Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the Chicago Sings Broadway Pop cast and that Rick Boynton of Chicago Shakespeare Theater is the 2023 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago recipient. Chicago Sings Broadway Pop, its annual fundraising concert, Monday, March 27, at the House of Blues Chicago, 329 N Dearborn St, is directed by Porchlight’s Artistic Director Michael Weber and Producing Artistic Associate Frankie Leo Bennett with music direction by David Fiorello. This concert, chaired by Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro, includes live performances by Chicago music theatre’s best loved artists, the presentation of the 2023 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago and more. Chicago Sings Broadway Pop offers attendees two ways for patrons to participate in this unforgettable night: the “One Night Only” Experience, includes seating on the main floor and access to the VIP cocktail hour before the performance. Attendees who purchase tickets for $175 will have assigned seating prominently positioned near the stage and $150 ticket holders will enjoy the show from general admission seats and the “Oh, What a Night'' Experience, $50 per person, hosted by the Porchlight Young Professionals, offers a standing-room-only cocktail party vibe on the second floor of the venue. Tickets and sponsorships are available now at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
Since its earliest days, songs that have appeared on Broadway have crossed over to the music charts and popular songs heard on the radio have found their way to Broadway stages. In 2023, Chicago Sings Broadway Pop celebrates these Broadway musicals with an eclectic night of songs from such shows as Chess, Dreamgirls, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia!, 9 to 5 and others.
"Rick Boynton has evolved as a leading artist in the Chicago theatre community for decades as a Jeff Award-winning actor, a casting director, artistic director and developer of new musicals that have received world-wide accolades,” said Porchlight’s Artistic Director Michael Weber. “Nominated for this honor by his peers, Mr. Boynton continues to facilitate opportunities for the musical makers of the next generation and to point the way to what musicals can be in the 21st century."
The current 2023 cast includes Neala Barron* (performer); Molly Callinan* (performer); Elisa Carlson* (performer); Devin DeSantis+ (performer); Ricky Harris+ (performer); Matthew Hunter+ (performer); Angela Ingersoll* (performer); Becky Keeshin* (performer); Eric Lewis+ (performer); Christine Mild* (performer); Juwon Tyrel Perry+ (performer); Alexis J. Roston* (performer); Billy Rude+ (performer); Laura Savage* (performer); Sawyer Smith^ (performer); and Aeriel Williams* (performer).
The 2023 creative team includes Michael Weber+ (co-director); Frankie Leo Bennett+ (co-director); David Fiorello+ (music director/keyboard); Laura Savage* (choreographer); Majel Cuza* (director of production); Alex Rhyan+ (production stage manager); Kelan Smith+ (guitar); Jackson Kidder+ (bass); Monica Benson* (trumpet); and Linda Madonia* (keys 2)
Additional cast members to be announced and performers subject to change without notice.
ABOUT THE GUY ADKINS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF MUSIC THEATRE IN CHICAGO
For more than 10 years, Porchlight Music Theatre celebrates an individual who has made an exceptional and lasting contribution to the state of the art of Chicago music theatre, with the prestigious Guy Adkins Award. Guy Adkins was an award-winning Chicago actor who passed away in 2010. Among his significant stage credits were Oklahoma! Windy City and A Funny Thing Happened… at Marriott Theatre; The Taming of the Shrew at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre; Pericles, Twelfth Night, The Invention of Love and the title role in Hamlet at Court Theatre; The Time of Your Life at Steppenwolf and the world premieres of the musicals The Return of Martin Guerre and The Visit, both at The Goodman Theatre. The Chicago Sun-Times called Adkins, “…a smart and invariably graceful actor” and The New York Times called him “outrageously talented” for his turn at “Puck” in A Midsummer Night’s Dream' at the McCarter Theatre in New Jersey. Porchlight commemorates Adkins’ spirit and life with this annual award and celebrates the many gifts he shared with our theatre community and the world.
