CHICAGO (CBS) — It will be a homecoming for an acclaimed director next September, when Chicago’s Goodman Theatre opens its new season.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, director David Cromer grew up in Skokie, attended Chicago’s Columbia College and began his stage career in Chicago. He now lives and works in New York, but will return to Chicago in September to direct the Goodman’s revival of Tennessee Williams’ 1959 play, “Sweet Bird of Youth.”

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports

The play was supposed to star Nicole Kidman and James Franco on Broadway. But the Broadway production ended up being called off.

But afterward, Cromer insisted he wasn’t abandoning the project, and now, it is going ahead at the Goodman.

Cromer won accolades for his version of “Our Town” in the off-Broadway Barrow Street Theater in New York. He is also the winner of a MacArthur genius grant.

“Sweet Bird of Youth” tells the story of Chance Wayne, a gigolo and drifter who returns to his hometown, hoping to make it in the movies with a faded film star named Alexandra Del Lago whom he picks up on the way. The original 1959 Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan, and starred Paul Newman as Chance Wayne.

Other Goodman productions next season include a world premiere musical adaptation of Disney’s “The Jungle Book,” and the Goodman’s 35th anniversary production of dramaturge Tom Creamer’s stage production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”