CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Rehearsals are officially under way for the first major pre-Broadway show to open in Chicago after the pandemic shutdown.
"We premiered at Berkeley Rep in California in 2019 but it's been in production for eight years. We had intended to go to Broadway after Berkeley but then came the notorious shutdown of our entire industry," Garth Drabinsky, producer of "Paradise Square," told WBBM Newsradio.
Drabinsky said he had the choice of taking the show directly to Broadway or take one more look at the show before New York.
"The choice of where to go is clear. I had to bring this show to Chicago. I, as a Canadian, consider it my second home," he added.
'Paradise Square' cast rehearse.Lisa Fielding/ WBBM Newsradio
The musical is set in 1863 New York and tells the story about the housing community of Five Points in Lower Manhattan, a community of Irish immigrants and free-born Black Americans who had escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad.
The two groups co-existed and shared their cultures as the tight-knit community until the Civil War's New York Draft Riots of 1863 violently changed everything.
Garth Drabinsky, producer of "Paradise Square."Lisa Fielding/ WBBM Newsradio
"Another reason to come to Chicago has to do with the story we tell in 'Paradise Square.' With Chicago's vibrant Irish and African American communities, it felt like another reason to bring 'Paradise Square' to this city for audiences to experience this little known story," Drabinsky said.
"Paradise Square" is the first major pre-Broadway show to open in Chicago after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
"Paradise Square" cast rehearses for members of media.Lisa Fielding/ WBBM Newsradio
"This city's Midwestern values and integrity has never failed to inspire me, so when the opportunity arose, we jumped at the chance to be part of a vital reopening of Chicago theater this fall," he said.
"Paradise Square" will begin its run at the James M. Nederlander Theatre on Nov. 2.
