Porchlight Music Theatre Announces The Final Performance in Its 27th Season - New Faces Sing Broadway 1971.

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the final performances of the sixth season of the popular New Faces Sing Broadway series and the conclusion of its 27th season with New Faces Sing Broadway 1971 at SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., in Evanston, Monday, Aug. 1 at 7:30 p.m. and Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted Street, in Chicago, Wednesday, Aug. 3 at 7:30 p.m. This edition is hosted by Jeff Award-nominee Ed Kross, directed by Frankie Leo Bennett and music directed by Bryan McCaffrey. Single general admission tickets to New Faces Sing Broadway 1971 are $37 at SPACE and at Center on Halsted with both venues providing a cash bar. Tickets are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office, 773.777.9884.

Porchlight Music Theatre's hit revue series is the tuneful and fun, audience-interactive evening back again for a sixth season. Host Ed Kross+ and the New Faces, a cast made up of the next generation of talent, takes the audience on a musical journey from the start to the finish of the 1971 Broadway season in 90 minutes with songs, historic information, trivia and sing-alongs. The latest New Faces features songs from the 1971 Broadway shows Follies, Hello, Dolly!, Jesus Christ Superstar, On the Town, 70, Girls, 70, Two by Two,You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and others.

Many of the previous New Face artists have continued their careers on television, and local and national stages including Dawn Bless (Waitress-national tour), Katherine Bourne (School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play at Goodman Theatre), Lydia Burke and Molly Kral (Jeff Award winners [ensemble] Sophisticated Ladies), Darilyn Burtley and Max Cervantes (The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera of Chicago), Kyrie Courter (Jeff Award nominee-Next to Normal), Gilbert Domally (Jeff Award nominee-The Total Bent), Andres Enriquez (Jeff Award nominee-Porchlight's A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Theo Germaine (Showtime's "Work in Progress"), Lucy Godinez (Jeff Award nominee-Oliver), Emily Goldberg (Jeff Award nominee-Porchlight's A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Nicole Michelle Haskins (Jeff Award winner-The Color Purple), Michelle Lauto (Jeff Award winner-Spamilton), Yando Lopez (Wicked on Broadway), Henry McGinniss (Book of Mormon-national tour), Anthony Norman (The Prom on Broadway, Dear Evan Hansen-national tour), Patrick Rooney (Les Miserables-national tour), Aalon Smith (Porchlight's Gypsy), Katherine Thomas (Jeff Award winner-Ragtime), Aeriel Williams (Oedipus Rex at Court Theatre) and Nicole Lambert, Mallory Maedke, Courtney Mack and Samantha Pauly (SIX on Broadway).

Ed Kross, HOST

Ed Kross (he/him/his) was most recently seen in Sister Act and Shear Madness at The Mercury Theater. Other credits include West Side Story (Lyric Opera Of Chicago), Hazel (Drury Lane Oakbrook), The Jungle Book and Animal Crackers (The Goodman), I Love Lucy: Live Onstage (Broadway Playhouse), as well as productions at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight, Peninsula Players, The Royal George, Second City Theatricals and Theatre At The Center. Additionally, Kross is a 24-year ensemble member of American Blues Theater. On the small screen he's appeared in over 75 commercials and had guest roles on "Chicago Med," "Fargo," "Patriot," "Chicago Fire," "Sirens" and "Boss." On the big screen he shares one-on-one scenes with Tom Hanks in "Road To Perdition" and George Clooney in "Ocean's 12." He is a proud union member of Actor's Equity Association, SAG-AFTRA, and AGMA.

Frankie Leo Bennett, DIRECTOR

Frankie Leo Bennett (he/him/his) recently co-directed Porchlight Music Theatre's Chicago Sings Stephen Sondheim and has appeared in its productions of In The Heights, New Faces Sing Broadway 1985 and Porchlight Revisits 1776. Bennett is also a teaching artist for The School at Porchlight and was a guest contributor to Porchlight's free virtual offerings including Movie Musical Mondays on several occasions and Sondheim @ 90 Roundtable. He serves as the chair of Porchlight's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee. His regional credits include, Punkass Pastry (Independent Workshop/director), The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes (Hell in a Handbag Productions, assoc. director) and performing with Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, Kokandy Productions and Hell in a Handbag Productions. He is also a playwright/composer of the recent Resident Services: A Crossed-Up Animal Musical.

BRYAN MCCAFFREY, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Bryan McCaffrey (he/him/his) returns to Porchlight having recently music directed the Porchlight Revisits production Passing Strange and is the 2022 conductor for Porchlight Music Theatre's free summer concert series, Broadway in your Backyard. Originally from Scotland, he has worked as a music director across Chicagoland including Christmas Karol (Pride Arts), The Addams Family (Williams Street Repertory), Spring Awakening and Something Rotten (Theatre Nebula) and Company (Wheaton).

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 27th 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 its inaugural year in this tier, most notably Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies.

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. 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 recently launched its first summer performance schedule in 2021 that included a sold-out performance of New Faces Sing Broadway 1979 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, the premiere of its outdoor music series Broadway in your Backyard, performed throughout Chicagoland this summer and special appearances at Sundays on State and Navy Pier's Chicago Live Again.

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