Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre announces today that the 2025 ICONS Award recipient Leslie Uggams, has joined its Artistic Advisory Board. Ms. Uggams was recently honored at Porchlight’s ICONS GALA: Celebrating Leslie Uggams. Porchlight's Artistic Advisory Board consists of seasoned professionals who have excelled in their theatrical disciplines and who have a vested interest in the artistic and professional advancement of the company. For more information on Porchlight Music Theatre, go to PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
“After meeting Ms. Uggams and learning more about her dedication to the arts, I knew she would be a great addition to our Advisory Board,” said Artistic Director Michael Weber. “Her incredible career and life experiences bring a knowledge and understanding that is unparalleled. I welcome her on behalf of Porchlight to this incredible group and look forward to developing our relationship with her.”
“I was so impressed with Porchlight’s ICONS Gala, the moving presentations and performances, I loved every minute of it, I knew Porchlight shared with me a deep love and enthusiasm for theatre.,” added Ms. Uggams. “I am honored to join the Advisory Board and assist in any way I can to promote its mission.”
The Advisory Board is a valued resource for the artistic director, executive director and other facets of the company in their support and guidance to achieve Porchlight's mission as Chicago's center for music theatre. The membership includes artists from Chicago and across the United States including Wm. Eric Bramlet, John Bucchino, E. Faye Butler, Cheri Coons, Kevin Depinet, Raúl Esparza, William Finn, Joel Grey, Larry Grossman, Linda Kline, Jesse Klug, Sean Allan Krill, Donna McKechnie, Dominic Missimi, Jill Moore, Lonny Price, Hollis Resnik*, Chita Rivera*, BIll Russell, Chuck Smith, L. Walter Stearns, Ben Vereen, Bob Walton, Jim Walton and Maury Yeston.
*Denote the advisory member is deceased.
ABOUT LESLIE UGGAMS, 2025 ICON AWARD RECIPIENT
Leslie Uggams is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress and singer whose career has brought her from Harlem (The Apollo Theater) to Broadway (Hallelujah, Baby!), the big screen (“Deadpool,” “American Fiction”) to television (“Empire,” “The Leslie Uggams Show”). Perhaps best known for her stirring portrayal of “Kizzy” in the landmark TV mini-series “Alex Haley’s Roots” (Critics Choice Award, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations), Ms. Uggams has performed to critical and popular acclaim ever since her early professional appearances at the age of nine at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City. There she opened for such musical
legends as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. Now, after seven decades on stage and screen, she is a legend in her own right. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Apollo and holds Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Connecticut and the University of Michigan. She has been honored with membership in the Theater Hall of Fame; the American Artist Award by Arena State; the Broadway League’s inaugural Juneteenth Legacy Award; the York Theatre’s Oscar Hammerstein Award and Theatre World’s John Willis Lifetime Achievement Award.
On Broadway, Ms. Uggams made her stunning musical theater debut starring in Hallelujah, Baby! earning both Tony and Theater World awards. Since then, she has starred on Broadway in Blues in the Night, Her First Roman with Richard Kiley, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes at the Lincoln Center Theatre (also the first national tour), King Headley II with Brian Stokes Mitchell (Tony Award nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie and On Golden Pond opposite James Earl Jones. Most recently she appeared in Jelly’s Last Jam at City Center Encores. Off-Broadway, she has won Audelco Awards for The Old Settler, Keb Mo’s blues musical Thunder Knocking on the Door and First Breeze of Summer at the acclaimed Signature Theater. Favorite regional productions include Gypsy, Mame, A Little Night Music, The Rink, Into the Woods, Master Class, Call Me Madam, Blue, Hello, Dolly! and the national tour of Guys and Dolls.
In addition, Ms. Uggams has toured nationally, performing to sold-out audiences, with her autobiographical one-woman musical Uptown/Downtown (LA Drama Critics Circle Award, NAACP Theatre Award, IRNE Award, Broadway World People’s Choice Award) which chronicles her extraordinary career in stories and song. From New York to Boston and Los Angeles, critics have raved, calling her “dazzling,” “indefatigable,” and “delectable!” Ms. Uggams also made theater history by becoming the first African American actress to portray the iconic character of “Mama Rose” in Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s acclaimed production of Gypsy. She also starred in the Encores! presentation of Pipe Dream at New York City Center; and in the world premiere of Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story (Ovation nomination) at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where she broke the all-time house attendance record.
Her recent feature length films are “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “American Fiction,” Dotty & Soul” and “Nanny.” Streaming and television series include “Fallout,” “Extrapolations,” “The Bite,” “New Amsterdam” and “Empire.” She is set to appear in Season 3 of “The Gilded Age” on HBO. She also has voiced characters for the Netflix animated series “My Dad, the Bounty Hunter,” the Disney animated series “Minnie’s Bow-Tunes” and “The Family Guy.” Other prominent film and TV appearances include “Skyjacked;” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks;” “Nurse Jackie;” “The Good Wife;” “Memphis Beat” and “NYC 22”. Her still vibrant television career, which began at the age of six portraying Ethel Waters’ niece on the TV series “Beulah,” spans decades. As a teenager she famously won a $12,500 college scholarship on “Name That Tune” and as a regular on “Sing Along with Mitch” she was the first African American performer to be featured on a weekly national primetime television series. Other early guest appearances included “Your Show of Shows,” “The Milton Berle Show,” “The Arthur Godfrey Show” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” In 1969, she hosted her own primetime variety series, “The Leslie Uggams Show.” Later starring roles included her award-winning portrayal in “Alex Haley’s Roots,” the miniseries “Backstairs at the White House,” the ABC-TV movie “Sizzle,” the HBO special “Christmas at Radio City Music Hall” and her Emmy-winning duties as co-host of the NBC-TV series “Fantasy.”
