CHICAGO ( March 1, 2010 ) — Broadway In Chicago is proud to announce the complete 2010/2011 Broadway In Chicago Season Series. The shows in the 2010/2011 Season Series include the Chicago premieres of FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP, ROCK OF AGES, TRACES, GOD OF CARNAGEand 9 to 5: THE MUSICAL. BURN THE FLOOR also makes a special return to Chicago as part of the Season Series. Smash-hits WICKED andTHE LION KING return to thrill Chicago audiences as off-season specials. The 2010 Season Series emphasizes Broadway In Chicago's long-standing commitment to bring the best of Broadway to Chicago.
The complete season lineup, including performance dates, is as follows:
FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP
Begins May 21, 2010
FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a non-stop collision of dynamic music, visceral emotion and kinetic aerial imagery. Featuring mind-blowing visual effects that must be seen to be believed, FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a theatrical experience that floods the senses. As the show begins, the audience is ushered on to the stage to become part of the non-stop action. Experience a 360° heart-pounding theatrical event, filled with jaw dropping scenes, flying dancers, pumping beats and beautiful women in a multidimensional swimming pool hovering just above the heads of the audience. FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a huge international hit having played London, Taipei, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Cordoba, Bogota, Edinburgh, Mexico City, Caracas, Sao Paulo and Puerto Rico to critical acclaim and broken attendance records. "Fuerzabruta doesn't simply let us take in the images as passive spectators, it forces us to experience them with all our senses. If that sounds like your cup of speed then run, don't walk, to see Fuerzabruta!" ( Newsday ) .
ROCK OF AGES
September 21 — October 3, 2010
The newest Broadway smash hit launches the First National Tour right here in Chicago! In 1987 on the Sunset Strip, a small town girl met a big city rocker and in LA's most famous rock club, they fell in love to the greatest songs of the 80s. It's five time 2009 Tony Award® nominee ROCK OF AGES, a hilarious arena rock love story told through the hits of iconic rockers JOURNEY, NIGHT RANGER, STYX, REO SPEEDWAGON, PAT BENATAR, ASIA, WHITESNAKE and many more. Don't miss the premiere of this awesomely good time about dreaming big, playing loud and partying on!
TRACES
Begins October 26, 2010
7 Fingers ( Les 7 doigts de la main ) is an astonishingly talented French Canadian company that has pioneered a whole new brand of theatrical entertainment, and their smash-hit production, TRACES, will launch itsU.S. tour in Chicago this fall. Combining awe-inspiring acrobatic training with infectious urban energy, seven performers deliver dazzling, gravity-defying displays of skill that produce "one of the most creative and inspiring pieces of entertainment I've ever witnessed" ( Edinburgh's The Sun ) —balancing on each other's heads, tumbling through hoops and leaping spectacularly up giant poles without using their hands. More than just a display of acrobatic brilliance, the audience is gradually drawn into the performers' real life stories and, by the final, dramatic climax of the show, on the edge of their seats, willing them to pull off the seemingly impossible. "Mesmeric, spontaneous and unpretentious," ( London's Metro ) , this thrill-a-minute show will leave you begging for more.
GOD OF CARNAGE
November 30 — December 12, 2010
The son of one couple has broken two teeth of the son of another. At first diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the couples meet to resolve things, and the rum begins to flow, huge tensions emerge and the gloves come off, leaving more than just their liberal principles in tatters. Winner of the 2009 Tony® Award for Best Play and Best Director ( Matthew Warchus ) , GOD OF CARNAGE is "the funniest play on Broadway!" raves WOR radio.
9 to 5: THE MUSICAL
January 18 — January 31, 2011
9 to 5: THE MUSICAL is a hilarious story of friendship and revenge in the Rolodex era. This new musical comedy, direct from Broadway, is based on the hit movie and features Dolly Parton's original hit title song along with her new Tony® Award and Grammy nominated score. The book is by Patricia Resnick ( co-writer of the original screenplay ) . 9 to 5: THE MUSICAL tells the story of three unlikely friends who conspire to take control of their company and learn there's nothing they can't do -- even in a man's world. Outrageous, thought-provoking and even a little romantic, 9 to 5: THE MUSICAL is about teaming up and taking care of business... it's about getting credit and getting even... and it's about to open in Chicago!
BURN THE FLOOR
February 1 — February 13, 2011
The international dance sensation BURN THE FLOOR visits Chicagodirect from its record-breaking run on Broadway! You've seen Ballroom dance on shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance." Now, with BURN THE FLOOR, you will feel, live on stage, all the passion, the drama and the sizzling excitement of 20 gorgeous champion dancers, in a true theatrical experience, a performance with a grace and athleticism that The New York Times calls, "Dazzling!" From Harlem's hot nights at The Savoy, where dances such as the Lindy, Foxtrot andCharleston were born, to the Latin Quarter where the Cha-Cha, Rumba and Salsa steamed up the stage, BURN THE FLOOR takes audiences on a journey through the passionate drama of dance. The elegance of the Viennese Waltz, the exuberance of the Jive, the intensity of the Paso Doble — audiences with experience them all, as well as the Tango, Samba, Mambo, Quickstep and Swing. It's Ballroom. Reinvented.
