The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire is doubling down on Jason Robert Brown. The commercial house's just-announced 2017 season will include regional premieres of The Last Five Years composer's two most recent Broadway musicals, The Bridges of Madison County and Honeymoon in Vegas.
The Bridges of Madison County, with a book by Marsha Norman, won the 2014 Tony Award for best original score, but had already closed on Broadway by the time it picked up that award. The show, adapted from the novel by Robert James Waller about an affair between a traveling photographer and an Iowa housewife, had a brief tour but never made it to Chicago. Marriott's production will be staged by Nick Bowling.
Honeymoon in Vegas, adapted from the 1992 film comedy, has a book by the movie's writer-director Andrew Bergman. It played on Broadway in the 2014–15 season, directed by Chicago's own Gary Griffin, but was locked out of Tony nominations. Griffin will revisit the property at Marriott.
Also on Marriott's slate is the first regional production of Disney's Newsies, which has made two touring stops downtown. Alex Sanchez, who helmed Marriott's controversial Evita earlier this year, will direct for the final slot of 2017. Earlier in the season, Aaron Thielen will stage a revival of the romantic comedy She Loves Me, while the season opens with the decidedly not-a-regional-premiere Mamma Mia! Aurora's Paramount Theatre just closed its own Mamma Mia! on Sunday; Rachel Rockwell will take the reins of the ABBA musical for the Marriott production opening three months later.
Mamma Mia! begins performances February 8, followed by She Loves Me (April 26), The Bridges of Madison County (June 21), Honeymoon in Vegas (August 23) and Newsies (October 25). Marriott's final production of 2016, Singin' in the Rain, opens tomorrow night.
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