choreography by Christopher Wheeldon and a plethora of the King of Pop’s greatest hits performed live, was supposed to have a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago but that plan was scuppered by the pandemic. Instead, downtown theater presenter Broadway in Chicago gets to launch the hit Broadway show’s much-anticipated national tour;
— and now turns its summer attention to a similarly serious musical, the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Next to Normal” with music by Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. It’s the story of the mental health struggles of a seemingly ordinary wife and mother who has to negotiate between her own functionality and what makes her unique. Director Jim Corti is at the helm of what’s likely to be an intimate and intense staging.
June 2 to Sept. 3 at the Studebaker Theatre in the Fine Arts Building, 410 S. Michigan Ave.; tickets at 312-753-3210 or July 6 to Aug. 6 at Northlight Theatre, North Shore Center for the Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie; tickets at 847-673-6300 andKokandy Productions offers up the first local production of the offbeat musical about the beloved TV character created by Stephen Hillenburg, a show that had its pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago.