Norbert Leo Butz and Lillias White Will Join Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Concert Series at The Studebaker Theater

Two nights of Broadway magic will come to Chicago with Seth's Broadway Concert Series at The Studebaker Theater in the historic Fine Arts Building, 410 S Michigan Ave. SiriusXM Broadway host and music director Seth Rudetsky welcomes two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz on Sunday, July 28 at 7:00pm and Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Lillias White on Monday, July 29 at 7:00pm. Lillias White replaces the previously announced guest Ana Gasteyer, who will be in rehearsal for Once Upon A Mattress.

Tickets for Seth's Broadway Concert Series, $60 to $100, are now on sale at fineartsbuilding.com/events/ and 312.753.3210 x102. A limited number of VIP Meet and Greet passes are available the day of the performance for $20, providing a unique chance to meet the stars up close and personal after the show. Seth's Broadway Concert Series offers fans the opportunity to experience the magic of Broadway at an accessible price point. 

Seth’s Broadway Concert Series is never entirely pre-planned, leaving room for plenty of surprises! Rudetsky features each artist singing their signature songs—and the interviews between numbers always lead to captivating, insider stories and unexpected performances. Chicago audiences will get an up-close and personal glimpse into the world of Broadway, featuring unforgettable performances, hilarious behind-the-scenes stories, and exclusive insights from some of the industry's most beloved performers.

Seth will host Norbert Leo Butz on Sunday as he performs the Broadway tunes he sang in Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, My Fair Lady, and others. He’ll show off his pop chops (his Rent audition song was an Elton John hit), his teenage singing competition song (“Tonight” from West Side Story) and his years-long obsession with the Broadway shows Pippin, The Wiz and Dreamgirls!

On Monday, the set-list will have Lillias White recreating show-stopping performances from her extensive Broadway career, including her first major job when she starred as Dorothy in The Wiz, all the way through Ain’t Misbehavin, Barnum, Cats (she sang “Mem’ry” on Broadway!), How to Succeed, Once on This Islandand her Tony Award winning performance in Cy Coleman’s The Life. This spontaneous evening of behind-the-scenes stories and hit songs will also feature Lillias recreating her triumphant performance of Effie in Dreamgirls, a role played in Los Angeles, then on Broadway, and again with Rudetsky’s fundraiser for the Actors Fund which was recorded on Nonesuch Records and raised over $1,000,000!" 

Seth’s Broadway Concert Series! concerts at the Studebaker are presented by Gustavo Ernestine LLC. 

Seth Rudetsky is a multifaceted force in the world of Broadway where he has worked as musician, actor and writer for thirty years. As a musician, Rudetsky has played in the orchestras of some of Broadway’s biggest hits like Ragtime, Phantom and Les Miserables. As a comic, Rudetsky received three Emmy nominations for his comedy writing and was voted “Funniest Gay Male in New York” at Stand-UP NY. Rudetsky is celebrated as one of the industry's most knowledgeable Broadway historians and has penned several best-selling comedic books on Broadway history with inside scoop such as three volumes of “Seth’s Broadway Diary” and the recent “Musical Theatre For Dummies”. As the afternoon host of Sirius XM's ON BROADWAY since 2003, Rudetsky has become a trusted voice and beloved figure among theater aficionados, providing insightful commentary, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and exclusive interviews with Broadway's biggest stars”. He and his husband James Wesley Jackson have collaborated on numerous projects for social justice such as recording a star-studded version of ‘What The World Needs Now Is Love” which went to number one on iTunes and raised money for the Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting victims and their families, and was performed at the 2006 DNC. Their online talk show, STARS IN THE HOUSE, began a few days after Broadway shut down in 2020 and raised over $1,000,000 for The Entertainment Community Fund. If you’d like to sail with Seth and some Broadway stars on a beautiful ship, come on “Seth’s Broadway Cruise” which is sailing next to the Caribbean in January! More info at SethRudetsky.com

Norbert Leo Butz is a two-time Tony Award winner for Best Actor in a Musical and is one of only nine actors ever to have won the award twice as lead actor. He first won for his work in DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS and won again for his work in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. He was additionally nominated for a Tony for his work in THOU SHALT NOT and MY FAIR LADY. The star of 11 Broadway shows, he is also a five-time Drama Desk nominee and two-time winner, amongst other stage accolades. Other notable productions include RENT, (Bway debut) WICKED (original Fyiero) SPEED THE PLOW, IS HE DEAD, ENRON, BIG FISH, MY FAIR LADY (Tony nom) THE LAST FIVE YEARS ( Drama Desk nom) JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, 50 WORDS, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, and most recently, CORNELIA STREET. In 2019 he released THE LONG HAUL, his first solo record of original songs. In 2023 he released an EP of new music written in collaboration with his daughter, Clara Virginia, called KING OF HEARTS. On television, Butz has starred on David Zabel and Ridley Scott's MERCY STREET for PBS, played Kevin Rayburn on BLOODLINE for Netflix, "Paddy Chayefsky" on FOSSE/VERDON for F/X, and on DEBRIS for NBC. Other TV: JUSTIFIED, CITY PRIMEVAL for FX, THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE for HULU, And the upcoming GLADIATOR, AMERICAN SPORTS STORY for FX, and as Alan Lomax in “A COMPLETE UNKNOWN”, the Bob Dylan biopic, opposite Timothy Chalamet and Edward Norton, currently in production. Films include Peter Hedges' DAN IN REAL LIFE, Sony's HIGHER GROUND, opposite and directed by Vera Farmiga, Craig Zisk's THE ENGLISH TEACHER, BETTER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY, opposite Sam Rockwell, 2020 Sundance pic LUCE, directed by Julius Onah, recent 2021 CANNES hit, FLAG DAY, the EXORCIST reboot from director David Gordon Green, BETTER NATE THAN EVER, FAIR GAME, and GIVE OR TAKE, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor award from FilmOut San Diego. He holds a BFA from Webster University Conservatory of Theatre Arts, an MFA from the Actor Training program at University of Alabama, and an Honorary Doctorate from his Alma Mater, Webster University. He serves on the board of The Angelband Project, a NFP that provides music therapy for survivors of sexual violence. He and his wife Michelle have three daughters and reside in New Jersey.

Lillias White made her Broadway debut in BARNUM. Other Broadway credits include HADESTOWN, CATS, CARRIE, DREAMGIRLS, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, CHICAGO, and FELA! (Tony nomination). For her role in THE LIFE, she won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Off-Broadway, White performed in The New Group’s BLACK NO MORE, The Public Theater’s ROMANCE IN HARD TIMES (Obie Award), DINAH WAS at the Gramercy Theatre, Second Stage Theatre’s CROWNS (Audelco Award) and TEXAS IN PARIS at the York Theatre Company. Concert performances include the critically acclaimed cabaret show at 54 Below called THE Lillias White EFFECT, FUNNY GIRL, HAIR, DREAMGIRLS, and SOUTH PACIFIC, which was broadcast by PBS Great Performances. She also has appeared in concert at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center and has toured internationally with her one-woman show, FROM BOOKLYN TO BROADWAY. Television appearances include a regular role on “Sesame Street” (Emmy Award); recurring roles on Netflix’s “The Get Down” and “Russian Doll”; and guest star appearances on “New Amsterdam,” “Search Party,” “Gotham,” “Person of Interest,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order,” and “NYPD Blue.” Her screen credits include HEARTWORM, THE DRUMMER, Disney’s HERCULES, ANASTASIA, HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, GAME 6, PIECES OF APRIL and THEN SHE FOUND ME. Lillias holds an honorary Ph.D in Fine Arts from the City University of New York.

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