CHICAGO – Porchlight Music Theatre, currently running the critically-acclaimed A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder through March 16 is proud to announce the conclusion of its Mainstage 2018 – 2019 season with the Tony and Pulitzer Prize- winning A Chorus Line, April 10 – May 26 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street.
Featuring music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante and is directed by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate Brenda Didier, Choreographed by Chris Carter and Music Directed by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate Linda Madonia. Previews are Wednesday April 10 and Thursday April 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at 8 p.m. Opening Night is Thursday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. The regular run performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with weekday matinees on Thursday, May 9 and May 16 at 1:30 p.m. and an added performance Sunday, May 26 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $39 – $66 and are available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office, 773.777.9884.
Winner of nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, this landmark work has electrified audiences around the world. In an empty theatre, on a bare stage, casting for a new Broadway musical is almost complete. For seventeen dancers, this audition is the chance of a lifetime. It’s what they’ve worked for with every drop of sweat and every hour or training, putting their lives on the line for the opportunity to do what they’ve always dreamed of doing: to dance. This singular sensation features an incomparable score including “What I Did for Love,” “One” and “Dance Ten, Looks Three.”
The musical was created from workshop sessions with actual Broadway dancers (eight of whom appeared in the original 1975 cast) who shared their hopes, their pain and their personal stories in pursuit of their dream of appearing in a Broadway show. A Chorus Line, during its original Broadway run went on to play 6,137 performance when it closed April 28, 1990 and became the fifth musical ever (after Of Thee I Sing, South Pacific, Fiorello! and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The cast of Porchlight Music Theatre’s A Chorus Line includes: Terrell Armstrong, “Richie Walters;” La Mar Brown; “Roy,”/understudy “Richie,” “Bobby” and “Larry;” Grant Carriker, “Al DeLuca; Liz Conway, “Bebe Benzenheimer;” Clayton Cross, “Greg Gardner;” Danielle Davila, “Tricia”/understudy “Diana” and “Maggie;” Erica Evans, “Shelia Bryant;” Adam Fane, “Bobby Mills;” Alejandro Fonseca, “Paul San Marco;” Joe Giovannetti, “Frank”/understudy “Mike,” “Mark” and “Greg;” Luke Halpern, “Tom”/understudy “Paul,” “Al” and “Don;” Taylor Lane, “Judy Turner;” John Marshall, Jr., “Don Kerr;” Maggie Malaney, “Lois”/understudy “Judy,” Shelia” and “Bebe;” Chloe Nadon-Enriquez, “Kristine Urich DeLuca;” Jenna Napolitano, “Vicki”/understudy ”Connie,” “Val” and “Kristine;” Kaimana Neil, “Mark Anthony;” Laura Savage, “Cassie Ferguson;” Aalon Smith, “Maggie Winslow;” Richard Strimer, “Zach;” Adrienne Storrs, “Diana Morales”/understudy “Cassie;” Ayana Strutz, “Connie Wong;” Wade Tischhauser, “Larry”/understudy “Zach” and Matthew Weidenbener, “Mike Costa;” Natalie Welch, “Val Clark;”
A Chorus Line’s production team includes: Brenda Didier, director; Chris Carter, choreographer; Linda Madonia, music director; Katie Beeks, production manager; Bob Kuhn, costume designer; Kristen Martino, scenic designer; Robert Hornbostel, sound designer; Danielle Davila, female dance captain Wade Tischhauser, male dance captain; Samantha Treible, wardrobe supervisor; Casey Wood, wardrobe assistant and Mary Zanger, stage manager.
ABOUT BRENDA DIDIER, director
Brenda Didier, a Porchlight Music Theatre artistic associate, returns to Porchlight where she last directed and choreographed Billy Elliot, The Musical, In The Heights and Dreamgirls. Didier is a multiple Jeff Award recipient in both direction and choreography, and the recipient of After Dark Awards, BroadwayWorld awards and the National Youth Theatre award. She is the proud owner and artistic director of the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, celebrating its 20th season. Other credits include work at the Goodman, Chicago Shakespeare, Second City, Theatre at the Center, BoHo, Mercury Theatre Chicago, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, Stage Left, Six Flags Great America, Busch Gardens Virginia, Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier, T-Mobile’s national commercial “Home for the Holidays,” The Kenny Rogers Christmas Tour and the University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin and Carthage College.
