Theater News

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Blows Into the Windy City for the First North American Post-Broadway Production

Theatre at the Center has announced its 2014 season, including a world premiere of The Beverly Hillbillies the Musical.

(<i>Women on the Verge</i> logo, courtesy of Theatre at the Center)
(Women on the Verge logo, courtesy of Theatre at the Center)

Chicago’s Theatre at the Center has announced the roster of productions set for its 2014 season.

One of the season’s main events will take place next fall when Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, directed by William Pullinsi and featuring a Tony-nominated score by David Yazbek and a book by Jeffrey Lane (the creative minds behind Broadway’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), will come to the Chicago theater for its first North American production since its 2011 Broadway run. Based on the Spanish film by director Pedro Almodovar, Women on the Verge follows a group of powerful female characters as they seek revenge on the men who have done them wrong. The production will run from September 11-October 19, 2014.

The Chicago debut of Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash will open the season with a run from February 20-March 30, 2014. Created by Richard Maltby Jr. (Baby) and conceived by William Meade, the production will be a reworked, more intimate version of the 2006 Broadway production, lending greater emphasis to the 38 Johnny Cash songs featured in the musical, including “I Walk the Line,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” as well as the title song. Brian Russell will direct.

Next will be the Chicago area premiere of Miracle on South Division Street, a comedic play by Tom Dudzick (Over the Tavern), running from May 1-June 1, 2014. Directed by William Pullinsi, the plot follows the Nowak family in their Buffalo, New York neighborhood, as they cope with tested faith and adjust to life’s surprises.

Theatre at the Center will then present the world premiere of The Beverly Hillbillies the Musical, adapted by book writer David Rodgers and composer Gregg Opelka from episodes of the classic 1960s sitcom. David Perkovich will direct the production, set to run July 10-August 10, 2014.

Closing the 2014 season will be the Chicago premiere of A Christmas Memory, running November 13-December 14, 2014, directed by William Pullinsi. With a book by Duane Poole, music by Larry Grossman, and lyrics by Carol Hall, A Christmas Memory is a musical memoir based on the famous short story of the same name by Truman Capote. Following two misfit cousins through their small southern town, the show celebrates the simple pleasures of life and the joys of giving during the holiday season.

For more information about Theatre at the Center, click here.