The Notebook Musical Sets World-Premiere Dates at Chicago Shakespeare

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has announced its 2021-22 season programming, including the world premiere of the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of The Notebook.

Opening the season will be a new rendition of Shakespeare's As You Like It (October 6-November 21), adapted and directed by Daryl Cloran. Set in the '60s, the show will feature numbers from the Beatles songbook. The company includes Melanie Brezill (Celia), Adam Wesley Brown (Forest Lord/Hymen), Tony Carter (Oliver), Austin Eckert (Charles the Wrestler/Amiens), Lachrisa Grandberry (Audrey), Kevin Gudahl (Duke Senior/Duke Frederick), Heidi Kettenring (Phoebe), Kayvon Khoshkam (Touchstone), Kieran McCabe (Forest Lord), Steven Pringle (Adam/Sir Oliver Martext), Liam Quealy (Orlando), Lakeisha Renee (Rosalind), and Nancy Voigts (Corin).

Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn (Nomadland) will then perform the solo show, Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski (November 3-14). Originally created by The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University, Remember This is written by Clark Young and Derek Goldman, and directed by Goldman. The play tells the true story of Polish soldier and diplomat Jan Karski who brought eyewitness reports of the Holocaust to the White House.

Q Brothers Christmas Carol will return for the holiday season (December 8-23), along with a virtual production of TM (January 2022), from Belgian theatre company Ontroerend Goed.

Spring 2022 will bring the highly anticipated world premiere of The Notebook (March 15-April 24, 2022), featuring music and lyrics by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson and a book by playwright Bekah Brunstetter (This Is Us). The new musical is based on Nicholas Sparks' best-selling novel that inspired the hit 2004 film. Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen) and Schele Williams (Aida) team up to direct, with music direction by Carmel Dean and choreography by Katie Spelman.

Director Shana Cooper will then stage Shakespeare's All's Well That End's Well (April 23-May 29, 2022) in the Courtyard Theater, followed by the new musical It Came from Outer Space (May 25-June 26, 2022), making its world premiere with direction by Laura Braza. The show is written by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, the creative team behind Murder for Two.

Finally, in September 2022, Chicago Shakespeare will join forces with director Sheldon Epps to stage a new production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

For more information about Chicago Shakespeare Theater's 2021-22 season productions, click here.