Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theatre Picks - Chicago!

It's a hot time for theatre in Chicago! Pre-Broadway engagements, remounts, premieres, and more fill the stages this summer and here are BroadwayWorld's top picks for the ones to look out for!

ON YOUR FEET

Chicago's next big pre-Broadway engagement, On Your Feet, is a new musical chronicling the careers and relationship of Gloria and Emilio Estefan. Be sure to see this world premiere production, featuring Ms. Estefan's music and directed by Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde), before it opens on the Great White Way in the fall. On Your Feet runs June 2nd - July 5th at the Oriental Theatre.

For more info, visit: http://www.BroadwayInChicago.com

ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS A F*GG*T

About Face produces this production about a young, gay boy on his quest to prove that his favorite president, Abraham Lincoln was also gay. Running at The Greenhouse Theater Center, Abraham Lincoln... will play from June 5th to July 5th.

For more info, visit: www.aboutfacetheatre.com

THE BIRDS

This Chicago premiere of the adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's short story (of which the Hitchcock film of the same name was based on) is sure to be a suspenseful night out at the theatre. Following up two notable productions (Titanic, the Musical and Balm in Gilead), Griffin Theatre will stage The Birds at Theater Wit, June 6th - July 19th.

For more info, visit: http://griffintheatre.com/

MOBY DICK

Likely to include the creative theatrics and gymnastics Lookingglass Theatre is known for (this production is being produced in association with frequent collaborator, The Actors Gymnasium), this new adaptation of Herman Melville's classic is sure to be full of action and adventure. Adapted and directed by the creator of Lookingglass Alice, David Catlin, Moby Dick begins June 10th and runs through August 9th.

For more info, visit: http://lookingglasstheatre.org/

THE WHO AND THE WHAT

Victory Gardens Theater will produce the Midwest premiere of the follow-up to Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar's Pulitzer-prize winning play which recently enjoyed a Broadway run helmed by Chicago director, Kimberly Senior. In The Who and the What, a woman pushes the boundaries between her own beliefs and the beliefs of her religion and suffers the consequences from her conservative family in the process. The Who and the What will play at Victory Gardens' Biograph Theater June 12th through July 12th.

For more info, visit: http://VictoryGardens.org

THEATRE ON THE LAKE

Curated this year by Chicago playwright, Ike Holter (Hit the Wall, Exit Strategy), the annual summer celebration of the year's best "off-Loop" productions is back. With renovations still underway at the actual Theatre on the Lake, the productions will be put up in various parks around the city. This year, the shows being remounted include Murder Ballad, Song About Himself, Four, A Doll's House, and This House Believes the American Dream is at the Expense of the American Negro. Each production will run for two weeks each, beginning June 17th and ending the season on August 15th.

For more info, visit: http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/events/theater-on-the-lake-schedule/

ALL OUR TRAGIC

The Hypocrites remount their epic adaptation of the 32 surviving Greek tragedies. With 9 hours of performed material, audiences spend a marathon day at the theatre, which is broken up with 3 extra hours of meal time. If you missed it this past fall, or wish to experience it again, All Our Tragic will be playing at The Den Theatre June 20th through August 9th.

For more info, visit: http://www.the-hypocrites.com

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

The 2013 Tony winner for Best Play makes its Chicago premiere this summer at Goodman Theatre. This hilarious romp, written by Christopher Durang, features a cast of familiar Chicago faces including Mary Beth Fisher and Jordan Brown. Sure to be a fun, summer hit, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike plays June 20th through July 26th.

For more info, visit: http://www.goodmantheatre.org/

BEACHES

Billed as a pre-Broadway engagement, the newest incarnation of the musical adaptation of the beloved film Beaches will play at Oak Brook's Drury Lane Theatre. Leading a cast featuring many Chicago actors are two Broadway ladies, Shoshana Bean (Wicked, Hairspray) and Whitney Bashor (The Bridges of Madison County, Diner), with direction by Eric Shaeffer. With such a talented group on hand, Chicagoans won't want to miss this production running June 24th through August 16th.

For more info, visit: http://www.drurylaneoakbrook.com

THE LITTLE MERMAID

Chicago Shakespeare's annual summer children's production this year is a newly adapted 75-minute production of the Broadway musical The Little Mermaid. With direction and choreography by Rachel Rockwell, who has recently been receiving huge success with her productions in the area, this new adaptation produced by one of Chicago's most trusty big-house theatres is bound to be fun for the whole family. The Little Mermaid will run July 3rd through August 16th.

For more info, visit: https://www.chicagoshakes.com/

Photo Courtesy of: Evan Hanover

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