Summer Stages: BWW's Top Summer Theatre Picks - Chicago!

BroadwayWorld Chicago picks the Top 5 summer Theater Productions in our area for 2012!

1. A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at Writers’ Theatre (Glencoe). Run: Now through July 22. A universally acclaimed new production of Stephen Sondheim’s perennial early-summer “Send in the Clowns” crowd-pleaser, with Tony-winner Deanna Dunegan (AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY) as Madame Armfeldt, directed by William Brown and conducted by Valerie Maze. Website: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC

2. THREE SISTERS at Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago). Run: June 28 through August 26. Speaking of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, playwright Tracy Letts and director Anna D. Shapiro are collaborating again, this time on a new adaptation of Chekhov’s great story of a privileged family’s changing fortunes, featuring Alena Arenas, Ora Jones, Sally Murphy and Yasen Peyankov. Website: THREE SISTERS

3. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier (Chicago). Run: June 28 through August 26. Disney’s great animated film and Broadway triumph comes to the mainstage space at CST for morning and afternoon, family-friendly performances lasting about 75 minutes, staged by hot director Rachel Rockwell--and featuring Chicago’s top musical theater talent (Emily Rohm, William Travis Taylor, Mary Ernster, Bernie Yvon, etc.). Website: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
4. ROCK OF AGES at Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (Chicago). Run: June 5 through August 5. Just days before the debut of the Hollywood adaptation of this Broadway jukebox show featuring all things hair and head-band, the national tour of the Tony-nominated show sets up shop for two months of fun in our neck of the woods, just steps from the tourist-friendly Magnificent Mile and featuring hit songs by Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Poison, Whitesnake and more. Website: ROCK OF AGES

5. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE at First Folio Theatre, performing at Mayslake Peabody Estate Forest Preserve (Oak Brook). Run July 11 through August 19. What’s summer theater without the communing of Shakspeare and nature? Shylock and his “pound of flesh” come alive once again in the western suburbs, directed by First Folio artistic director Alison C. Vesely. Website: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE