Broadway In Chicago Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary With Free Concert 6/28

After more than 200 shows gracing the stages at four venues, four long-run companies and eleven pre-Broadway premieres, Broadway In Chicago is turning a decade old.

Founded in 2000 and named Chicago's #1 performing arts attraction (Crain's Chicago Business), Broadway In Chicago has welcomed over 11.5 million theatre patrons since its inception and has contributed more than $5 billion in economic impact to the Chicagoland area. Broadway In Chicago has hosted long run companies of the hit Broadway musicals Disney's The Lion King, Wicked, Jersey Boys and currently Billy Elliot the Musical. The Producers: The New Mel Brooks Musical, Movin' Out, Sweet Charity, Monty Python's Spamalot and The Addams Family are just a few of the World-premiere productions that have called Chicago home prior to arriving to Broadway. In addition, Chicago has been the launch city for National Tours of The Color Purple, Dirty Dancing, Mary Poppins and many others.

Broadway In Chicago is thrilled to offer Chicagoland residents and visitors alike an opportunity to blow out the candles and celebrate the 10 Year Anniversary in style at this year's Broadway In Chicago free Concert in the Park. This annual event will be held on June 28 at 6:00 p.m. at the Petrillo Band Shell during the Taste of Chicago. Concert goers are encouraged to dress up like their favorite Broadway character to celebrate while they are treated to performances from the casts of Billy Elliot the Musical, Shrek the Musical, Rock of Ages, Disney's The Lion King and Wicked to name a few.

According to Broadway In Chicago President Lou Raizin, "Broadway In Chicago has been able to thrive over the past ten years because of a Mayor who had the foresight to create a Theatre District and support theatre in Chicago. His vision has become a real economic engine for this City. We are fortunate to be a part of the rich theatre community here in Chicago."

"For decades my father, James M. Nederlander, has believed Chicago to be an exceptional theatre town. We are so proud that Broadway In Chicago has grown to become the true success that it is today," said James L. Nederlander, President of the Nederlander Producing Company of America.

Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 as a joint venture between the Nederlander Organization and Live Nation, the two largest commercial theatre producers and owners/operators in the United States. The creation of Broadway In Chicago allowed the two theatre industry leaders to present a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of three of the finest theatres in Chicago's Loop -- Bank of America Theatre, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre and the Cadillac Palace Theatre. In 2007, Nederlander acquired Live Nation Theatrical's interests in Chicago changing Broadway In Chicago from a joint venture to a Nederlander Company. Broadway In Chicago continues to bring the best new, classic and completely spectacular entertainment that Broadway has to offer to the stages of the Bank of America Theatre, the Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre, the Cadillac Palace Theatre, the theatrical productions at the Auditorium Theatre Of Roosevelt University and, most recently, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place which is scheduled to open this fall.

For additional information on Broadway In Chicago and future productions, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com