Porchlight Music Theatre announces tickets are now on sale for its annual fundraising concert, Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion, Monday, May 11 at 7 p.m., with a 5:30 p.m. reception, at the House of Blues Chicago, 329 N. Dearborn St. Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion is devised by Porchlight’s Artistic Director Michael Weber, music director David Fiorello with choreography by Nataki Rennie. This concert includes live performances by Chicago music theatre’s best loved artists celebrating the influence of Great Britain on Broadway and beyond, the presentation of the 2026 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre to Mark David Kaplan, a paddle raise and more. Attendees may experience the night with a main floor ticket, $200 per person, that includes table seating on the main floor and access to the pre-show cocktail hour with complimentary drinks and appetizer buffet before the performance or a back of the house ticket for $175 per person, that includes reserved high boy seating and access to a pre-show cocktail hour with an appetizer buffet and open bar. In addition, a limited number of box seats are available for sponsors. For sponsorships contact Pam@PorchlightMusicTheatre.org with Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion tickets available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
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 The Roar of the Greasepaint-The Smell of the Crowd, to the “rock operas,” Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Evita, blockbusters including Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Les Misérables and recent favorites Mamma Mia!, Six, Paddington: The Musical and others.
The company of veteran Porchlight Music Theatre performers scheduled to appear includes: Adrian Aguilar (Pal Joey), Aja Alcazar (Merrily We Roll Along), Lydia Burke (Sophisticated Ladies), Morgan DiFonzo (Cabaret), Devin DeSantis (Side Show), Michelle Duffy (Follies), Adam Fane (Billy Elliot), David Moreland (Sunday in the Park with George), Nataki Rennie (Anything Goes), Lorenzo Sean Parnell (Titanique), Stephen Shellhardt (Fun Home), Kelan M. Smith (Spring Awakening), Ava Stovall (Broadway in your Backyard) and Bethany Thomas (Marry Me a Little) with more names to be announced soon.
All performers are subject to change.
ABOUT THE GUY ADKINS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF MUSIC THEATRE IN CHICAGO
For more than a decade, Porchlight Music Theatre has celebrated 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: Heidi Kettenring, 2025; Roberta Duchak, 2024; Rick Boynton, 2023; 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 Stearns, 2011.
ABOUT MARK DAVID KAPLAN, 2026 GUY ADKINS AWARD RECIPIENT
Mark David Kaplan is the recipient of three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Les Misérables, Ragtime and Forbidden Broadway the latter with which he has toured internationally and performed off-Broadway. Recent credits include: Cabaret (Porchlight Music Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Drury Lane/Lyric Opera), Titanic and Little Shop of Horrors (Marriott), First Lady of Television and Mr. Dicken’s Hat (Northlight), No Man’s Land and Noises Off (Steppenwolf), Clue (Mercury), The Band’s Visit (Theatre Squared), Kinky Boots (Paramount), Into the Woods (Writer’s Theatre) and premieres with Chicago Shakespeare, About Face, Goodman and Skylight Theatres. Concert appearances include She Loves Me (w/Bryce Pinkham) and Cabaret (Gulf Coast Symphony) and Ragtime, opposite Ashley Brown (Cincinnati Pops). Kaplan spent five years on the first and second national tours of The Lion King. Select screen credits include “Utopia” (Amazon), “Chicago Fire” (NBC), the film “Adult Children” (2025) the upcoming feature “Patient” and commercial spots for T-Mobile, the Chicago Cubs and others.As a union advocate (AEA, SAG/AFTRA, AGMA), Kaplan sits on the Central Board for Actors’ Equity Association and serves as a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor. He proudly serves as vice president of Season of Concern, Chicago’s primary fund raising organization, which focuses its efforts on the physical and mental wellness of those who share their gifts in the performing arts.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, now in 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 19 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’s 31st season is sponsored by Brenda & James Grusecki.
Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion is sponsored by Art Garwin, Michelle & Steve Cucchiaro, Diane & Chuck Laff, Kit Barbero and Byline Bank.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from 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 Fund; 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.
Adrian Aguilar at Porchlight’s annual fundraising concert “Chicago Sings 30 Years of Porchlight” at the House of Blues, May 12, 2025. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
(L to R) Neala Barron, Erica Stephan, Emily Ling Mei, Nataki Rennie, Clare Kennedy McLaughlin, Morgan DeFonzo and Ivan Bracy Jr. at Porchlight’s annual fundraising concert “Chicago Sings 30 Years of Porchlight” at the House of Blues, May 12, 2025. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Lorenzo Rush Jr. at Porchlight’s annual fundraising concert “Chicago Sings 30 Years of Porchlight” at the House of Blues, May 12, 2025. Photo by Sarah Elizabeth Larson
MORE FROM PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
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.
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
May 11, 2026
Devised by Porchlight’s Artistic Director Michael Weber, music director David Fiorello with choreography by Nataki Rennie
House of Blues Chicago, 329 N. Dearborn St.
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.