Monday round-up: ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Prada’ back on track, and a new musical for the Goodman

Chicago Shakespeare Theater announced its 2022-23 season, its last with longstanding artistic director Barbara Gaines at the helm. Of particular interest is, at long last, the world premiere of The Notebook, based on the bestseller by Nicholas Sparks. With singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson penning the score, Michael Greif as co-director (sharing the chair with Schele Williams), and Kevin McCollum attached as producer, it’s high-profile, for sure.

For tickets or more information about The Notebook or the season as a whole, please visit chicagoshakes.com.

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Just as hotly anticipated, Broadway in Chicago has begun selling tickets for The Devil Wears Prada, set to open at the Nederlander in July for a limited engagement. Tony-winner Beth Leaval, long associated with the diva lead role in readings, is now officially Miranda Priestly. Also of note is a change of creatives. Don’t worry; Elton John is still handling music and rising multihyphenate Shaina Taub is still on lyrics. But Paul Rudnick seems to have eased off bookwriting for good, leaving everything to playwright Kate Wetherhead, who had been announced as his co-writer last May.

For tickets or more information about The Devil Wears Prada, please visit broadwayinchicago.com.

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Newly announced at the Goodman: Life After, a musical by Canadian multihyphenate Britta Johnson that’s been making its way in the American regional theatre circuit since 2017. Logline: “Frank Carter famously authored self-help books. But Alice, his 16-year-old daughter, finds cold comfort in his positivity platitudes when he tragically never comes home one night. As she puzzles out the events of the day that changed her family forever, Alice’s relentless search for the facts reveals a more complicated truth.”

Says Goodman A.D. Robert Falls: “It’s rare and special to encounter a new musical with the depth, beauty and heart as Life After—complete with such an elegant original score. Britta Johnson is one of the most exciting new talents to emerge on the international theater scene, and it’s a joy to produce her extraordinary new work—and to welcome back director Annie Tippe and this wonderful company.”

For tickets or more information about Life After, please visit goodmantheatre.org.

Incidentally, for those put off by the Goodman’s cancellation of The Outsiders musical, that show will land on its feet in La Jolla.