The Boys Are Coming Home

"The Boys Are Coming Home," is a new musical loosely based on Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." It opened July 28, 2006 at the Barber Theatre.

The book is by Berni Stapleton, inspired by an idea from Timothy French, and features music and lyrics by Leslie Arden. As composer-lyricist Leslie Arden explains, "The Boys Are Coming Home is set in 1945, right on the cusp of swing and bebop. What a beautiful metaphor for a show that explores the ramifications of World War II in America, the ‘just war’ that was a catalyst for overwhelming social, sexual, racial, and political change." The Boys cast featured a mix of student performers and several prominent Chicago music theatre professionals.

Directed by Gary Griffin, "The Boys are Coming Home" explores the new order of male-female relationships that came into being when our soldiers returned from World War II. "Boys" was initially commissioned by the National Arts Center of Canada and had its first reading there. The honorary producers for "Boys" are Harold Kaplan of the Chicago law firm of Gardner Carton and Douglas LLP and Bill Donnell.

Leslie Arden is a multi-award winning book writer and lyricist whose work "House of Martin Guerre" had an acclaimed run at the Goodman Theatre in the late 1990s. Berni Stapleton is one of Canada's leading writers and performance artists.

The Boys Are Coming Home met with rave reviews. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune raved that "this show is smarter and has a better score that at least 80 percent of the shows on Broadway in the last five years." Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that "wherever it goes next, The Boys are Coming Home deserves a long and productive stage life."

The Boys Are Coming Home was chosen for inclusion in the National Alliance for Music Theatre Festival of New Works in New York City and has been renamed One Step Forward. The NAMT festival is one of the most prestigious new musical development programs in America today.

In June 2008, The Boys Are Coming Home will have its professional premiere at Chicago's acclaimed Goodman Theatre.