While a student at Julliard School in New York, Ms. Uggams released the first of 10 solo albums she was to record for Columbia Records. Later she signed with Atlantic Records. Her newest CDs are “Leslie Uggams: Uptown/Downtown;” “On My Way to You: The Songs of Marilyn and Alan Bergman” and “Wishing You a Happy New Year” with the Curtis McKonly Orchestra. She can also be heard on the cast album of “Pipe Dream.”
In concert, Ms. Uggams toured with Peter Nero and Mel Torme; performed at the Hollywood Bowl in “Jerry Herman’s Broadway” and appeared as a guest soloist with numerous symphony orchestras across the country, including The National Symphony Orchestra, The Cincinnati Pops, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and The Rhode Island Symphony. In addition, she performed before 300,000 people during the “Memorial Day Concert” on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol which was also broadcast live by PBS to millions of viewers nationwide. June 1 is now considered “Leslie Uggams Day” from that performance.
For more information, please visit her online at LeslieUggams.com, Facebook.com/LeslieUggams, YouTube.com/SmagguProductions and on Instagram @LeslieUggams1.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 31st 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 nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. 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 which continues this summer.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Arlen and Elaine Cohen Rubin Charitable Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Bayless Family Foundation; Bukiety Floral; Chicago Free for All; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; Mesirow Financial; Carol Oppenheim & Jerome Lamet Charitable Fund; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Service Club of Chicago, The Shubert Foundation and Uvae Kitchen & Wine Bar
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency.
Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Allstate; BDO; Comcast; Crowdstrike; Google and The Saints.
MORE FROM PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE:
Off The Porch: Making Marilyn Miller - An Immersive Musical
Fall 2025
Book and lyrics by David H. Bell
Music by Ira Antelis
Porchlight’s new work developmental series, Off the Porch, hosts Making Marilyn Miller - An Immersive Experience. Making Marilyn Miller follows the audition process for a modern musical based on the life of the great music theatre icon of the 1920s. Three women are the finalists for this role of a lifetime and in the audition process, they explore the complex, contradictory, meteoric success of one of the theatre's first superstars.
Marilyn Miller starred in her first Ziegfeld Follies in 1918 when she was only 22 years old. She became the highest paid performer on Broadway and Hollywood and was the embodiment of the "modern flapper" and a symbol of the Jazz Age.
Porchlight Sings the Season
Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Directed by Brenda Didier and Michael Weber
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
Porchlight Sings the Season celebrates the holidays with music from Broadway and Hollywood with Porchlight luminaries performing songs from Mame, Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn and others. This premiere offers a musical respite from the holiday stress with an unforgettable evening of festive entertainment, a salute to Chicago holidays past, warm cookies, sing-alongs, an ugly Christmas sweater contest and more.
The Irish … and How They Got That Way
January 31 - March 15, 2026
By Frank McCourt
Original Musical Arrangements by Rusty McGee
Directed by David Girolmo
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
The uplifting story of an American immigrant journey, The Irish … and How They Got That Way is an irreverent history of Ireland through the tumultuous 20th and 21st centuries seen through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man) whose razor sharp wit, coupled with his trademark satirical irony and boundless love for the Irish People are all underscored by humor, heartache and a glorious score that spans 100+ years from “Danny Boy,” “Galway Bay” and “The Rare Old Times” to “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” and U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I Am Looking For.”
Porchlight In Concert: Follies
Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Goldman
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Directed by Linda Madonia
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
Porchlight In Concert debuted in 2024 with sold out performances of Sunday in the Park with George and this season returns to the Studebaker for a limited engagement of another Stephen Sondheim classic, Follies. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Score, Follies shares the reunion of the legendary "Weismann Follies" company on the eve of their crumbling theater's demolition, to reminisce about their past and confront their futures with a rich score that celebrates show music of the 20s - 40s. Considered to be one of the landmark American musicals, Follies includes the celebrated Sondheim standards "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Losing My Mind" and more.
Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion
Spring 2026
Porchlight’s annual concert fundraiser highlights Great Britain’s contributions to the biggest hits of Broadway. Chicago music theatre’s leading performers add their signature style to the musical favorites that premiered “across the pond” in this one-night-only event. From early West End successes like Me and My Girl, Oliver! and Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, to the “rock operas,” Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Evita, blockbusters including Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Les Misérables and recent favorites Mamma Mia!, Six, Operation Mincemeat and more.
Broadway in your Backyard
Summer 2026
Porchlight's free, outdoor summer concert series marks its sixth edition in 2026 at parks throughout Chicago. The 60-minute, family-friendly, outdoor performance includes some of the best loved show tunes from Broadway and Hollywood with sing-alongs, a raffle for valuable prizes and more.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 31st 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 nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. 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 which continues this summer.
Due to popular demand, award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre has added a second New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 performance. The New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 updated schedule is now Tuesday, Sept. 30 and Wednesday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m., at The Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave. The host for the 10th anniversary performances of the series is Johanna McKenzie Miller and New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 is directed by Frankie Leo Bennett and music directed by Micky York. Tickets are reserved seating and are on sale now for $65 at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling The Rhapsody Theater box office, 888.495.9001.