Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook Terrace has set a slate of five productions for spring 2016 to spring 2017, beginning with the world premiere of new musical Hazel. The title character, a wholesome family's live-in maid, was created in a series of cartoons in the Saturday Evening Post beginning in the 1940s; it also spawned a TV sitcom that ran 1961–1966. The musical has a score by Ron Abel and Chuck Steffan and a book by Lissa Levin, whose résumé includes a slew of ’80s sitcoms. Joshua Bergasse, choreographer of Broadway's recent On the Town and Gigi, will both choreograph and direct; Klea Blackhurst, who played Rose in Drury Lane's Gypsy in 2012, will play the lead. Hazel will run March 31–May 29.
Next up is Ira Levin's 1978 thriller Deathtrap (June 9–August 14), originally set for summer 2015 but shuffled in favor of the musical adaptation of Beaches. It's followed by revivals of the Lieber and Stoller revue Smokey Joe's Café (September 1–October 23) and the Gershwin brothers jukeboxer Crazy for You (November 3, 2016–January 8, 2017).
Last on the bill is Saturday Night Fever, a new reworking by Sean Cercone and David Abbinanti of a previous stage adaptation of the John Travolta movie, using the original soundtrack's Bee Gees tunes. It will run January 19–March 19, 2017.