Broadway in Chicago announces lineup for free Millennium Park concert

To be sure, Broadway in Chicago’s free summer concert is a grand-scale marketing tool designed to introduce the city’s audiences to its productions for the upcoming season, and to generate subscription, group and individual ticket sales. But the now annual showcase, which features brief excerpts from soon-to-arrive shows, also has become something of a rite of summer.

The 2014 concert, scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Aug. 18 at 6:15 p.m. at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph, will be hosted by WLS-Channel 7 Chicago’s Janet Davies and include an appearance by a genuine rock star: Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, teasing his “Rock & Roll Christmas Tale.” The crowd also will hear from the casts of returning shows “Jersey Boys,” “Kinky Boots,” and Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” along with the pre-Broadway tryouts of “The First Wives Club” and “Amazing Grace.”

Also part of the lineup will be sequences from “Pippin,” “Hansel & Gretel,” “The Illusionists,” Disney’s “Newsies,” “Annie,” Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella” and the long-running hit “Million Dollar Quartet.”

The show is presented by Broadway In Chicago in partnership with The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. For full calendar information, visit millenniumpark.org. For more information on the Summer Concert or any Broadway In Chicago shows visit http://www.BroadwayInChicago.com.