Life beyond the suburbs? How some world-premiere musicals fared
Chicago has a sterling reputation as a tryout town for Broadway-bound musicals. And in recent years, suburban theaters have joined downtown stages in producing world-premiere works.
“Hazel: A Musical Maid in America” began previews last week for its world-premiere run at Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace, while the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire launched the new musical “October Sky” this past fall. Marriott Theatre debuts premieres every few years, while Drury Lane Theatre and the Paramount Theatre in Aurora both recently hired new artistic staff to help facilitate the pursuit of developing musicals.
The ultimate goal is to steer shows toward a lengthy run on Broadway or London's West End. And if productions in those theater capitals don't pan out, establishing licensing agreements for subsequent regional productions lets the show live on as well.
Here's a look at how some new musicals of the past 10 years have fared following their limited suburban runs. None have hit Broadway, though a couple have come close.
Off-Broadway berths
Broadway may generate the most publicity for new musicals, but New York's off-Broadway scene also draws interest from regional theaters around the country.
Composer Stephen Weiner and librettist Susan DiLallo's “Once Upon a Time in New Jersey” played a limited off-Broadway run in 2010 after its 2006 world premiere at the Marriott. The musical comedy, set in the 1950s, was picked up by a licensing house for future productions.
“A Minister's Wife” received a more distinguished off-Broadway production courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater in 2011. This musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's comedy “Candida” originally bowed in 2009 at Writers Theater in Glencoe.
The largely sung-through piece was the eagerly awaited follow-up for composer Joshua Schmidt, who scored an earlier critical hit with co-writer Jason Loewith on “Adding Machine: A Musical.” This adaptation of Elmer Rice's expressionistic 1923 drama was rushed off-Broadway in 2008 following its 2007 debut at the now-defunct Next Theatre in Evanston. Both musicals by Schmidt are also available for licensing, with The Hypocrites currently staging an acclaimed take on “Adding Machine” at Chicago's Den Theatre.
Another chance
“October Sky” was an adaptation of the 1999 Universal Pictures film by local songwriter Michael Mahler and playwright Aaron Thielen with director/choreographer Rachel Rockwell staging the production at the Marriott in 2015. The musical was based on the real-life rocket experiments by West Virginia high school students in the 1950s - one of whom went on to work for NASA. The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego recently announced that “October Sky” would make its West Coast debut later this year. Rockwell is slated to helm the musical again, though Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman (“The Secret Garden,” “'night, Mother”) has been brought aboard to assist in rewrites to the script.
“Hero: A New Musical” was a comic book-inspired collaboration, also by Mahler and Thielen at Marriot. The 2012 production notably starred actor Erich Bergen before he was cast in the film version of “Jersey Boys” and in CBS' “Madame Secretary.” “Hero” later received a full-scale staging in 2014 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida, and the work had a recent reading for a potential commercial production.
And though not technically a suburban world premiere, the musical of “Beaches” played a high-profile revised run at Drury Lane in 2015 following its 2014 debut in Arlington, Virginia. Drury Lane's director of new work Laura Stanczyk said there is no firm timeline for future productions, in part because of the December death of co-playwright Thom Thomas. Original “Beaches” novelist Iris Ranier Dart and composer David Austin are currently working on rewrites to the show.
In limbo
Some shows have not yet found new full productions. Among them: Marriott Theatre premieres of “The Bowery Boys” (2008), “For the Boys” (2011) and its song-and-dance revue “Now & Forever: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber” (2013). The same goes for the contemporary 2014 musical “Days Like Today,” which was the final production in Writers Theatre's old venue before it was demolished to make way for the company's new home.
“Hazel, A Musical Maid in America”
Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111,
Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 1:30 and 8 p.m. Thursday (no matinee April 7), 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 8:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday (3 and 7 p.m. May 8); through May 29
Tickets: $43-$58 April 3 preview; $45-$60 regular run
“Adding Machine: A Musical”
Location: The Hypocrites at The Den Theatre Heath Main Stage, 1329 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago,
Showtimes: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; through May 15
Tickets: $36