The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940

The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 is not your typical murder mystery. An eccentric heiress has invited a group of theatre people to her home on the pretense of holding a backer’s audition for a new musical. The creative team for this new project were also involved in a recent Broadway flop that closed abruptly when three of its showgirls were mysteriously murdered. As the mayhem unfolds, it’s not long before bodies are dropping once again and everyone’s a suspect. This Agatha Christie meets Clue whodunit parody features blizzard conditions, secret passageways, musical snippets, and plenty of slapstick comedy.

Will the mystery of the “Stage Door Slasher” be untangled before it’s too late?

Directed by Richard Frazier

September 3 - 12, 2021

By John Bishop

Mainstage Series

Auditions: TBA

Roald Dahl’s James & the Giant Peach

When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic  potion that results in a tremendous peach... and launches a journey of enormous proportions.  Suddenly, James finds himself in the center of the gigantic peach, among human-sized insects with  equally oversized personalities, but after it falls from the tree and rolls into the ocean, the group faces  hunger, sharks and plenty of disagreements. Thanks to James's quick wit and creative thinking, the  residents learn to live and work together as a family. The dangerous voyage is a success, but the  adventure takes a whole new twist once they land on the Empire State Building.

Directed by Richard Frazier

October 1 - 10, 2021

Book by Timothy Allen McDonald
Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Based on the book, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

Youth Artists' Company Series

Auditions: August 15 - 16, 2021

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

Having opened in 1988 and still playing today as the longest-running show in Chicago history. Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind is an ensemble experiment in presenting “30 Plays in 60 Minutes.” Each two-minute play is performed in random order with an interactive audience. An onstage 60-minute times keeps everyone honest. This collection of comic, tragic, political, personal, and abstract plays gives performers the chance to program their own production of plays to reflect life, while giving the audience the chance to get involved in the fun. On your mark...get set...Go!

Directed by Lizzy McCullers

October 21 - 24, 2021

By Greg Allen

Stage 2 Series

Auditions: TBA

White Christmas the Musical

Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With  romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a  Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's former army commander. With a  dazzling score featuring well-known standards including “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is  the Ocean” and the perennial title song, White Christmas is an uplifting musical worthy of year-round productions.

Directed by Richard Frazier

December 3 - 19, 2021

Music & Lyrics by Irving Berlin

Mainstage Series

Auditions: October 3 - 4, 2021

Ain't Misbehavin'

The inimitable Thomas "Fats" Waller rose to international fame during the Golden Age of the Cotton Club and that jumpin' new beat, swing music. Although not quite a biography, Ain't Misbehavin' evokes the delightful humor and infectious energy of this American original as a versatile cast struts, strums and sings the songs that he made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley. The intoxicating music of Fats Waller will delight and energize audiences as well as provide great insight into a vibrant time in American history and music.

Directed by Charles Davis

January 20 - 23, 2022

Music by Thomas Fats Waller
Conceived by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Murray Horwitz

Stage 2 Series

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13, Jr.

Evan Goldman is plucked from his fast-paced, preteen New York City life and plopped into a sleepy Indiana town following his parents divorce. Surrounded by an array of simpleminded middle school students, he needs to establish his place in the popular pecking order. Can he situate himself on a comfortable link of the food chain by throwing an unforgettable bar mitzvah ... or will he dangle at the end with the outcasts?!?

Directed by Richard Frazier

February 11 - 20, 2022

Music & Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown
Lyrics by Dan Elish and Robert Horn

Youth Artists' Company Series

Auditions: December 12 - 13, 2021

Enchanted April

From the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. Feeling lost in the shadows of marriage and forgotten in the rush of 1920s post-war society, two London housewives pool their savings to rent a villa in Italy for a ladies-only holiday away, reluctantly recruiting a pair of difficult upper-class women to share the cost and the experience. Together under the Mediterranean sun, the four women clash—and then begin to bond and bloom—until men once again upset the balance.

Directed by Richard Frazier

March 18 - 27, 2022

By Matthew Barber

Mainstage Series

Auditions: February 13 - 14, 2022

The Roommate

Sharon, in her mid-fifties, is recently divorced and needs a roommate to share her Iowa home. Robyn, also in her mid-fifties, needs a place to hide and a chance to start over. But as Sharon begins to uncover Robyn’s secrets, they encourage her own deep-seated desire to transform her life completely. A dark comedy about what it takes to re-route your life – and what happens when the wheels come off.

Directed by Sydney Chalfa

April 7 - 10, 2022

By Jen Silverman

Stage 2 Series

Auditions: TBA

The Color Purple the Musical

The Color Purple is an inspiring family saga that tells the unforgettable story of a woman who,  through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world.This musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (and the popular 1985 Steven Spielberg film) spotlights Celie, a downtrodden young woman whose personal awakening over the  course of 40 years forms the arc of this epic story. With a joyous score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel,  African music and blues, The Color Purple is a story of hope, a testament to the healing power of  love and a celebration of life.

Directed by Richard Frazier

May 13 - 22, 2022

Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, & Stephen Bray

Mainstage Series

Auditions: March 20 - 21, 2022

Royal Gambit

This metaphysical portrait of Henry VIII and the six women in his life contrasts this king, the epitome of Renaissance man, with modern liberal thought and concludes that humanism is dead in the twentieth century. Henry remains the same throughout but the women progress in their dress to modern times, showing their knowledge of the lasting effects of Henry's thoughts.

Directed by Celia Hohnadel

June 2 - 5, 2022

By Hermann Gressieker & George White

Stage 2 Series

Auditions: TBA

The SpongeBob Musical*

The stakes are higher than ever in this dynamic stage musical, as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom  face the total annihilation of their undersea world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage. The power of  optimism really can save the world!

Directed by Richard Frazier

Note: This production is not included in any Season Subscription Packages.

July 8 - 23, 2022

Music & Lyrics by Stephen Hillenburg
Book by Kyle Jarrow
With New Songs by Yolanda Adams, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Jonathan Coulton, Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, Panic! At the Disco, Plain White T’s, They Might Be Giants, T.I., and songs by David Bowie, Tom Kenny & Andy Paley

Summer Musical

Auditions: May 22 - 23, 2022