Chicago Shakespeare Theater announces 2013–14 season

Chicago Shakespeare Theater interior

Photo: James Steinkamp

Chicago Shakespeare Theater associate artistic director Gary Griffin will stage not one but two Stephen Sondheim musicals on Navy Pier next season, following a summer gala in which the company will bestow Spirit of Shakespeare Awards on both Sondheim and former mayor Richard M. Daley.

Griffin will direct Gypsy, with lyrics by Sondheim, music by Jule Styne and book by Arthur Laurents, in the Courtyard Theater (February 6–March 23), overlapping with an Upstairs Theater revival of the much more recent (and much less beloved) Road Show (March 14–May 4). The latter, with music and lyrics by Sondheim and a book by John Weidman, was seen in an earlier incarnation at the Goodman Theatre, as Bounce!; through many revisions and titles, it's yet to reach Broadway.

CST's season opens in the fall in the Courtyard, with a production of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (September 24–November 10), to be directed by Penny Metropulos and featuring Harry Groener (The Madness of George III) in the title role. Also in the Courtyard will be two Shakespeare revivals: artistic director Barbara Gaines's new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor (December 3–January 19) and Christopher Luscombe's of Henry V (April 29–June 15).

Among the offerings on tap for CST's World's Stage presentations are a new commission from Australia's one step at a time like this (the force behind 2011's thrilling en route); this fall piece (dates to be determined) will be an ambulatory update of Measure for Measure. In the spring comes the Chicago debut of Cornwall, England's acclaimed troupe Kneehigh, presenting its Tristan & Yseult (March 30–April 13). Further World's Stage pieces remain to be announced.