2012/13 Season Announcement!

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE ONLINE TODAY

I cannot be more excited to announce to you our Porchlight Music Theatre 2012/13 Season. That we will have the leadership and vision of Jeff Award winners Stacey Flaster, Nick Bowling, Rob Lindley, Brenda Didier and Doug Peck, Chicago cabaret legend Beckie Menzie and one of the hottest new Music Directors, Elizabeth Doran, all in the Artistic Chairs next season will make this one of the most anticipated years in Porchlight history.

New Subscriptions are on sale NOW. I urge you to secure your Opening Night, Premiere or Preview Subscriptions ASAP to get the best seats, the deepest discount and the most benefits. FYI, With an Opening Night Subscription you get a FREE ticket to our new, off-night smash BEST MUSICAL! A Completely Improvised Musical Comedy which the critics are calling "Outageous, uproarious and kinda' brilliant!"

We'll see you at the theatre!

Michael Weber
Artistic Director

A Class Act
A Musical About Musicals

Chicago Premiere/ Best Musical Tony Award nominee

Music and Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price
Direction and Choreography by Stacey Flaster
Music Direction by Beckie Menzie

Theatre Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave.
September 1 – October 7

Previews:
Saturday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and Monday, Sept 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Regular schedule:
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. & 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
NO 4pm show Sept. 8

Ed Kleban: “Words and music - I love them. And especially what happens when you put them together into songs. And sing them in a large building, in a central part of town, in a dark room, as part of a play, with a lot of people listening, who have all paid a great deal to get in!”

A darkened theatre, New York City, 1988. Friends gather for the memorial of one of Broadway’s greatest – but least known – music makers. He was the man who wrote the lyrics “One Singular Sensation” for “A Chorus Line” and nothing could have described him better. Nominated for the Best Musical Tony Award and featuring music Stephen Sondheim said he “wishes he’d written,” it is the moving and emotionally charged true story of turning your life into art. You are about to meet Edward Kleban - a gentleman, a genius, a pain in the butt, A Class Act!

The Gifts of the Magi
O. Henry’s American Christmas Carol

Chicago Premiere

Music by Randy Courts
Lyrics by Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts
Direction by Nick Bowling
Music Direction by Elizabeth Doran

Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
November 17 - December 23

Previews:
Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and Monday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Regular schedule:
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Willie Porter: "Let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest."

Around and about, New York City, 1905. Newlyweds Jim and Della, foolish and wise at the same time, lovingly sacrifice their greatest possessions and find a holiday treasure. O. Henry’s immortal masterwork is joined by his tale of “Soapy Smith,” a cheerful bum who only wants to get arrested so he can spend Christmas in a warm jail cell. The music is gorgeous, the stories are human and charming, and the message for the season is one that you'll want to bring your whole family to enjoy again and again.

Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
A Musical Biography of a Legend

By Lanie Robertson
Direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Rob Lindley

Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
February 2 - March 10, 2013

Previews:
Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 at 8 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and
Monday, Feb 4, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

Regular schedule:
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Billie Holiday: “Music is light to me.”

A seedy bar, Philadelphia, 1959. When the customers leave and the doors are locked, the lights go down and the show really starts. Witness one of the last performances of the world’s greatest chanteuse, Miss Billie Holiday, intimately given four months before the passing of this tragic musical superstar. With her stellar jazz trio, she revisits her life, loves and losses in more than a dozen quintessential, thrilling and gut-wrenching numbers. It’s asalty, sensual, often humorous, and always riveting portrait of the legendary lady and her legacy of music. 

Pal Joey
The Beguiling Broadway Classic 

Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Book by John O'Hara
Direction by Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Doug Peck
Choreography by Porchlight Artistic Associate Brenda Didier

Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont
April 20 - May 26, 2013

Previews:
Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 21, 2013 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. and
Monday April 22, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

Regular schedule:
Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Vera Simpson: “Vexed again, perplexed again, thank God I can be over-sexed again.
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered am I.”

Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 1939. Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song-and-dance man elbows his way into a job at a south side nightclub and is soon juggling the affections of a naive shop girl and a wealthy society dame who he hopes will set him up in business. When a meddling punk threatens to shake them down, Joey gets a taste of his own medicine in this ground-breaking, hard-as-nails classic featuring one of the greatest American musical scores including “I Could Write a Book,” “You Mustn’t Kick it Around,” “Zip” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

JUST ADDED!...

BEST MUSICAL!
A Completely Improvised Musical Comedy

Conceived by Matthew Loren Cohen 
Directed by Amanda Blake Davis 

Playing Off-Nights all season long. Date to be confirmed soon!

When Porchlight combines forces with some of Chicago's hottest improv stars, audience participation and a bouncy piano beat, you get BEST MUSICAL! A Completely Improvovised Musical Comedy ! Created by Second City veteran Matthew Loren Cohen each performance begins at an award ceremony with the cast performing the “Best Song from a Musical” nominees from a grab bag of audience-suggested titles. At the end of Act 1, the audience votes for the best song and comes back after intermission to see and hear the cast create an entire original fully improvised musical comedy including the song from Act 1. Each performance guarantees a completely different musical comedy with completely new songs every week.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE ONLINE TODAY

Meet Kelli

As a new member of the Porchlight Music Theatre family, my goal as Dramaturg is to build the credibility of the work created on stage. Dramaturgs have varied responsibilities in a theatre company; with Porchlight, one of my roles is to help the director, designers, actors and audiences understand the world in which the play is created: its context, allusions and significance. To do this, I create Play Guides, develop online content for the audience, and host panels and post-performance discussions to enrich the play which is about to be viewed, or has just been experienced.

For this production of A Catered Affair, it was important to both our director, Nick Bowling, and myself, that the ensemble comprehend this family that lives on modest means in 1950s Bronx, New York. What exactly are the tenement buildings where our characters reside? Who lived in these confined spaces and how were family and friendships affected by the cost of living? We also wanted to understand the Taxi Cab Medallion system of New York, and the obstacles a driver had to overcome in order to attain these special licenses. More importantly, how did owning one’s own cab affect a family’s livelihood?

Finally, I always enjoy including historical context not specifically related to a show, but events, people and ideas that surround the era of the play’s setting (i.e. popular songs of the day, world events and politics, current books). While all of this can be taken simply as data, what truly sets these facts in motion—what we learn—is how we all choose to implement the research that I produce. Our creative team takes the information and allows it to infiltrate the characters’ lives and space—the actors internalize it and their characters react—and this excellent use of dramaturgical research sets history in motion within a production.

Porchlight would like to extend the play guide (that I provided the cast and crew prior to beginning rehearsals) to you, in hopes that it will enrich your musical experience.  Click here for the full Play Guide and be sure to RESERVE NOW in order to guarantee your seats for what is sure to be a moving production of this intimate story.

ACA Radio Spot on B103 Today's Lite Rock

Check out our A Catered Affair radio spot that aired on B103 Today's Lite Rock.

 

Company Update

Since coming on board in June, I have been honored and excited to work with the staff, board, and artists at Porchlight to collaboratively start the next era of growth and transformation of this company. Building on our 17-year history, we spent the summer focusing our vision, marshalling our forces, and renewing our energy and commitment to pushing the creative envelope, deepening our resources and furthering our reach. We are growing our board, expanding our funding base, and continuing to nurture relationships with those artists you’ve come to know and love, as well as throwing open the doors to welcome new faces and theatrical voices.

Given the rapid changes taking place, we are constantly considering the tools and resources we need to grow effectively in a theatre city that has set the bar for the rest of the country. After opening our Jeff Recommended, sold-out run of Putting it Together, it became clear that we had exceeded full capacity in our existing rehearsal and production office space. In an effort to prepare for our ever expanding programming, play development and education focus, in December we completed a move of production offices, prop and costumes storage to the site of the former Hammond Organ Factory at 4200 W. Diversey (just west of Pulaski) in Chicago’s historic Hermosa neighborhood, once home to a creative little boy named Walt Disney!

