Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre, as part of its new work developmental series, Off The Porch, hosts an invited rehearsal of Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story, written by and starring Kayla Boye, directed by Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreographed by Tammy Mader and music directed by Linda Madonia, Sunday, June 1 at 1 p.m. at Porchlight’s Rehearsal Studios, 4200 W. Diversey Ave. The invited rehearsal kicks off Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story’s world premiere tour that includes the Hollywood Fringe in Los Angeles (Hudson Theatre, June 10 - 15), Off-Broadway’s “East to Edinburgh” in New York (59E59 Theater, July 15 - 19) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall, August 1 - 9). The running time is 60 minutes with no intermission and tickets are complimentary and required. A Q&A with the creative team will follow the performance. Reservations may be made at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. More information on Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story is available at ShakeItAwayPlay.com
On a soundstage at the 1970 MGM studio auction, singer/dancer/actress Ann Miller revisits the Golden Age of Hollywood and discovers her second act as a Broadway star. Featuring selections from the Great American Songbook, this love letter to entertainment is written by and stars Kayla Boye, who has appeared at Porchlight Music Theatre in Can-Can, Little Me, Billy Elliot and New Faces Sing Broadway 1969.
“At a time when so much is uncertain, our hearts long to feel unbridled joy. That is the essence of Ann Miller, whose talents graced the screen in pictures such as Kiss Me Kate, Easter Parade and On the Town,” Boye said, “and who danced her way around the world in productions such as Mame, Hello Dolly and Sugar Babies. She embodied resilience by persevering through enormous challenges, and she always gave the best of her authentic self to audiences. I am excited to share her story.”
ABOUT KAYLA BOYE, Writer/Actor
Kayla Boye’s production of Call Me Elizabeth, a critically acclaimed solo show about the life of Elizabeth Taylor, was streamed by BroadwayHD and Porchlight Music Theatre during the pandemic and continues to tour internationally following sold-out runs Off-Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Mexico’s San Miguel Solo Theatre Festival. Additional credits: The Wizard of Oz (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), South Pacific (Drury Lane Theatre), Holiday Inn, Guys & Dolls, Cinderella (Fireside Theatre), On the Town (Capital City Theatre), Pippin (Mercury Theater Chicago), Anything Goes, Gypsy, Mame (Music Theater Works), Not Now Darling (BrightSide Theatre), A Christmas Story (Citadel Theatre), Man of La Mancha, Annie, The Addams Family (Bigfork Summer Playhouse), The Drowsy Chaperone, Bye Bye Birdie, Carousel (The Huron Playhouse), Mary Poppins, Chicago, Curtains (The Youngstown Playhouse), and “Winnie” in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days (City Lit Theater). Awards: Best Choreography, Chicago Musical Theatre Festival (Wonder Women: The Musical). Her work has been awarded grants from Illinois Arts Council and the Arts Midwest Touring Fund.
ABOUT MICHAEL WEBER, Director
Michael Weber is a nationally recognized, award-winning director, producer, actor and educator. He currently serves as artistic director of Chicago’s Porchlight Music Theatre where he recently directed Sunday in the Park with George starring Broadway’s Kathy Voytko and Tony Award-nominee Sean Allan Krill and he currently serves as the resident director of the Chicago premiere of Titanique. He recently directed the Off-Broadway and European premieres of Call Me Elizabeth written by and starring Kayla Boye as “Elizabeth Taylor.” Under his artistic leadership, Porchlight Music Theatre was awarded Chicago’s Jeff Award for “Best Production” six times. He previously served as artistic director for the inaugural season of Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place (now Broadway in Chicago’s Broadway Playhouse) and at Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana. The recipient of two Joseph Jefferson Awards, he has been nominated for nine awards and he wrote and directed 14 Joseph Jefferson Awards ceremonies (2006-2018). Weber’s regional acting credits include The Merry Widow (starring Renée Fleming) at Lyric Opera, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy (both starring Patti LuPone) at Ravinia Festival, The Winter’s Tale and Henry V at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and more. He is author of the play WAR of the WELLeS (about Orson Welles’ infamous radio broadcast) and he is a longtime pledge host for PBS station WTTW channel 11.
