Porchlight Music Theatre announces streaming dates for its first live, in-person production of 2021, New Faces Sing Broadway 1979, with host multi-award winner Alexis J Roston* and a slate of up and coming talents celebrating the 1979 Broadway season, directed by Brianna Borger* and music directed by Linda Madonia*.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 is available for streaming Friday, June 25th beginning at 12 p.m. CDT through Sunday, July 25th at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Tickets are $25 - $50, with streaming available for 72 hours after purchase, and are on sale now. For more information, visit PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or call the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.
The New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 performance was recorded in front of a live audience Saturday, June 12th at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie’s Out Back Summer Sessions. Host Alexis J Roston and the New Faces, a cast made up of the next generation of talent, take the audience on a musical journey from the start to the finish of the 1979 Broadway season in 90 minutes with songs, historic information, trivia and sing-alongs. The latest New Faces features songs from the 1979 Broadway shows Evita, Sweeney Todd, They're Playing Our Song and more.
The 1979 cast of New Faces includes Micah Beauvais+, Adia Bell*, Chloe Belongilot*, Wesly Anthony Clergé+, Haley Gustafson*^, Drew Mitchell+, Mia Nevarez*, Laura Quiñones*, Christopher Ratliff+ and Nathe Rowbotham^. The musicians performing with the New Faces include Linda Madonia* (music director, keyboards), MarcelReimão Bonfim+ (bass) and Justin Akira Kono+ (drums).
The production team of New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 includes: Brianna Borger*(director); Linda Madonia* (music director and arrangements); Alex Rhyan+ (director of production); Christopher Pazdernik= (producing associate and company manager); Orel Chollette+, (video director); Austin Crowly+, (director of photography); Alex Groesh+, (camera operator), Matt Chase+ (audio engineer), Catherine Allen*, (production assistant)North Shore Center For The Performing Arts (venue) and Michael Weber+ (artistic director).
Porchlight Returns to the North Shore Center, Saturday, Aug. 7th
Porchlight returns to the North Shore Center’s Out Back Summer Series, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie, with its Broadway in your Backyard summer concert series, Saturday, Aug. 7 at 8 p.m. CDT, directed by Michael Weber+ and music directed by Justin Akira Kono+ with an all-star cast including Nik Kmiecik+, Michelle Lauto-, Lorenzo Rush Jr+ and Bethany Thomas. This performance includes Broadway songs celebrating family, friends, community and inspiration. Broadway in your Backyard with visual accompaniment and a band. Broadway in your Backyard is suitable for all ages with tickets at $35 - 45 (minimum 2 tickets, maximum of 6 per seating) available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
Pronoun key: +(he/him/his); *(she/her/hers); ^(they/them/theirs), =(any with respect)
ABOUT ALEXIS J ROSTON*, host
Time Out Chicago calls her “phenomenal,” and ShowbizChicago.com raves “Roston holds the audience in the palm of her hand.” Alexis J Roston received resounding praise for her mesmerizing portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill at Porchlight Music Theatre, including Chicago’s Jeff Award, a Black Theatre Alliance Award and the Black Excellence Award. Other theatre credits include starring in Don’t Make Me Over— A Tribute to Dionne Warwick (Jeff Award Nomination, Black Theatre Alliance Award Nomination), Porgy and Bess (Bess), Ragtime (Sarah), Ain’t Misbehavin' (Charlaine), Shrek: The Musical (Dragon), The Wiz (Addaperle), The Piano Lesson (Grace), Crowns (Jeanette), Company (Sarah), Godspell (Joanne), Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Hairspray, Smokey Joe’s Cafe and additional productions of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. An ensemble member of Congo Square Theatre, Roston served as director and playwright of A Nativity Story: More Than A Miracle. Her television credits include “Chicago PD” and “Chicago Code.” Roston has starred in the concerts I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues, A Very Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald: First Lady of Song.
ABOUT BRIANNA BORGER*, director
Brianna Borger has been a professional singer and actor for over 20 years, with 15 of those spent in Chicago. At Porchlight, Borger has previously directed New Faces Sing Broadway 1961 and 1956. She has appeared in Chicago at a variety of theatres including Writers Theatre, Windy City Playhouse and the Mercury Theatre. Regionally, she has performed at Peninsula Players, The Armory, Northern Stage and Alaska Shakespeare Festival and was part of the Broadway Asia The King & I tour. Borger has been twice nominated for the Jeff Award and teaches musical theatre voice and audition technique for students and professionals.
ABOUT LINDA MADONIA*, music director
Linda Madonia has been musical directing in the Chicago area for more than 25 years including Porchlight’s recent Chicago Sings Rock & Roll Broadway and the 2019 critically-acclaimed production of A Chorus Line. Other credits include Pirates of Penzance and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Music Theater Works and Forbidden Broadway: SVU at The Royal George Theater. Other credits include Grand Hotel and Nunsensations at Drury Lane Water Tower Place and Gigi, She Loves Me and Me and My Girl at Theater at the Center. Madonia has also been the music director for Chicago’s Equity and non-union Joseph Jefferson Awards numerous times. She owns American Eagle Productions, an educational theatre that has presented 300 shows and workshops a year in Chicago area schools for the past 28 years.
ABOUT NORTH SHORE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS IN SKOKIE
The North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie is a dynamic two-theater complex operating as part of the Village of Skokie’s plan to provide cultural, literary and educational programs to benefit Chicago’s North Shore. The facility features an 867-seat mainstage theater and a convertible 318-seat theater. The North Shore Center presents a Feature Series of entertainment spanning numerous genres and styles, and an educational performing arts program, YOUTHEATRE. The Center is home to producing theater company Northlight Theatre, Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque and numerous other cultural organizations and special rental events each year.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre 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.”
Now in its 26th season, Porchlight's quarter-century production history 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 45 Jeff awards, as well as 33 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 12 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards, and was honored with eight nominations in both technical and artistic categories and won three awards in our inaugural year in this tier, most notably Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies.
Through the global pandemic, Porchlight has 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. For the 2020-2021 season, Porchlight’s fall schedule included all-new ticketed virtual programs including Broadway by the Decade, New Faces Sing Broadway 1987, Chicago Sings Rock & Roll Broadway, New Faces Sing Broadway 1961 and the return of The Ruffians’ Burning Bluebeard as well as collaborations with Hershey Felder and L.A. Theatre Works. Porchlight continues to announce new premium and free offerings in 2021.
Porchlight Music Theatre announces streaming dates for its first live, in-person production of 2021, New Faces Sing Broadway 1979, with host multi-award winner Alexis J Roston* and a slate of up and coming talents celebrating the 1979 Broadway season, directed by Brianna Borger* and music directed by Linda Madonia*. New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 is available for streaming Friday, June 25 beginning at 12 p.m. CDT through Sunday, July 25 at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Tickets are $25 - $50, with streaming available for 72 hours after purchase, and are on sale now. For more information, visit PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or call the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Allstate; Bayless Family Foundation; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Chapman | Spingola, LLP; Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation; Gen Ops Plus; Elegant Event Lighting; 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.
Host Alexis J Roston in NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1979. Photo by Austin Packard
New Face Adia Bell in NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1979. Photo by Austin Packard
New Faces Wesly Anthony Clergé and Haley Gustafson in NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1979. Photo by Austin Packard
(L to R) New Faces Adia Bell, Chloe Belongilot, Christopher Ratliff, Laura Quiñones and Micah Beauvais in NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1979. Photo by Austin Packard