It is here that we have begun building what we hope is going to be one of the highlights of the theatrical season, the Chicago premiere of the musical A Catered Affair with music and lyrics by John Bucchino and book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the classic Bette Davis film. Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune has named this production one of the “Top Ten Shows to Watch,” and from the first reading with the full company last week there was not a dry eye in the house. The potent collaboration of multi Jeff Award-winners director Nick Bowling, music director Doug Peck, star Rebecca Finnegan and Chicago theatre favorite Craig Spidle (making his Porchlight debut!) promises a thrilling music theatre experience. Be sure to check out our web site for many free special events surrounding this highly anticipated production including a first ever Chicago Master Class by composer John Bucchino himself!

Without missing a step, we began designer meetings this week for our final production of the season, tick…tick…BOOM! by Jonathan Larson, composer of the legendary RENT. It’s a thoughtful and exhilarating musical look at the courage it takes to follow your aspirations through life’s most difficult challenges, and is being directed by Broadway’s Adam Pelty (whom you may remember from Putting it Together) with music direction by rising star Diana Lawrence of the hit band Diana and the Dishes. Also this February we begin performances of our new off-night show BEST MUSICAL! A Completely Improvised Musical Comedy featuring some of the hottest improvisors seen at Second City, iO, Annoyance Theatre and more (and yes, they are making up a FULL MUSICAL right in front of your eyes). You do not want to miss this!

Lastly, the ink is just drying on contracts signed for the 2012/13 four-show season. We’ll be hosting an exclusive “Member’s Only Preview Party” on March 25 where subscribers will get a sneak peek at the upcoming season and enjoy some mingling and tasty refreshments. If you have not subscribed to the 2011/12 season but you would like to attend this event, subscribe now to the remainder of the season with our two-show package by clicking HERE.

We welcome you to join us in building this company. There are many ways to get involved, and you can learn more at our newly redesigned website. As always, we look forward to seeing you at the theatre!

Michael Weber
Artistic Director of Porchlight Music Theatre

A Catered Affair Begins

Excitement was thick in the air as "A Catered Affair" had it's first rehearsal this week. It seemed fitting that we were gathering around tables on the 3rd floor of the Athenaeum Theatre, right down the hall from the room where we held rehearsals for director Nick Bowling's last Porchlight show, Closer Than Ever. Almost eight years ago, Closer Than Ever was nominated for multiple Jeff Awards, including a nomination for Bowling and a win for Rebecca Finnegan, who is also making a much overdue return to the Porchlight stage with her starring role in “A Catered Affair”.  

Cast members, designers, board members, and Artistic Associates were welcomed by Artistic Director Michael Weber and then each member of the creative team shared their pre-production renderings, models, and thoughts. The first glimpses were seen of the beautiful 1950s costumes and intricate set design to capture the close-knit community of the tenement housing of the Bronx.  

Bowling got right to the heart of this charming piece by stressing that it really is a piece about family and finding someone you want to spend your life with, a theme that many of the characters in the musical struggle with from mother and father, to daughter and fiance, even to their confirmed-bachelor uncle.  

This project also reunites Musical Director Doug Peck and Nick Bowling who had a runaway hit with “Fiorello!” at Timeline Theatre.  It’s always a pleasure to hear Peck talk about smaller-scale actor-driven musicals, something he had made a national name for himself doing. Peck shared his vision, including orchestrations that feature a string-quartet representative of the fantasy wedding that lingers over the family throughout the play. Peck and Sound Designer Victoria Delorio also shared their hopes to have as much acoustic sound as possible with the production to really keep the natural feeling of the wonderfully complex and nuanced characters brought to life by John Bucchino’s stunning score.   

After a short break for refreshments and mingling, those in attendance were treated to a first read through of the Harvey Fierstein script.  There were lots of laughs and even some tears as the cast gave voice to this touching story for the first time.  The creative process has launched and anticipation is mounting for opening night on February 21st.
 

Jeff Award winning Costume Designer Bill Morey shares his rendering and inspiration board with the cast & crew

The cast listens intently as Director Nick Bowling shares his vision for the production.

Artistic Director Michael Weber breaks the ice with a humorous introduction.