Photo Flash: Porchlight Revisits THE RINK Opening Tonight

Porchlight Music Theatre (PMT) and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the initial production in the fourth season of Chicago's "lost" musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits The Rink, starring Hollis Resnik and Christine Mild, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Terrence McNally, with direction and choreography by PMT Artistic Associate Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by Ryan Brewster.

Porchlight Revisits The Rink is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, Oct. 4 through Thursday, Oct. 6 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's In The Heights (previews begin September 9) at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets for The Rink are $35.

All tickets include access to the popular pre-performance event, Behind the Show Backstory, a multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Weber that discusses that evening's production including the show's creative history, juicy backstage gossip and the state of the art on Broadway that season. Single tickets to The Rink are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Stage 773 box office, 773.327.5252.

The 2016 - 2017 season subscription to Porchlight Revisits that also includes Little Me, starring Jeff Award-nominee Matt Crowle, (February 28 - March 2, 2017) and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (May 9 - 11, 2017) is $75 per subscription and is available at porchlightmusictheatre.org.

From the legendary creators of Cabaret, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Visit and others, the innovative 1984 musical The Rink was originally a starring vehicle for divas Chita Rivera and Liza Minnelli. Set in a Coney Island of the mind on the ragged fringe of the New York show-biz world, it tells the story of Anna Antonelli (Hollis Resnik). Her family-run roller rink is about to be demolished, and with it Anna's memories of her lothario of a husband (Tyler Ravelson) and her painfully shy daughter, Angel (Christine Mild). The rink eventually becomes an arena in which mother and daughter examine their past and present and make a new resolution for a better future. The Rink features the hits "Colored Lights," "Blue Crystal" and "All the Children in a Row," among others.

The cast of Porchlight Revisits The Rink includes: Joe Capstick, "Tony;" Jared Grant, "Lino;" Sidra Henderson, "The Little Girl;" Michael Kingston, "Dino's Father;" Bernell Lassai III, "Guy/Danny;" Matt Patrick, "Buddy;" Paul Michael Thomson, "Lucky;" and Kyle Ryan, "Lenny/Ben."

ABOUT Christopher Pazdernik, director

Christopher Pazdernik is a producer, director and choreographer with "a near encyclopedic knowledge of musicals" (NewCity). His Chicago credits include Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Bombs Away! (Bailiwick); Spamalot, A Streetcar Named Desire and Evita (Jedlicka); Miracle on 34th Street, Anyone Can Whistle and City of Angels (Porchlight); Time After Time: The Songs of Jule Styne (Theo Ubique); The Full Monty (Village Players), a series of musical theater revues at Davenport's, and a Jeff Award nomination for co-choreographing Spamalot with Nightblue. He has also worked with new musicals in development Perpetual Possibility (Kokandy Productions) and Bewildered (Hell in a Handbag). He is also the creator and co-host of Option Up!, a live monthly musical theater talk-show at Stage 773. His teaching credits including musical theater workshops at Elmhurst College.

ABOUT RYAN BREWSTER, music director

Ryan Brewster is one of the hottest up-and-coming young music directors working in the Chicago scene today. Brewster's recent credits include the Chicago premiere of the new musical 35mm and Pippin with Circle Theatre, Re-Spiced: A Silk Road Cabaret with Silk Road Rising; Little Shop of Horrors with La Costa Theatre Company and Chess and Evita at Theo Ubique.

ABOUT Hollis Resnik, "Anna"

Hollis Resnik makes her Porchlight Music Theatre debut with this production. Chicago theatre credits include Company (Writers' Theatre), One Man, Two Guvnors, The Little Foxes, Travesties, Angels in America, Man of La Mancha, The Cherry Orchard, The Learned Ladies, Titus Andronicus, The Good Book and Carousel (Court Theatre); Grey Gardens and You Can't Take It with You (Northlight Theatre); Candide, A Little Night Music, Wings, and The House of Martin Guerre (Goodman Theatre); Mame, Anything Goes, Into the Woods, Hairspray (Marriott Lincolnshire); Sweeney Todd (Ravinia Festival). Regional credits include A Streetcar Named Desire (Cleveland Play House), The Light in the Piazza (Arena Stage, D.C.), Loves Labors Lost, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, End of the Rainbow and The Norman Conquests (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Lane in The Clean House (Mixed Blood Theatre - Minneapolis). She will be seen at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre in the 2016/17 Season as "Amanda" in The Glass Menagerie. Additional regional credits include productions at ALLIANCE THEATRE (Atlanta), Philadelphia Theatre Company, Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven, CT), Indiana Repertory Theatre, Santa Fe Studios, The Muny (St. Louis, MO) and Arizona Repertory Theatre. National tours include LES MISERABLES, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Sister Act. She is the recipient of 12 Joseph Jefferson Awards, two Sarah Siddons Awards, the Helen Hayes Award and was a 2012 recipient of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship at Ten Chimneys.

ABOUT Christine Mild, "Angel"

Christine Mild makes her Porchlight Music Theatre debut with this production. Credits include: Company (Writers' Theatre), Beaches (Drury Lane Theatre), Godspell, Evita, Sister Act, 9 to 5, Pirates of Penzance, LES MISERABLES (Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire), Always, Patsy Cline (Peninsula Players, Florida Studio Theatre, Big Sky Repertory Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Paramount Theatre), Nunsense (Cape Playhouse, Theatre by the Sea, official cast album), Stand-in/understudy for Patti LuPone Annie Get Your Gun (Ravinia Festival), My Fair Lady (Asolo Repertory Theatre), Cats (Maine State Music Theatre), White Christmas (Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre), Beehive (Carousel Dinner Theatre), and Nunset Boulevard (National Tour, starring Cindy Williams). Mild's most treasured credit is originating Galati/Flaherty's Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (About Face Theatre, original cast album). Her first solo album is due out in summer 2016 and is called Love is Everything.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT REVISITS

Continuing to forge its role as "Chicago's Music Theatre," Porchlight launched the exciting new series Porchlight Revisits in 2013; especially created for the die-hard music theatre aficionado. Each season, Porchlight Music Theatre shares with audiences the rare opportunity to visit three musicals that opened on the Great White Way but have since gone "unsung." The finest music theatre artists in Chicago dust off these neglected treasures and, with script in hand and minimal staging, escort audiences to a world of Broadway long past. Previous Porchlight Revisits productions include: (2015/16) Chess, Applause, Babes in Arms, (2014/15) Bells Are Ringing, City of Angels

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