Theatre News Wire

Chicago Children's Theatre, the city's first and largest professional theater devoted to young audiences, kicks off its 2025-26, 20th anniversary season with Leo Lionni's Frederick, a playful, warm-hearted musical based on Lionni's classic, much-loved Caldecott Award-winning picture book about a mouse who saves the day.

Little kids love Frederick and his quirky family of field mice who play and sing their way through the four seasons. As they gather food for the winter, Frederick seems as quiet as a mouse, daydreaming his way through summer while the other mice are hard at work. But when dreary weather arrives - surprise! - it's Frederick, the artist among them, who has been storing up something special to help everyone survive the long cold winter.

A musical celebration of the idea that there is a place for all of us in this world, Leo Lionni's Frederick is undoubtedly one of Chicago Children's Theatre's favorite live theater creations from the company's 20-year history. It had its world premiere in CCT's 10th anniversary season, was remounted in 2017, and returned as Frederick: A Virtual Puppet Show, narrated by Michael Shannon, in April 2020 to help keep children entertained during the first days of the pandemic.

Leo Lionni's Frederick features a book by Suzanne Maynard Miller and a folk and rock blues music score by Sarah Durkee and Paul Jacobs. The cast boasts six talented actor-musicians, led by Brandon Acosta (he/him) in the title role, Frederick. Acosta, already a stand-out performer on Chicago's top musical stages including Paramount Theatre, Theo Ubique and Drury Lane, is making his CCT debut.

The cast also boasts the return of two favorites from CCT's 2017 production of Frederick: Leslie Ann Sheppard (she/her), also a veteran of CCT's The Hundred Dresses and Jabari Dreams of Freedom and a Shattered Globe Theatre ensemble member, as Baby, and Shawn Pfautsch (he/him), a longtime member of The House Theatre, last seen as Yellow Dog in Go Dog Go! • Ve Perro ¡Ve!, as Earnest. Tina Muñoz Pandya (she/her), a veteran of CCT's Red Kite Green Mountain, X-Marks the Spot and The World Inside Me, plays Sunny, and Ellie Duffey (she/her) as Nellie, and Jeremy Weinstein (he/him), both making their Chicago Children's Theatre debut.

?Tommy Rapley (he/him) returns for his second time as director and choreographer of Frederick, intent on creating an inventive, homemade, do-it-yourself, style of production that will be highly physical while transforming ordinary objects and everyday ideas into the extraordinary.

Bringing this idea from concept to reality with Rapley are Matthew Muñiz (music director, he/him), Collette Pollard (scenic designer, she/her), Jason Lynch (co-lighting designer, he/him), Josiah Croegaert (co-lighting designer, he/him), Kevin O'Donnell (sound designer, he/him), Lucie Green(assistant scenic designer, she/her), Noel Huntzinger (assistant costume designer), Grover Hollway (assistant sound designer, he/him), Harper Crewse (stage manager, any), and Anastar Alvarez (they/them), Gianni Carcagno (they/she) and Alivia Arizaga (she/her), assistant stage managers.

Public performances of Leo Lionni's Frederick are September 27-November 16: Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The production runs approximately 75 minutes and is recommended for ages 4 and up.

New in 2025-26, Chicago Children's Theatre is introducing a "20 tickets for $20" 20th Anniversary Lottery. For each show this season, CCT will offer 20 tickets per weekend for $20 via a lottery system. Patrons can enter once per production and drawings will happen each week with the winners receiving their special offer (maximum four tickets per patron).

To see a list of all children's shows in Chicago, visit our Children's Shows In Chicago page.