Whiting’s Scot Kokandy has transformed from a daytime career as a Joliet-based banker to a full-time theatrical company founder and producer, all in less than a decade that includes surviving the global COVID-19 pandemic and emerging with even greater success than before.
Kokandy, 45, a 1998 Bishop Noll Institute graduate, says the pandemic shutdown was even scarier than his current murderous mystery musical, an already extended run of “Jekyll & Hyde” now playing through Nov. 8 at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St., presented by Broadway in Chicago as a remount/revival of the original run at Chopin Theatre a year ago, Oct. 9 to Dec. 21, 2025.
“We were able to retain our same cast, which is pretty amazing for a year later, and have the perfect timing once again to play this show run for the Halloween season,” Kokandy told me when he was a guest last month on my Of Notoriety radio show on WJOB 1230 AM in Hammond.
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“It’s the classic tale of the battle between good and evil staged as a gothic musical based on the classic story by Robert Louis Stevenson but told with the thrilling score of pop rock hits from multi-Grammy- and Tony-nominated Frank Wildhorn and double-Oscar and Grammy-winning Leslie Bricusse.”
Tickets are priced from $45 to $110 at www.BroadwayInChicago.com or in person at any Broadway In Chicago venue box office.
Jeff Award winner David Moreland is the good and bad title character opposite fellow Jeff winners and dual love interests Ava Lane Stovall as Lucy Harris and Emily McCormick as Emma Carew. The rest of the cast includes Jake Elkins, Dani Pike, Nathan Calaranan, Ismael Garcia, Joe Giovannetti, Jon Parker Jackson, Quinn Kelch, Quinn Rigg, Gabby Sauceda-Koziol, Quinn Simmons, Maiko Terazawa and Kevin Webb.
Director Derek Van Barham also took home a Jeff last year for the musical, working with music direction by Nick Sula and choreography by Brenda Didier.
Founded in 2010, Kokandy Productions has a history of dual successes, such as launching productions with successful runs in downtown Chicago and transferring the cast and show to Northwest Indiana stages. Scot Kokandy also serves on the board of directors for Towle Theater in Hammond.
Kokandy celebrated a trifecta of stage success last month with the amazing merit of having three fully mounted musicals all playing competing stage spaces at the same time.
Kokandy’s revival of the musical “Hair” opened July 2 and, after multiple extensions (pun intended), closed Sept. 13 at Chopin Theatre. At the same time, Kokandy Productions opened preview performances Aug. 13 of their new musical incarnation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George,” also directed by Van Barham and anchored in the intimate downstairs stage space at Chopin Theatre for a run now extended through Nov. 29. Tickets are priced $39-$65 at www.kokandyproductions.com or call 773-278-1500.
And while “Hair” was being wrapped up and “George” was opening, Broadway in Chicago began previews of “Jekyll & Hyde” Sept. 8 in anticipation of the Sept. 16 opening night.
“It’s all been quite the whirlwind, an exciting whirlwind, and a bit nerve-wracking,” Kokandy said.
“But it’s even more nerve-wracking for cast members like Kevin Webb, who is our lead in ‘Sunday in the Park with George’ while also remaining in the Broadway in Chicago cast for ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ playing Mr. Utterson. That’s a lot to remember for not only lines and songs, but for schedules to keep track of both performances and rehearsals.”
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected].