway beginning Thursday, June 13, 2024. Five-time Emmy winner and Grammy Award nominee Wayne Brady will play his final performance in the role of ‘The Wiz’ on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.. (more...) 

Jane Lynch Says She 'Should Have Stayed' in FUNNY GIRL With Lea Michele
by Joshua Wright
People reports that at a recent event Jane Lynch (who's Broadway credits include Funny Girl and the most recent revival of Annie) shared she regrets not staying in Funny Girl following Beanie Feldstein's departure.. (more...) 

MARY JANE Starring Rachel McAdams Extends For a Final Time
by Stephi Wild
Manhattan Theatre Club has announced a final extension for the Broadway premiere of Mary Jane, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Herzog, starring Academy Award® nominee and Tony Award® nominee Rachel McAdams, and directed by Tony Award® nominee Anne Kauffman. . (more...) 

Video: Watch Deborah Cox, Nichelle Lewis, & Cast of THE WIZ Perform 'He's the Wiz' on THE TODAY SHOW
by Josh Sharpe
As part of TODAY's 'Best of Broadway Week,' the cast of The Wiz stopped by the show on Friday to perform the song 'He's the Wiz' from the new production of the classic musical. Before the performance, Deborah Cox, who is playing Glinda and also serving as a producer, discussed the show. Watch the interview and performance now!. (more...)

Video: Watch the Cast of THE WIZ Perform 'Ease On Down the Road' on THE TODAY SHOW
by Josh Sharpe
As part of TODAY's 'Best of Broadway Week,'  the cast of The Wiz stopped by the show on Friday to perform the song 'Ease on Down the Road' from the new production of the classic musical. Before the performance, Nichelle Lewis, who is playing Dorothy, discussed The Wiz with TODAY's Hoda Katb and Savannah Guthrie. Watch the interview and performance now!. (more...)

Cher

Cher is the subject of the Tony Award-winning musical, The Cher Show. Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" peaked at number one on the US and UK charts. By the end of 1967, they had sold 40 million records worldwide and had become, according to Time magazine, rock's "it" couple. She began her solo career simultaneously, releasing in 1966 the transatlantic top three single "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". She became a television personality in the 1970s with her CBS shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and Cher. She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows.

While working on television, Cher established herself as a solo artist with the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady", becoming the female artist with the most number-one singles in United States history at the time. After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975, she launched a comeback with the disco album Take Me Home (1979) and earned $300,000 a week for her 1979–1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.

In 1982, Cher made her Broadway debut in the play Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and starred in its film adaptation. She subsequently garnered critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Silkwood (1983), Mask (1985), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), and Moonstruck (1987), the latter of which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. She then revived her music career by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989), and Love Hurts (1991), all of which yielded successful singles such as "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and "Love and Understanding". Cher contributed to the soundtrack for her next film, Mermaids (1990), which spawned the UK number-one single "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". She made her directorial debut with a segment in the abortion-themed anthology If These Walls Could Talk (1996), which received widespread critical acclaim after premiering on HBO.

Cher reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the dance-pop album Believe, whose title track won her the Billboard Music Award for Hot 100 Single of the Year and became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK. It features pioneering use of Auto-Tune to distort her vocals, known as the "Cher effect". Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, earning $250 million. In 2008, she signed a $180 million deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years. In 2018, Cher returned to film for her first on-screen role since 2010's Burlesque, starring in the musical romantic comedy film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Inspired by the film, the album Dancing Queen (2018) debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, tying with 2013's Closer to the Truth for Cher's highest-charting solo album in the US.

Other birthdays on this date include:

Judy Kuhn
Timothy Olyphant
Lisa Kron
Sierra Boggess 

See you bright and early tomorrow, BroadwayWorld!