BOOK OF MORMON, KINKY BOOTS Pre-Broadway Premiere & More Set for Broadway in Chicago in 2012-2013

Broadway In Chicago recently announced the complete 2012-2013 season, bringing old favorites, as well as new ones to Chicagoan theater-goers. The upcoming season will include I LOVE LUCY LIVE ON STAGE, KINKY BOOTS, SISTER ACT, Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! THE MUSICAL, and War Horse. In addition to the shows running during the official season, off-season specials include Stuffed And Unstrung, Rock Of Ages, Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles and Les Miserables. The complete season line-up, including performances dates and venues, is as follows:

I LOVE LUCY LIVE ON STAGE
Sep. 12 - Nov. 11, 2012
Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 East Chestnut)

I LOVE LUCY LIVE ON STAGE, the brand new hit musical stage show adapted from the longest-running and most beloved television program in history, starring Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel: America's favorite foursome, is making its Midwest premiere in Chicago! It's 1952 and the theater's audience become the televised program's audience; a host entertains, showing audiences the behind-the-scenes filming process, the 1950s hi-fidelity technology, and this brand new thing called 'television.' The show depicts firsthand, the side-splitting antics of that crazy redhead in the Ricardos' New York apartment and thrill to the Cuban sounds of "The Ricky Ricardo Orchestra" at the famed Tropicana Nightclub. In between scenes? The Crystaltone Singers perform live advertising jingles of the show's newest sponsors in perfect '50s style harmony. I LOVE LUCY LIVE ON STAGE is produced under license from CBS Consumer Products. 

KINKY BOOTS
PRE-BROADWAY WORLD PREMIERE!
Begins October 2012
Bank of America Theatre (18 West Monroe)

Inspired by a true story and based on the film, KINKY BOOTS features a witty book by Harvey Fierstein (LA CAGE, TORCH SONG TRILOGY, NEWSIES) and a richly diverse musical score from music icon Cyndi Lauper in her stunning theatrical debut. Director Jerry Mitchell (HAIRSPRAY, LA CAGE, BROADWAY BARES) has crafted a production bound to move, inspire and set audience's feet dancing. In KINKY BOOTS, Charlie Price is forced to step in and save his family's shoe factory in Northern England, following the sudden death of his father. Help comes from the unlikeliest angel, a fabulous drag performer named Lola. Together, this improbable duo not only revitalizes the nearly bankrupt business, but helps one another grow into the men their fathers always dreamed their sons would become and transforms an entire community through the power of acceptance.

SISTER ACT
Nov. 13 - Dec. 2, 2012
Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University (50 East Congress Parkway)

SISTER ACT is one of Broadway's newest feel-amazing musical comedy smashes, featuring original music by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, THE LITTLE MERMAID, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS), SISTER ACT tells the story of Deloris Van Cartier, a wannabe diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a crime and the cops hide her in the last place anyone would think to look - a convent. Under the suspicious watch of Mother Superior, Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own.

Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! THE MUSICAL
Dec. 5 - 16, 2012
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 West Randolph St.)

The Chicago premiere of the critically acclaimed, Broadway record breaking production Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! THE MUSICAL features the hit songs "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and "Welcome Christmas" (written by Albert Hague and Dr. Seuss) from the original animated series. Max the Dog narrates this classic holiday tale that will entertain the whole family as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is "two sizes too small," decides to steal Christmas away from the Whos, an endlessly cheerful bunch bursting with holiday spirit. Dr. Seuss' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS! THE MUSICAL broke box office records for two consecutive years on Broadway during its holiday engagements at the St. James (2007) and Hilton (2006) theatres in New York. Since then, thousands of families across America have been delighted by this heart-warming holiday musical, praised by critics and theater-goers alike.

War Horse
Dec. 18, 2012 - Jan. 5, 2013
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 West Randolph St.)

The National Theatre of Great Britain's epic War Horse, winner of five 2011 Tony Awards including Best Play, is based on Michael Morpurgo's novel, War Horse, and the inspiration for Steven Spielberg's Oscar nominated feature film. Hailed by War Horse is the powerful story of young Albert's beloved horse, Joey, who has been enlisted to fight for the English in World War I. Joey is caught in enemy crossfire and ends up serving both sides of the war before landing in no man's land. Albert, not old enough to enlist, embarks on a treacherous mission to find his horse and bring him home. What follows is a remarkable tale of courage, loyalty and friendship, filled with stirring music and songs and told with the some of the most innovative stagecraft of our time. The tour of War Horse will be directed by Bijan Sheibani based on the original Tony Award-winning direction by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, and presented in association with Handspring Puppet Company. At the heart of the show are life-sized puppets which bring breathing, galloping, charging horses to thrilling life on stage.

ROCK OF AGES
June 5 - August 5, 2012
Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place

ROCK OF AGES is no foreign show to Chicago, and now it will sit down at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago for nine weeks this summer. In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small-town girl met a big-city dreamer - and in L.A.'s most legendary rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the '80's. It's ROCK OF AGES, a hilarious, feel-good love story told through the hit songs of iconic rockers Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake, and many more. This five-time Tony nominated musical, with a star studded motion picture in the works, is rockin' its way across the USA.

STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG
June 12 - 17, 2012
Bank of America Theatre (18 W. Monroe St.)

STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG, a live, uncensored show that lets loose the perilous and provocative elements of comedic improvisation on stage with a bunch of puppets. Produced by Westbeth Entertainment and Henson Alternative, STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG was created by award-winning director, producer, and writer Brian Henson and actor and improvisational guru Patrick Bristow and features the Miskreant puppets and The Jim Henson Company's renowned puppeteers. STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG is a wild romp in which the skilled art of puppetry and spontaneous comedy collide. Unpredictable and irreverent, it's never the same show twice. Expert puppeteers create twisted scenes and songs on the fly, as suggestions from the audience prompt the improvised storylines unfolding on stage. This production delivers "two shows in one" as the hilarious puppet action is projected live on large screens flanking the stage, while the puppeteers race around below - displaying their skills in full view of the audience. With live musical accompaniment and Bristow as host, STUFFED AND UNSTRUNG boasts a cast of six world-class puppeteers in an uninhibited live puppet performance.

RAIN - A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES
June 26 - July 1, 2012
Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph)

RAIN performs the full range of The Beatles' discography live onstage, including the most complex and challenging songs that The Beatles themselves recorded in the studio but never performed for an audience. Together longer than The Beatles, RAIN has mastered every song, gesture and nuance of the legendary foursome, delivering a totally live, note-for-note performance in this multi-media concert, that's as infectious as it is transporting. From the early hits to later classics (I Want To Hold Your Hand, Hard Day's Night, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Let It Be, Come Together, Hey Jude and more), this adoring tribute has proven to take audiences back to a time when all they needed was love.

LES MISERABLES
Nov. 14 - Dec. 2, 2012
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 West Randolph St.)

Based on Victor Hugo's classic novel, LES MISERABLES is an epic and uplifting story about the survival of the human spirit. The magnificent score of LES MISÉRABLES includes the classic songs "I Dreamed a Dream," "On My Own," "Stars," "Bring Him Home," "Do You Hear the People Sing?," "One Day More," "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables," "Master Of The House" and many more.

As previously announced, an open-run production of the beloved 2011 Broadway hit, THE BOOK OF MORMON, will hit the Bank of America Theatre on December 11, 2012.

For more information and tickets to any of the shows featured in the 2012-2013 season of Broadway in Chicago, visit broadwayinchicago.com.

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