Posted 22 months ago in Trending, Arts and Culture
2 MIN READ -- Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to announce its next season line-up, which features the Tony®-winning Best Musical Revival COMPANY; Broadway smash-hit BEETLEJUICE; the highly anticipated pre-Broadway revival of THE WIZ; the Pre-Broadway A WONDERFUL WORLD; TimeLine Theatre’s Chicago premiere production of the Tony Award®-winning Best Play THE LEHMAN TRILOGY; and the World Premiere of BOOP! THE BETTY BOOP MUSICAL.
The Broadway In Chicago Season line-up, including venues and performance dates, is as follows:
COMPANY
Oct. 31 – Nov. 12, 2023
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
PHONE RINGS, DOOR CHIMES, IN COMES COMPANY.
Winner of 5 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical, COMPANY “strikes like a lightning bolt. It’s brilliantly conceived and funny as hell” (Variety). Helmed by three-time Tony Award-winning director Marianne Elliott (War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America), this revelatory new production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s groundbreaking musical comedy is boldly sophisticated, deeply insightful and downright hilarious.
It’s Bobbie’s 35th birthday party, and all her friends keep asking, Why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man and isn’t it time to settle down and start a family? As Bobbie searches for answers, she discovers why being single, being married, and being alive in the 21st-century could drive a person crazy.
COMPANY features Sondheim’s award-winning songs “You Could Drive a Person Crazy”, “The Ladies Who Lunch”, “Side by Side by Side” and the iconic “Being Alive”. Let’s all drink to that!
BEETLEJUICE
Nov. 7. – Nov. 19, 2023
Auditorium Theatre (50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive)
He earned his stripes on Broadway… now the ghost-with-the-most is coming to Chicago.
It’s showtime! Based on Tim Burton’s dearly beloved film, this hilarious musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. With an irreverent book, an astonishing set, and a score that’s out of this Netherworld, BEETLEJUICE is “SCREAMINGLY GOOD FUN!” (Variety). And under its uproarious surface (six feet under, to be exact), it’s a remarkably touching show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O!
THE WIZ
Nov. 28 – Dec. 10, 2023
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
Producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, and Ambassador Theatre Group present an all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award®-winning musical THE WIZ, adapted from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The highly anticipated Broadway revival of THE WIZ returns “home” to stages across America in an all-new Pre-Broadway tour, the first one in 40 years. The tour begins in THE WIZ’s original home city of Baltimore, where the show made its world premiere 50 years ago.
This groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway—from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping 70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world. Audiences get to enjoy the epic grooves of such beloved, timeless hits as “Ease on Down the Road,” which became the show’s break-out single, and the bona fide classic “Home” in this spectacular revival.
Featuring a book by William F. Brown and a Tony Award®-winning score by Charlie Smalls (and others), director Schele Williams (The Notebook, revival of Disney’s Aida), choreographer JaQuel Knight (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”), Amber Ruffin (additional material), and Joseph Joubert (music supervision, orchestrations, & music arrangements) conjure up an Oz unlike anything ever seen before.
THE WIZ design team will include scenic design by Academy Award-winning Hannah Beachler (Black Panther, Beyonce’s Black is King and Lemonade), costume design by Emmy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls), lighting design by Barrymore Award-winning Ryan J. O’Gara (Thoughts of a Colored Man) and wig design by Academy Award-winning Mia Neal (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom).
A dynamite infusion of ballet, jazz, and modern pop brings a whole new groove to easing on down the road. So everybody rejoice!
TimeLine Theatre’s Chicago premiere production of
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY
Sep. 19 – Oct. 29, 2023
Broadway Playhouse (175 E. Chestnut)
Told in three parts over one evening, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY by Stefano Massini, adapted by Ben Power, is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is soon joined by his two brothers, and an American epic begins. 163 years later, the firm they establish—Lehman Brothers—spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy, triggering the largest financial crisis in history. Weaving together nearly two centuries of family history, this theatrical event charts the humble beginnings, outrageous successes, and devastating failure of the financial institution that would ultimately bring the global economy to its knees.
TimeLine Theatre’s production of THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, co-directed by Nick Bowling and Vanessa Stalling, is its Chicago premiere. Throughout its production history, THE LEHMAN TRILOGY has been met with extraordinary international acclaim. The Guardianproclaimed it “a kaleidoscopic social and political metaphor” and “an intimate epic about the shifting definition of the American Dream.” The Chicago Tribune praised it as “a masterwork” and The New York Times as “a vivid tale of profit and pain.” Vanity Fair raved that it is “true blockbuster theatre that will hold you captive until the final curtain call,” with Time Out New York saying “it leaves you dazzled.” And the Wall Street Journal declared that THE LEHMAN TRILOGY “surpasses all praise.”
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY received five 2022 Tony Awards®, including Best Play, plus Drama League and Outer Critics Circle awards, and was nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Play.
TimeLine Theatre Company, recipient of 60 Jeff Awards as well as the prestigious 2016 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, was founded in April 1997 with a mission to present stories inspired by history that connect with today's social and political issues. TimeLine previously presented the acclaimed Midwest premiere production of J.T. Rogers’ Oslo in partnership with Broadway In Chicago in 2019.
A WONDERFUL WORLD – Pre-Broadway!
Oct. 11 – Oct. 29, 2023
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
A Broadway-bound new musical about jazz legend and singular American icon Louis Armstrong, starring Tony Award® winner James Monroe Iglehart. Told from the perspective of the women in Armstrong’s life, A WONDERFUL WORLD charts Armstrong’s journey from the birth of jazz in his native New Orleans through his international stardom, featuring beloved songs recorded and made popular by him.
Conceived by Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award® nominee, Christopher Renshaw (Broadway’s The King and I, Taboo), and novelist Andrew Delaplaine, A WONDERFUL WORLD has an original book by author Aurin Squire (This is Us, The Good Fight, Evil) and features songs recorded and made popular by Armstrong. Wife and husband team Annastasia Victory (Caroline, or Change; Once on This Island) and Michael O. Mitchell (MJ the Musical, Motown) provide original music, arrangements, orchestrations, and music direction. Renshaw directs the production, with choreography by Rickey Tripp (Associate Choreographer for Broadway’s Once on This Island and Choir Boy). Christina Sajous serves as Associate Director and Aurelia Michael as Associate Choreographer.
BOOP! THE BETTY BOOP MUSICAL
World Premiere!
Nov. 19 – Dec. 31, 2023
CIBC Theatre (18 W. Monroe)
Please welcome to the stage – LIVE and at the CIBC Theatre for the first time ever: Betty Boop! That sassy-sweet champion of empowerment, that spit-curled icon of joy, that songstress of strength comes alive in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, the new Broadway-bound musical comedy extravaganza.
Tony® Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, La Cage Aux Folles, Hairspray) brings the Queen of the Animated Screen to the theater with celebrated multiple Grammy®-winning composer David Foster (“I Have Nothing,” “After The Love Is Gone,” “The Prayer”), Tony-nominated lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly’s Last Jam), and Tony-winning book writer Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom).
For almost a century, Betty Boop has won hearts and inspired fans around the world with her trademark looks, voice, and style. Now, in BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical, Betty's dream of an ordinary day off from the super-celebrity in her black-and-white world leads to an extraordinary adventure of color, music, and love in New York City — one that reminds her and the world, “You are capable of amazing things.” Boop-oop-a-doop!
