Theater Top 10 for summer: Our picks favor the musicals, from ‘Prada’ and ‘Superstar’ to a homegrown ‘Priscilla’
Chicago theater proved a tough business in the winter and spring of 2022. Shows had to cope with lingering COVID-19 outbreaks, nervous and unpredictable audiences, and an overall lack of the stability and certainty so crucial to a business that requires so much investment upfront.
While the last few months have seen many more shows open than in the barren preceding two years, it’s clear to anyone paying attention that Chicago theater needs more support to recover.
Which brings us to the summer. It seems unlikely that all cylinders will fire as we all had hoped, but the warmer weather and lighter evenings bring hopes of recovery. We’ve picked 10 shows that have us excited and that might tempt you out of the house for an evening or a matinee. This is our first summer preview since 2019 and we’re glad to be back. It’s worth noting that Chicago has four new musicals trying out this summer, all shooting toward Broadway.
And one other note. We suspended star ratings with our theater reviews in 2020 with the sense that they were not appropriate while theaters were recovering from the pandemic, but many readers have written to say how important they were to their theatergoing choices. So we’re bringing them back, another indication of a return to normalcy.
“Choir Boy”: Penned by the hugely accomplished Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (“Moonlight”), this play actually was first seen in Chicago at the Raven Theatre in 2017. “There is so much complexity and beauty to “Choir Boy,” I wrote at the time, “that you find yourself aching for a more complex, fluid and, above all, risk-embracing staging.” Here’s hoping then that Kent Gash’s upcoming Steppenwolf production, which follows a New York run of the show that scored a Tony nomination, is that production. “Choir Boy” follows Pharus Young, a senior at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys, an institution committed to building “strong, ethical Black men,” where he hopes to be the best leader of the school’s prestigious choir in its 50-year history. June 16-July 24 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St.; 312-335-1650 and www.steppenwolf.org
“cullud wattah”: The winner of the 2021 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Erika Dickerson-Despenza’s “cullud wattah” looks at three generations of Black women living through the contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which erupted in 2014 and led to multiple lawsuits over lead poisoning, the resignation of several officials, 15 criminal indictments and a federal public health state of emergency. “Culled wattah” was well received at New York’s Public Theatre last fall; Victory Gardens is presenting the Chicago premiere of what is, after all, a Midwestern story set in a long-struggling industrial city just 280 miles from Chicago. Lili-Anne Brown directs a cast featuring Demetra Dee, Brianna Buckley, Ireon Roach, Renée Lockett and Sydney Charles. June 11-July 17 at Victory Gardens Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-871-3000 or victorygardens.org
“The Devil Wears Prada”: This high-profile Broadway tryout represents the debut of former Steppenwolf Theatre artistic director Anna D. Shapiro into the big-stakes world of Broadway musicals based on hit movies — and, in this case, the project also includes an original score by no less than Elton John. The show, produced by Kevin McCollum, also will feature lyrics by Shaina Taub and a book by the witty Paul Rudnick. The 2006 movie, which starred Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, was based on Lauren Weisberger’s bestselling 2003 novel of the same name and grossed more than $300 million worldwide. Since the film was partly a love letter to the American Vogue editor and fashion icon Anna Wintour and part a takedown of her intimidating power and withering personality, you can expect some fantastic onstage fashion. Beth Leavel is starring in the famed Streep role of Miranda Priestly, with Taylor Iman Jones as Andy Sachs. July 19-Aug. 21 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; 800-775-2000 and www.broadwayinchicago.com
“Fences”: August Wilson’s famous play about the complex relationship between a veteran of the Negro leagues of baseball and his blossoming son gets a fresh Chicago production at American Blues Theatre, under the direction of the innovative director Monty Cole. Even though this drama, set in the 1950s in Wilson’s hometown of Pittsburgh, is perhaps the great writer’s most familiar work, expect Cole to view it through fresh eyes in an intimate space, as he did “Hamlet” at the Gift Theatre in 2018. The widely acclaimed Kamal Bolden plays the central character of Troy, Shanesia Davis is Rose and Ajax Dontavius is Cory. Note that “Fences” follows another Chicago revival of a Wilson play: Court Theatre’s new production of “Two Trains Running.” July 1-Aug. 6 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave.; (773) 975-8150 and americanbluestheater.com
