Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet will remain the resident dance company of the Lyric Opera House for an additional seven years, the companies announced Wednesday.
The Joffrey’s current lease was slated to end following the 2027 season, but this extension will keep the city’s top ballet company at the massive downtown opera house through 2034. Joffrey first began performing under Lyric’s roof in October 2021, after a delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Joffrey’s move to the Lyric Opera House, a partnership between two of Chicago’s leading cultural institutions, has opened the door to bigger, bolder storytelling,” Joffrey’s President and CEO Greg Cameron said in a statement.
The updated agreement comes after Joffrey closed out its season with “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” created by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who also designed Joffrey’s “Nutcracker.” This spring’s trip down the rabbit hole proved a big success for Joffrey.
According to Joffrey’s Wednesday statement, “Alice” became the company’s highest-selling non-“Nutcracker” production in the company’s history, selling nearly 30,000 tickets. That was a 26% increase over the previous bestseller, which was the 2023 run of Liam Scarlett’s “Frankenstein.”
“Lyric has continued to deepen our treasured relationship with the Joffrey. Our leadership teams share a strong, collaborative relationship and a unified vision for delivering high-quality productions,” Lyric’s President and CEO John Mangum said in the statement. “One of the most rewarding aspects of this partnership is that the Lyric Opera Orchestra performs live for every Joffrey production at the Lyric Opera House. Together, we present more than 100 performances each year, giving audiences across Chicago countless opportunities to experience world-class music and dance under one iconic roof.”
Mangum’s predecessor, Anthony Freud, was a key player in orchestrating the deal to bring Joffrey under Lyric’s roof, which was first announced in 2017. The Joffrey was previously the resident company of the Auditorium Theatre.
Before his retirement in 2024, Freud told WBEZ the Joffrey partnership allowed “this wonderful opera house to take its place alongside the great opera houses of the world. And in terms of the benefits to the city as a whole, I think that’s enormous.”
Joffrey will open its 70th anniversary season on Sept. 18 with the U.S. premiere of Scarlett’s “Carmen.”
Courtney Kueppers is an arts and culture reporter at WBEZ.