Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place is operated by

Broadway In Chicago Broadway In Chicago is a theatrical production company. It was formed in July 2000 by the Nederlander Organization to present touring Broadway productions in Chicago and currently manages programming at five historic theaters. Occasionally, it pr ...

, a Nederlander subsidiary. Located at

Water Tower Place Water Tower Place is a large urban, mixed-use development comprising a shopping mall, hotel, theater, and condominiums in a 74-story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The mall is located at 835 North Michigan Avenue, along the Mag ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, it was formerly known as Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place. It was reopened in 2004 and seats 549.

History

The original Drury Lane Water Tower Place opened in 1976, but was closed in 1983 and became a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

. Drury Lane Theatre group founder

Tony DeSantis Anthony DeSantis, KStJ (January 5, 1914 - June 6, 2007) was an American entrepreneur and theater owner in Chicago, Illinois. He is most well known for the foundation of the area's Drury Lane theatres. During DeSantis' lifetime, his empire include ...

later spent $9 million to transform another movie theater located nearby on 175 East Chestnut Street just off Michigan Avenue into a showplace for live performances in Chicago. The new Drury Lane Water Tower Place, opened May 18, 2004 with similar décor and mainstream musical and comedy line-ups of its sister theater in Oakbrook. This next era for the 549-seat Drury Lane Water Tower began with performances of ''

The Full Monty ''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is s ...

''. This was followed by

productions of ''

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee'' is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by William Finn, based on a book by Rachel Sheinkin, conceived by Rebecca Feldman with additional material by Jay Reiss. The show centers on a fictional spe ...

'', ''

SHOUT! The Mod Musical ''SHOUT! The Mod Musical'' is an Off-Broadway musical by Phillip George and David Lowenstein featuring songs from the swinging sixties. The musical features five female singers who are called, Orange, Blue, Green, Yellow and Red. The Storyline ...

'' and '' Xanadu.'' On April 6, 2010, Broadway In Chicago announced that it had entered into a long-term agreement with General Growth Properties, then the owner of Water Tower Place shopping center, to re-open the theatre as the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place. The theater officially re-opened on September 24, 2010, with a short series of concert performances by

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dill ...

, followed by a production of ''Traces'', a French Canadian urban acrobatics show. The first marquee production at the Broadway Playhouse was a new production of the 1978 Studs Terkel musical ''

Working Working may refer to: * Work (human activity), intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the community Arts and media * Working (musical), ''Working'' (musical), a 1978 musical * Working (TV series), ''Working'' (TV s ...

'', featuring additional material written by

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals ''Hamilton'' (2015) and ''In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animate ...

, the writer behind ''

In the Heights ''In the Heights'' is a musical theatre, musical with concept, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a Book (musical theatre), book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story is set over the course of three days, involving characters in the larg ...

'' and later ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

''. David Stone, the producer of ''

Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe * '' Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' s ...

'' and ''

Next to Normal ''Next to Normal'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2008 American rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing ...

,'' as well as Mark Platt were also involved with the show that went up in spring of 2011.

References

External links

Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place
(Official site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Broadway Playhouse At Water Tower Place Theatres in Chicago 1976 establishments in Illinois Arts organizations established in 1976