“Godspell”: Prepare ye the way of the Lord! Take it day by day! We plow the fields and scatter! The famous Day-Glo, hippy-styled musical based on the New Testament is almost 50 years old and Theo Ubique, the intimate musical company on the border between Chicago and Evanston, has a fresh, Chicago-style production in honor of the justly beloved show with book by John-Michael Tebelak and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, including the lyrical updates crafted for the 2011 Broadway revival. Christopher Pazdernik directs with musical direction by the much-admired Jeremy Ramey. Theo Ubique is a cabaret-style venue with drinks served inside the theater. June 10-July 31 at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater, 721 Howard St., Evanston; 773-939-4101 and theo-u.com
“Jesus Christ Superstar”: The iconic rock opera from Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber is touring again in honor of its 50th anniversary. This actually is the same production that played the Lyric Opera House in 2018, following its debut at the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park, London. I was a huge fan of Timothy Sheader’s staging, very much a rethinking of this seminal work for an audience of millennials and maybe even a few of their grandparents, still swaying along to “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Gethsemane” and, of course, “Superstar.” Sheader, working here with a mostly different cast, nixed the retro hippy-dippy concept associated with the movie and doesn’t impose some crazy concept on the piece. It’s a fresh look at a great musical pastiche and, assuming the pandemic didn’t spoil things, as good a look at this show as you now can see. July 19-31 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.; 800-775-2000 and broadwayinchicago.com
“It Came From Outer Space”: A new musical comedy based on the much-loved 1953 sci-fi movie about an amateur astronomer and schoolteacher who discover an alien ship, “It Came From Outer Space” is the work of the duo of Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, who previous worked at Chicago Shakespeare on the 2011 musical “Murder for Two.” The story by Ray Bradbury now has been translated into a fun musical filled with physical comedy, Chicago Shakespeare says. Expect a cast led by Christopher Kale Jones and mostly filled with Chicago-based performers playing “humans, aliens and everything in between,” all under the direction of the Milwaukee-based Laura Braza. June 22–July 24 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.; 312-595-5600 and chicagoshakes.com
“Life After”: A new, intimate summer musical at the Goodman Theatre, Britta Johnson’s “Life After” follows the fortunes of a 16-year-old girl grieving from the loss of her famous father (he wrote self-help books), and looking into exactly what happened on the night that so changed her life. After a premiere in Toronto, the semi-autobiographical show subsequently was well received in a 2019 production at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego but the Goodman has an all-new production with a different cast and director. New York now is clearly a goal. Johnson, who is Canadian, wrote the book and lyrics and composed the music for a small live orchestra; Annie Tippe now directs. The show stars Samantha Williams and the acclaimed actor and vocalist Paul Alexander Nolan. June 11-July 17 at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; 312-443-3800 and goodmantheatre.org
“Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”: It is hard to imagine a musical more primed for a fun summer outing than “Priscilla,” the lively tuner based on the cultish 1994 Stephan Elliott movie about two drag queens and one transgender woman having various adventures voyaging across the Australian Outback. The stage version, which bowed Down Under in 2006 and played Broadway in 2011, is a jukebox experience, replete with such numbers as “What’s Love Got to Do With it?,” “Go West!” and “It’s Raining Men.” All of that passion and sand will be poured into the intimate Mercury Theatre in Lakeview with direction and choreography by the Mercury’s new artistic director, Christopher Chase Carter. July 15- Sept. 11 at Mercury Theatre, 3745 N. Southport Ave.; 773-360-7365 and mercurytheaterchicago.com
“Skates”: This all-new musical, aimed at Broadway, is getting an independent commercial production from the producer, book writer and lyricist Christine Rea at a jewel-box, 600-seat theater space in the Fine Arts Building that many Chicagoans either never knew or now have forgotten: The Studebaker Theatre. With music and lyrics by Rea’s husband, Rick Briskin, “Skates” is a “coming of age story with a twist,” set in both 1994 and 1977 at a fictional roller rink, Windy City Skates. It follows a successful rock star who revisits her 12-year-old self. The rink setting is based on the producer’s experiences at the real Lynwood Roller Rink, which still exists in Lynwood. “Skates” was originally set to open at the Royal George Theatre in March 2020 but was hit, of course, with pandemic related delays. The show still stars “American Idol” married couple, Diana DeGarmo and Ace Young, along with many Chicagoans, and the creative team, led by director Brenda Didier, remains the same. Rea says the show is “a love letter to Chicago.” May 24-Aug. 28 at the Studebaker Theatre, 410 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-753-3210 or skatesthemusical.com
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.
