Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre announces the host and roster of new faces for New Faces Sing Broadway 1960, Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at The Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave. The host for the 10th anniversary 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.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1960, hosted by McKenzie Miller, introduces the audience to the next generation of Chicago music theater artists while taking them on a musical journey from the start to finish of 1960’s entire Broadway season in 90 minutes. The concert features hit songs from Bye, Bye Birdie, Camelot, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, West Side Story and others as well as sing-alongs, a trivia contest with prizes and more.
The cast of New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 includes, in alphabetical order, Lisa Buhelos (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at Opera Saratoga), Kaitlin Feely (Titanique with Porchlight Music Theatre/Broadway In Chicago), Mary Laura Godby (Frozen with Disney Cruise Lines), Nicholas (Nickie) Ian (Diana: The Musical at Theo), Nathan Kabara (Fiddler on the Roof at Drury Lane Theater), Jackson Mikkelsen (Into the Woods with Kokandy Productions), Z Moore (Stabbed in the Heart at The Factory Theater), Elonie Quick (As You Like It at Appalachian Department of Theatre and Dance), Nicholas Roman (The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Music Theater Works) and Janelle Sanabria (9 to 5 at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.) The production stage manager is Veronica Kostka.
Many of the artists who have appeared in Porchlight’s New Faces Sing Broadway series have continued their careers on television, and local and national stages including Frankie Leo Bennett (Jeff Award nominee-The SpongeBob Musical), Dawn Bless (Waitress-national tour), Ariana Burks (Real Women Have Curves - Broadway), Blu Allen (MJ the Musical-Broadway), Katherine Bourne (School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play-Goodman Theatre), Kayla Boye (Shake it Away: The Ann Miller Story-Off-Broadway and Europe), Anna Brockman, Tim Foszcz, Josiah Haugen, Cam Turner, Jerod Turner and Evan Wilhelm (Porchlight's Cabaret), Haley Gustafson (The Who’s Tommy-Broadway ), Lydia Burke and Molly Kral (Jeff Award winners [ensemble] - Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies), Darilyn Burtley and Max Cervantes (The Light in the Piazza-Lyric Opera of Chicago), Kyrie Courter (Sweeney Todd-Broadway), Maddison Denault and David Moreland (Jeff Award nominees, Cruel Intentions), Gilbert Domally (The Lion King-Broadway), Andres Enriquez (Jeff Award nominee-Porchlight’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Nik Kmiecik, Ziare Paul-Emile and Alix Rhode (Porchlight's Rent), Theo Germaine (Showtime’s Work in Progress), Lucy Godinez (Suffs - National Tour), Emily Goldberg (Jeff Award nominee-Porchlight’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Nicole Michelle Haskins (Jeff Award winner-The Color Purple), Michelle Lauto (Jeff Award winner-Spamilton), Yando Lopez (Wicked-Broadway), Henry McGinniss (Book of Mormon-Broadway), Brandy Miller and Bryce Ancil (Jeff Award nominees-She Loves Me), Chloé Nadon-Enriquez (Bad Cinderella-Broadway), Anthony Norman (The Prom-Broadway, Dear Evan Hansen and Newsies-national tour), Luke Nowakowski (Porchlight’s Titanique), Tommy Thurston (Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale-Chicago Shakespeare), Patrick Rooney (Les Miserables-national tour), Aalon Smith (Porchlight’s Gypsy), Katherine Thomas (Jeff Award winner-Ragtime), Aerie Williams (The Color Purple- Goodman Theatre), Nicole Lambert, Courtney Mack, Mallory Maedke (SIX-Broadway) and Samantha Pauly (SIX and The Great Gatsby-Broadway).
ABOUT JOHANNA McKENZIE MILLER, HOST
Johanna McKenzie Miller is the artistic director at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre. Select directing credits include directing at Drury Lane Theatre, Marriott Theatre and Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Select acting credits include work at Marriott Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, The Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Court Theatre.
ABOUT FRANKIE LEO BENNETT, DIRECTOR
Frankie Leo Bennett is a critically acclaimed, award-winning Chicago theatre artist. Bennett's mutli-hyphenate career has found him working onstage as an actor and behind the table as director, producer, casting director, company manager and teaching artist with notable Chicago theatre companies including Porchlight Music Theatre (BroadwayWorld Chicago Award), Kokandy Productions, Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, Hell in a Handbag Productions and Northwestern University's The Waa-Mu Show, among many others. He is also a playwright/composer - Resident Services: A Crossed-Up Animal Musical and The Adventures of Ash (co-lyricist/composer). He is extremely grateful and honored to be able to share in the hard work and passion that make the Chicago Theatre Community one of the most vibrant and celebratory places to make theatre magic happen.
ABOUT MICKY YORK, MUSIC DIRECTOR
Porchlight credits: Call Me Madam and New Faces Sing Broadway 1984. Other Chicago credits include: Whisper House and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Black Button Eyes Productions), Happy End (2007 After Dark Award - Outstanding Music Direction) and Jacques Brel (Brown Couch, RIP), and a variety of musicals over the past 20 years for other theatres that no longer exist. York is a music business professor at Columbia College Chicago and College of DuPage. He is also a current member of Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute and can likely be seen at a street festival near you.
MORE FROM PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE:
ICONS Gala Celebrating Leslie Uggams
Sunday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m.
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Directed by Linda Madonia
The Ritz-Carlton Chicago at Water Tower Place, 160 E. Pearson St.
Tickets: $500 with sponsorship opportunities available
The ICONS Gala may be added to 2025 - 2026 subscription orders as a separate event.
Single tickets are on sale now.
The 2025 ICONS Gala celebrates the incredible life and career of Tony and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Uggams with performances from her legendary career by Porchlight favorites including Tony Award-nominated Felicia P. Fields, co-hosted by Broadway’s Kenny Ingram, with a live on-stage interview with WGN’s Paul Lisnek, highlights from Porchlight’s educational and community initiatives, the presentation of the 2025 Luminary Award to Brenda and James Grusecki and a deluxe brunch buffet.
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.
