Photo: The London production of SCHOOL OF ROCK (Tristram Kenton)

Broadway In Chicago has announced its next season line-up: SCHOOL OF ROCK, WICKED, THE HUMANS and LOVE NEVER DIES. Two additional shows — IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS and MOTOWN THE MUSICAL — will be available for purchase outside of the regular season ticket. Tickets go on sale March 29, but current subscribers can renew subscriptions starting today.

THE HUMANS premiered in Chicago at American Theater Company in 2014 under the direction of the late PJ Paparelli. The Broadway production, directed by Joe Mantello, won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2016, along with every other major “Best Play” award in New York. SCHOOL OF ROCK is an adaptation of the film with the same title, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and a book by Downton Abbey scribe Julian Fellows starring some wickedly talented youth musicians. The other Weber piece in the season — LOVE NEVER DIES — is the 2010 sequel to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has never played Broadway. After a disastrous opening in London, the musical was reconceived in Austrailia, receiving better but mixed reviews, and has had several European productions since. The 2017 tour marks the first time the show has played the United States.

Broadway In Chicago operates on a partial-year season schedule. This season slate begins November 1st with SCHOOL OF ROCK  and concludes March 4th of next year with LOVE NEVER DIES. The previously announced Jimmy Buffet musical ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE opens in November, but was sold with the upcoming spring-fall 2017 slate.

The upcoming Broadway In Chicago season (from the press release):

SCHOOL OF ROCK
Nov. 1 – 19, 2017
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
SCHOOL OF ROCK is a New York Times Critics’ Pick and “AN INSPIRING JOLT OF ENERGY, JOY AND MAD SKILLZ!” (Entertainment Weekly). Based on the hit film, this hilarious new musical follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star posing as a substitute teacher who turns a class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. This high-octane smash features 14 new songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, all the original songs from the movie and musical theater’s first-ever kids rock band playing their instruments live on stage. Vanity Fair raves, “FISTS OF ALL AGES SHALL BE PUMPING!”

WICKED
Dec. 6, 2017 – Jan. 21, 2018
Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph)
With music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, Academy Award®-winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”), WICKED is directed by two-time Tony Award® -winner Joe Mantello (The Humans, Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues) and features musical staging by Tony Award® -winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…). The musical is based on the best-selling 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. The Broadway sensation, WICKED, looks at what happened in the Land of Oz…but from a different angle. Long before Dorothy arrives, there is another young woman, born with emerald-green skin, who is smart, fiery, misunderstood, and possessing an extraordinary talent. When she meets a bubbly blonde who is exceptionally popular, their initial rivalry turns into the unlikeliest of friendships…until the world decides to call one “good,” and the other one “wicked.”

THE HUMANS
Jan. 30 – Feb. 11, 2018
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
Stephen Karam’s The Humans is an uproarious, hopeful, and heartbreaking play that takes place over the course of a family dinner on Thanksgiving. Breaking with tradition, Erik Blake has brought his Pennsylvania family to celebrate and give thanks at his daughter’s apartment in Lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside the ramshackle pre-war duplex and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the Blake clan’s deepest fears and greatest follies are laid bare. Our modern age of anxiety is keenly observed, with humor and compassion, in this new American classic that won the 2016 Tony Award® for Best Play.

LOVE NEVER DIES
Feb. 14 – March 4, 2018
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
This story of boundless love, full of passion and drama, follows Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, one of the most successful musicals of all time, which has now been seen by more than 130 million people worldwide and is the winner of over 50 international awards. The ultimate love story continues in LOVE NEVER DIES, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s spellbinding sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. LOVE NEVER DIES is a dazzling new production, which takes audiences on a thrilling rollercoaster ride of intrigue, obsession and romance. Be seduced by the beautiful; sometimes magical and poetic; sometimes joyful; and occasionally melancholic score. Don’t miss this magnificent continuation of one of the world’s greatest love stories as it makes its premiere in Chicago.

OFF-SEASON SPECIALS

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL
Sept. 25 – Oct. 8, 2017
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
It began as one man’s story… became everyone’s music… and is now Broadway’s musical. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL is the true American dream story of Motown founder Berry Gordy’s journey from featherweight boxer to the heavyweight music mogul who launched the careers of Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson and many more. Motown shattered barriers, shaped our lives and made us all move to the same beat. Featuring classic songs such as “My Girl” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” experience the story behind the music in the record-breaking smash hit MOTOWN THE MUSICAL!

IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS
Nov. 21 – Dec. 3, 2017
Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph)
IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS tells the story of two showbiz buddies putting on a show in a picturesque Vermont inn, and finding their perfect mates in the bargain. Full of dancing, romance, laughter and some of the greatest songs ever written, including “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep,” “Happy Holiday,” “Sisters,” “Blue Skies,” and the unforgettable title song, IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS promises to be a merry and bright experience for the entire family! IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS features Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin with Book by David Ives and Paul Blake and is based upon the Paramount Pictures film written for the screen by Norman Krasna, Norman Panama and Melvin Frank.