ABOUT LINDA MADONIA, music director
Linda Madonia has been musical directing in the Chicago area for the past 25 years. Recent credits include Cabaret and Man of LaMancha for Light Opera Works, and Forbidden Broadway: SVU at The Royal George Theater. Other credits include Grand Hotel and Nunsensations at Drury Lane Water Tower Place and A Chorus Line, She Loves Me and Me and My Girl at Theater at the Center. For the past six years, Linda has been the musical director for Chicago’s Equity and non-union Joseph Jefferson Awards. Madonia owns American Eagle Productions, a touring theater that, for twenty years, has presented 300 shows a year in Chicago area schools.
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER CARTER, choreographer
Christopher Carter is a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a liberal arts degree in dance. Carter has traveled extensively performing, directing and choreographing. Some of his credits include Porchlight Revisits They’re Playing Our Song; Dreamgirls, In The Heights and Chess at Porchlight Music Theatre; Five Guys Name Moe (Court Theater); Hair (Mercury Theater); The Legend Of Georgia McBride (Northlight Theater); as well as Sweeney Todd, Godspell, Secret Garden and Pirates Of Penzance (Grand Valley State University); Show Boat and Oklahoma (Lyric Opera Chicago); Show Boat (San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera); Hairspray (Drury Lane Oakbrook), Joseph… (Paramount Theater); Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie (Chicago Opera Theater); Oliver, Carousel and Brigadoon (Light Opera Works); The Wiz, 42nd Street and Guys and Dolls (Theatre at the Center); Smokey Joe’s Café (Circle Theatre); The Wild Party (Actor’s Theater). Carter has been the choreographer for the Grand Rapids Civic’s SRT for the past five years. He was a Debbie Allen Dance Academy Scholarship student and has additional credits including national tours, commercial, industrial and concert work.
ABOUT 2019 YEAR OF CHICAGO THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to be part of the 2019 Year of Chicago Theatre, presented by the City of Chicago and the League of Chicago Theatres. To truly fall in love with Chicago, you must go to our theatres. This is where the city bares its fearless soul. Home to a community of creators, risk-takers and big hearts, Chicago theatre is a hotbed for exciting new work and hundreds of world premieres every year. From Broadway musicals to storefront plays and improv, there’s always a seat waiting for you at one of our 200+ theatres.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE AS RUTH PAGE ARTIST IN-RESIDENCE
Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to be a member of the vibrant Ruth Page Center for the Arts community and an Artist In-Residence. Central to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts’ programming is the Artists In-Residence program, which is designed to serve organizations looking for a home base while they grow or expand their artistic and organizational capabilities. The Center is committed to nurturing and assisting dance and other performing artists, allowing for exchange and collaborative relationships to develop within the artistic community. The Ruth Page Center for
the Arts is a destination for quality performing arts, accessible to a wide community regardless of race, gender, age, education or disability. An incubator of artistic energy and excellence, the Ruth Page Center for the Arts carries forward the vision of its founder, legendary dance icon Ruth Page, to be a platform for developing great artists and connecting them with audiences and community.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
As Chicago’s home for music theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre continues its 24th season and its second as an Artist In-Residence at the historic Ruth Page Center for the Arts in Chicago’s Gold Coast. Porchlight Music Theatre is nationally recognized for reimagining classic productions, developing new works and showcasing musical theatre’s noted Chicago veterans and rising stars. Porchlight elevates the genre by providing intimate and powerful theatrical experiences of music theatre through the lens of the “Chicago Style.” Porchlight’s rich history includes the staging of more than 60 productions with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Through Porchlight’s “Off the Porch” new works program, the musicals of the next generation are developed and given a first audience. The School at Porchlight is Chicago’s center for music theatre training in the areas of performance, writing and appreciation including a youth summer “Make Your Own Musical” camp and a Saturday morning youth program. The company’s many accolades include 28 Black Theatre Alliance nominations and seven awards, as well as a total of 151 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations resulting in 42 Jeff Awards including five consecutive Best Production awards for The Scottsboro Boys (2017), Dreamgirls (2016), Sondheim on Sondheim (2015), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2014) and A Class Act (2013).
Porchlight Music Theatre, currently running the critically-acclaimed A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder through March 16 is proud to announce the conclusion of its Mainstage 2018 – 2019 season with the Tony and Pulitzer Prize- winning A Chorus Line, April 10 – May 26 at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Featuring music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, book by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante and is directed by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate Brenda Didier, Choreographed by Chris Carter and Music Directed by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate Linda Madonia. Previews are Wednesday April 10 and Thursday April 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at 8 p.m. The regular run performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with weekday matinees on Thursday, May 9 and May 16 at 1:30 p.m. and an added performance Sunday, May 26 at 6 p.m. Tickets are $39 – $66 and are available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office, 773.777.9884.
Website: PorchlightMusicTheatr
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