The line-up will also feature the opportunity for priority purchase of the following 2010/2011 Off-Season specials:
STOMP
April 27 — May 2, 2010
STOMP, the international percussion sensation, returns with revamped segments and two new full-scale routines. With the largest set of changes since the 1990s, STOMPers make rhythm out of anything they can get their hands on. With larger-than-life props and specially "found" instruments, performers turn stiff-bristle brooms into a sweeping orchestra, Zippo lighters flip open and closed to create a fiery fugue, wooden poles thump and clack in a rhythmic explosion. STOMP uses everything but conventional percussion instruments — trashcans, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers, boots, and hubcaps — to fill the stage with compelling and infectious rhythms.
AVENUE Q
May 4 — May 9, 2010
AVENUE Q is the smash-hit Broadway musical about real life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets through a hilariously irreverent, Tony-winning book and score. The three-time Tony Award winning musicaltells the story of Princeton, a bright-eyed college grad who moves to NYC with big dreams and a tiny bank account. The only apartment he can afford is way out on Avenue Q, where everyone's looking for the same things he is: a decent job, a stable relationship, and a "purpose." Eventually, Princetonlearns to embrace the ups and downs of city life and realizes that "the real world" isn't so bad, after all! The New York Times hailed AVENUE Q as "a breakthrough musical of a very different stripe. Savvy, sassy and delicious!" and Entertainment Weekly claimed it was "one of the funniest shows you're ever likely to see!"
CIRQUE DREAMS ILLUMINATION
June 2 — June 6, 2010
Journey with fascination into the depths of a city that ignites with illumination when CIRQUE DREAMS imagination, suspense and theatrical innovation turns everyday ordinary…into bright and extraordinary. Audiences of all ages will marvel as city dwellers reinvent familiar objects, balance on wires, leap tall buildings and redefine the risks of flight in a story filled with astounding occurrences. One of a kind artists populate the streets of this magical metropolis and breathe energy into its landscape with urban acrobatics and never before seen phenomenal thrills of disbelief. CIRQUE DREAMS critically acclaimed dazzling costumes come alive to the sounds of jazz, ballroom, pop and more in this original score. CIRQUE DREAMS ILLUMINATION will surely live up to the CIRQUE DREAMS brand of notoriety proclaimed "The grandest circus spectacle east of Vegas" by New York Magazine.
JACKIE MASON — NO HOLDS BARRED
June 18 — June 20, 2010
The irascible, irreplaceable and incomparable Jackie Mason brings his latest one-man comedy tour de force featuring all new material, JACKIE MASON — NO HOLDS BARRED. Long passionate about politics, Jackie Mason is well known for his tough and outspoken position on a variety of issues. Jackie combines pungent political satire, insightful observations on the foibles of modern life, and impeccable timing to create material that leaves audiences laughing until they cry show after show. Once in a generation, a performer emerges who is so extraordinary, so brilliant, that he or she become the standard to whom all others are compared. Jackie Mason is such a performer, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest stand-up comics of all time, now more popular than ever!
THE LION KING
September 29 — November 7, 2010
The wait is over! After 5 long years, Disney's THE LION KING is finally returning to Chicago for a limited engagement. Experience the phenomenon as it once again leaps onto the Cadillac Palace Theatre stage. Marvel at the breathtaking spectacle of animals brought to life by award-winning director Julie Taymor, whose visual images for this show you'll remember forever. Thrill to the pulsating rhythms of the African Pridelands and an unforgettable score including Elton John and Tim Rice's Oscar®-winning song "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life." Let your imagination run wild at the Tony® Award-winning Broadway sensationNewsweek calls "a landmark event in entertainment."
WICKED
December 1, 2010 — January 23, 2011
Entertainment Weekly calls WICKED "the best musical of the decade."WICKED, the longest-running Broadway musical in Chicago theatre history, is returning to Chicago. Winner of 26 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony® Awards, WICKED is Broadway's biggest blockbuster, a cultural phenomenon and was just named "the defining musical of the decade" by The New York Times. Long before that girl fromKansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz. One—born with emerald green skin—is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for "the most 'Popular' piece of Chicago theatre in a generation" ( Chris Jones, ChicagoTribune ) .
2010/2011 Broadway In Chicago Season Series ticket holders will receive a multitude of special benefits, including savings up to 40%, priority seating at each venue, ticket exchange privileges, pre-paid and discounted parking, access to gift cards to give tickets as gifts, as well as the first opportunity to purchase additional tickets to future Broadway In Chicago productions, including those not currently listed in the Season Series. Season ticket packages go on sale Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 10 a.m., and are available by logging onto www.BroadwayInChicago.com or calling the Season Ticket Hotline at ( 312 ) 977-1717.
Group tickets are currently available for all of the season shows. Groups of 15 or more may receive a discount on most shows by calling ( 312 ) 977-1710. Single tickets to each individual production will go on-sale at future dates to be announced. Broadway In Chicago gift certificates, which can be redeemed for any production or for season ticket packages, can be obtained at Broadway In Chicago box offices, www.BroadwayInChicago.com or by calling Ticketmaster at ( 800 ) 775-2000.
