Broadway Playhouse Cadillac Palace Theatre Archives : TRAVEL/FOOD

A majestic production is gracing the stage in Chicago.

“The Lion King” is currently running through Oct. 19 at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre. The show is a must-see production and shines on stage with a colorful set, fascinating costumes, creative puppetry elements and a strong cast.

In promotional materials for the show, it’s touted as “the world’s #1 musical” and that’s definitely not hype. “The Lion King” surely draws audience members in with its strong theatrical elements from powerful vocals, colorful sets, a standout soundtrack and more.

“The Lion King” tells the story of the young cub Simba, who after the death of his father Mufasa, must eventually take control of the throne. There are many adventures awaiting Simba as he grows and he must battle his evil uncle Scar on his way to the throne.

This hit production has been touring North America for nearly 25 years and has been capturing theatergoers’ hearts throughout its celebrated run. It originally opened on Broadway on Nov. 13, 1997.

Starring in the current touring production are Peter Hargrave as Scar, David D’Lancy Wilson as Mufasa,, Mukelisiwe Goba as Rafiki, Robert Creighton as Timon, Nick LaMedica as Zazu, Danny Grumich as Pumbaa, Gilbert Domally as Simba and Thembelihle Cele as Nala.

Standout out musical numbers include “Circle of Life,” “Hakuna Matata,” “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”

FYI: “The Lion King” continues to Oct. 19 at Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., Chicago. Tickets are $45 to $180. Visit BroadwayInChicago.com.

About Eloise Marie Valadez

Guest blogger Eloise Marie Valadez, a frequent contributor to Travel/Food, is a professional journalist/writer and editor with four decades of experience covering the arts, entertainment, and culinary industries. A native of Chicago, she has a passion for the written word.

Broadway In Chicago is proud to produce the following shows as part of its summer roster:

Haestown (playing June 20 – 25, 2023, at the CIBC Theatre), winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards® including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Theater Album, is an acclaimed new show from celebrated singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and innovative director Rachel Chavkin. Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — HADESTOWN invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith, and fear against love.

MJ (playing August 1 – September 2, 2023, at the James M. Nederlander Theatre), is the multi Tony Award®-winning new musical centered around the making of Michael Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous World Tour. Created by Tony Award®-winning Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, MJ goes beyond the singular moves and signature sound of the star, offering a rare look at the creative mind and collaborative spirit that catapulted Michael Jackson into legendary status.

To Kill A Mockingbird (playing August 8 – 13, 2023, at the CIBC Theatre), Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s new play directed by Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher and based on Harper Lee’s classic novel, will come back to Chicago as part of a multi-year national tour across North America. Set in Alabama in 1934, Harper Lee’s enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence centers on one of the most venerated characters in American literature, small-town lawyer Atticus Finch.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater will present Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (July 13 – August 20, 2023) at the Courtyard Theater this summer, based on the Academy Award® -winning Disney film and featuring such dazzling production numbers as the beloved title song and “Be Our Guest.”

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra continues its 2023 season with the following standout events:

Concert for Chicago (June 27, 2023) – Celebrate Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti’s remarkable tenure with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at this free concert in Millennium Park. Enjoy performances of the heartfelt Andante moderato, written by longtime Chicago resident Florence Price, and Tchaikovsky’s exhilarating Fifth Symphony as the CSO closes the 2022/23 Season in style.

The Tony Award-winning Goodman Theatre concludes its 2022-2023 season with:

The Who’s Tommy (June 13 – July 23, 2023): Myth and spectacle combine in a fresh reinvention of The Who’s exhilarating 1969 rock concept album, Tommy—including the unforgettable anthems “I’m Free,” “See Me, Feel Me,” “Sensation,” and “Pinball Wizard.” After witnessing his father shoot his rival, the young Tommy Walker is lost in the universe, endlessly and obsessively staring into the mirror. An innate knack for pinball catapults him from reticent adolescent to celebrity savior. Tony Award-winning composer Pete Townshend and Tony Award-winning original director Des McAnuff find powerful resonance reexamining this classic story for today.

The Joffrey Ballet is pleased to announce an evening of free public performances on June 25, 2023, in the heart of downtown Chicago at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Created as a gift to all Chicagoans, and the first event of its kind, The Joffrey Ballet’s “Joffrey for All Celebration” will feature dance workshops in the lawn and performances by Joffrey Company Artists, the Joffrey Academy of Dance, and students from the Joffrey Community Engagement programs.

Lookingglass Theatre welcomes Lucy and Charlie’s Honeymoon (May 24 – July 16, 2023), which tracks a young couple as they rev it down quintessentially American highways and across stereotypic borders, fleeing expectation and trawling up trouble along the way. Fresh from his Broadway debut in “Almost Famous The Musical”, Artistic Associate Matthew C. Yee’s world premiere musical romp gives a nod to America’s past, takes tally of its present, and blows its future wide open.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company concludes its 2022/2023 season with:

Another Marriage (June 15 – July 23, 2023): Another Marriage is an intimate and beautifully rendered portrait of an ever-evolving relationship that may never be quite finished. Ensemble member Kate Arrington’s playwriting debut upends time and the typical romantic comedy to explore the liabilities of falling in and out of love.
No Man’s Land (July 13 – August 20, 2023): In the drawing room of his stately Hampstead mansion, the wealthy, aging Hirst hosts his newfound acquaintance, the enigmatic Spooner, for an evening of endless beer, scotch, and vodka. The night winds on, the drinks keep pouring, and the ground keeps shifting—until two sinister younger men arrive and interrupt the bacchanal. Steppenwolf returns to Harold Pinter’s modern masterpiece: a generational power struggle, a tug of war between expert wordsmiths, a maze of murky meaning. Or perhaps it’s just two old English sots waxing nostalgic and waiting for the sun to rise. In No Man’s Land, you can never be certain, and nothing is as it seems.