ABOUT TAMMY MADER, Choreographer
Tammy Mader is a proud member of SDC, the union of professional Stage Directors and Choreographers. Credits include: Bye Bye Birdie, Hairspray (Jeff Award), Next To Normal, Sunset Blvd., Gypsy, Spamalot, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (Jeff Nomination), Buddy; The Buddy Holly Story, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jeff Award), Meet Me In St. Louis, Kiss Me Kate (Jeff Nomination), Anything Goes (Jeff Nomination), and My One And Only (Jeff Award) at Drury Lane Oakbrook Terrace; Buddy; The Buddy Holly Story, Meet Me In St. Louis, Grand Hotel and The Full Monty at Drury Lane Water Tower Place; Guys & Dolls and Invisible Man at Court Theatre; Singin' In The Rain, My One And Only (Jeff Nomination) , 42nd St. (Jeff Award), Beauty and the Beast for Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theatre; Animal Crackers for Baltimore’s Center Stage, Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? for Drury Lane Theater in Evergreen Park; She Loves Me, Singin’ In The Rain (Jeff Nomination), Grand Hotel, 42nd St., Meet Me In St. Louis, and Swingin’ On A Star: The Johnny Burke Musical at Theater at the Center, Elizabeth Rex at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Porchlight Music Theatre’s Anything Goes, Mack And Mabel and Assassins.
ABOUT LINDA MADONIA, Music Director
Linda Madonia is currently the music supervisor and company manager for Porchlight’s Titanique, presented in association with Broadway In Chicago. She also has music directed the ICONS Gala Celebrating Raúl Esparza and previously worked on Broadway in your Backyard, Anything Goes, Cabaret and A Chorus Line all with Porchlight. Other projects include Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde: The Musical, Shrek the Musical, Mamma Mia! and Camelot at Music Theater Works and Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages and Sister Act at Mercury Theater Chicago. Madonia is the vocal coach for the master’s degree program in music theatre pedagogy at
Carthage College and owns American Eagle Productions, which has been at the forefront of theatre education in the Chicago area for the past 35 years.
ABOUT OFF THE PORCH
Created and led by Porchlight Music Theatre artistic associates, Off the Porch follows the great tradition of Chicago theatre by offering an open and safe environment for the exploration and creation of new musicals, adaptations and plays with music. Through this series, Porchlight nurtures local, regional and national talent by providing artistic resources to support the development of new musical works and by cultivating and showcasing the new work of composers, lyricists and playwrights.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 30th 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 50 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.
Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre hosts an invited rehearsal of Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story, written by Kayla Boye, directed by Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreographed by Tammy Mader and music directed by Linda Madonia, Sunday, June 1 at 1 p.m. at Porchlight’s Rehearsal Studios, 4200 W. Diversey Ave. The invited rehearsal kicks off Shake It Away: The Ann Miller Story world premiere tour, which includes the Hollywood Fringe in Los Angeles (Hudson Theatre, June 10 - 15), East to Edinburgh in New York (59E59 Theater, July 15 - 19) and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall, August 1 - 9). The running time is 60 minutes with no intermission and tickets are complimentary and required. Reservations may be made at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. More information on Shake It Away is available at ShakeItAwayPlay.com
The 30th Anniversary Season is sponsored by Elaine Cohen & Arlen Rubin and Brenda & Jim Grusecki.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Allstate; Arlen and Elaine Cohen Rubin Charitable Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Comcast/Xfinity; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Free for All; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; Uvae; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Service Club of Chicago and The Shubert Foundation.
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; Google; Jackson National Life Insurance and The Saints.
Kayla Boye in Shake It Away-The Ann Miller Story Photo by Heather Stumpf
Kayla Boye in Shake It Away-The Ann Miller Story Photo by Heather Stumpf
Kayla Boye in Shake It Away-The Ann Miller Story Photo by Heather Stumpf
Kayla Boye in Shake It Away-The Ann Miller Story Photo by Heather Stumpf
PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE 2024 - 2025 EVENTS ...
Chicago Premiere
Presented in association with Broadway In Chicago
Now Extended through July 13
Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, 175 E. Chestnut St.
Co-Written by Marla Mindelle, Constantine Rousouli and Tye Blue.
All aboard NYC’s must-sea musical comedy! When the music of Céline Dion makes sweet Canadian love with the eleven-time Oscar®-winning blockbuster film “Titanic,” you get Titanique, off-Broadway’s most award-winning splash hit, which turns one of the greatest love stories of all time into a hysterical musical fantasia. Want to find out what really happened to Jack and Rose on that fateful night? Just leave it to Céline Dion to enchant the audience with her totally wild take, recharting the course of Titanic’s beloved moments and characters with her iconic song catalog. Sailing on fierce powerhouse voices in show-stopping performances of such hits as “My Heart Will Go On,” “All By Myself” and “To Love You More” – backed by the unparalleled energy of a full live band – Titanique is a one-of-a-kind theatrical voyage bursting with nostalgia, heart and campy chaos.
Please note: Performances, actors and dates are subject to change.