Tonya And Nancy Go From Center Ice, To Center Stage

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Remember Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan?

They are singing a "different" tune this time.

"Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera" opens Tuesday at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont.

The satirical rock opera is produced by the Underscore Theatre company and takes a fun, but serious look at the months before 1994's Winter Olympics and puts a lyrical spin on the rivalry between Tonya and affluent Nancy and the lengths Tonya's husband will go to ensure his wife gets a shot at skating gold.

Harding's husband, Jeff Gillooly, plotted a violent attack on Kerrigan, who was struck on the knee, in an effort to eliminate her from competing against Harding. WBBM's Terry Keshner reports.

Laura Stratford is Executive Director of Underscore Theatre Company and told WBBM the Tonya-Nancy scandal is a "very important story to tell because it's one of America's first media circuses."

It was a media circus even in the days before social media. In fact, the Tonya-Nancy scandal happened several months before what was perhaps the biggest media circus of them all, the O.J. Simpson case.

Stratford said "Tonya and Nancy" takes the media, and many others, to task for making an interesting story into a national obsession.

"One of the reasons we watch figure skating so closely," Stratford said. "Is to watch people fall."

Stratford said amid all the hype and scandal, many people often forget who actually won the gold medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

For the record, the gold went to Oksana Baiul of Ukraine, Kerrigan got the silver, Tonya Harding finished eighth.

"Tonya and Nancy: The Rock Opera" runs through December 30th at Theater Wit.