Past recipients include:
- Jim Corti+, 2022
- Felicia P. Fields*, 2021
- Gary Griffin+, 2019
- Brenda Didier*, 2018
- Rachel Rockwell*, 2017
- E. Faye Butler*, 2016
- Dominic Missimi+, 2015
- Paula Scrofano*, 2014
- Douglas Peck+, 2013
- Hollis Resnik*, 2012 and
- L. Walter Sterns+, 2011.
ABOUT RICK BOYNTON, 2023 GUY ADKINS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF MUSIC THEATRE IN CHICAGO RECIPIENT
Rick Boynton is the creative producer at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) where he focuses on current and future artistic planning and production with an emphasis on developing new musicals, plays and adaptations.
Boynton was instrumental in Chicago Shakespeare’s North American premiere production of SIX, which went on to engagements at American Repertory Theater, The Citadel Theatre and The Ordway Center of Performing Arts—before opening on Broadway in New York at the newly renamed Lena Horne Theatre, garnering the Tony Award for Best Original Score, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical and a Grammy Award nomination.
Additional premieres include: The Notebook (CST), It Came From Outer Space (CST, TheatreSquared), As You Like It infused with the music of The Beatles (CST, Milwaukee Rep), The Book of Joseph (CST, Everyman Theatre, Off Broadway as The Lucky Star), Ride the Cyclone (CST, MCC, 5th Avenue/ACT, Alliance Theatre), Sense and Sensibility (CST, Old Globe), Cadre (co-director) (CST, Johannesburg, Grahamstown, Edinburgh, Vancouver), A Flea in Her Ear (CST, Williamstown Theatre Festival), The Three Musketeers (CST, Boston, London), The Emperor’s New Clothes (CST, Sydney), The Adventures of Pinocchio (CST, London) and Murder for Two (CST, New York). He has worked extensively with the Q Brothers Collective to create internationally acclaimed hip hop adaptations, including Othello: The Remix (CST, London, Germany, Edinburgh, South Korea, New York), Funk It Up About Nothin’ (CST, Edinburgh, Australian tour, London) and Q Brothers Christmas Carol.
Former artistic director of the Marriott Theatre and multiple Jeff Award-winning actor, Boynton has starred in numerous productions nationally, including CST’s production of A Flea in Her Ear as “Camille” (Jeff Award, After Dark Award). As a casting director at Jane Alderman Casting, projects included: the television series “Early Edition,” “Missing Persons,” “Untouchables” and “ER;” the films “While You Were Sleeping” and “Hoodlum,” among others; and numerous national tours. He has lectured at his alma mater Northwestern University and is the former president of the board of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, now in its 28th season, is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach, we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.”
Porchlight's history over the last 27 years includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Porchlight’s commitment to the past, present and future of music theatre led the company to develop the Porchlight Revisits and New Faces Sing Broadway program series, both quickly becoming audience favorites.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations, most notably the ongoing collaboration with Chicago Youth Centers. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form.
The company’s many honors include 178 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 49 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 15 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards and has been honored with seven awards in this tier to date including Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (2019) and Best Production-Revue for Blues in the Night (2022).
Through the global pandemic, Porchlight emerged as one of Chicago’s leaders in virtual programming, quickly launching a host of free offerings like Sondheim @ 90 Roundtables, Movie Musical Mondays, Porchlight by Request: Command Performances and WPMT: Classic Musicals from the Golden Age of Radio. In 2021, Porchlight launched its annual summer series, Broadway in your Backyard, performing at parks and venues throughout the city.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Allstate; Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at Prince; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints and Dr. Scholl Foundation.
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Abbvie; Allstate; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; Peoples Gas; Pepsico; Polk Bros Foundation and The Saints.
The 2023 Guy Adkins Award Recipient Ricky Boynton, photo by Bill Burlingham
The chairs of Chicago Sings Broadway Pop (L to R) Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro, photo by Eric Strom
