Michael Weber, artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre, is proud to announce Porchlight Music Theatre’s 2017 – 2018 season which includes mainstage production of

BILLY ELLIOT, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG and MEMPHIS and the continuation of Porchlight Revisits and New Faces Sing Broadway.

Porchlight Mainstage and Porchlight Revisits productions take place at their new home in the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. New Faces Sings Broadway is performed at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie, and Uptown Underground, 4707 N. Broadway St.

Porchlight Music Theatre’s 2017 – 2018 season includes (from the press release):

MAINSTAGE
Billy Elliot
October 6 – November 19
Music by Elton John
Book and Lyrics by Lee Hall

Winner of both the Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Musical, Billy Elliot is the inspirational story of a young boy’s fight to make his dream come true as he journeys from the boxing ring to a ballet class where he discovers a passion for dance that unites his family, inspires his community and changes his life forever.

PORCHLIGHT REVISITS
Woman of the Year (1981)
November 14 – 16 at 7:15 p.m.
Book by Peter Stone
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Based on the classic film starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, a television interviewer and a newspaper cartoonist get into a public battle over their respective professions, and, of course, fall in love, marry and experience more career conflicts. This Tony Award-winning musical starred Lauren Bacall in its original Broadway run.

Featuring the hits: One of the Boys, Sometimes a Day Goes By and The Grass is Always Greener.

All Porchlight Revisits, performances include “Behind the Show Backstory,” a multimedia presentation, hosted by Artistic Director Michael Weber, setting the stage on the creation of the featured Porchlight Revisits production, sharing all the juicy backstage stories and the state of the art on Broadway that season.

New Faces Sing Broadway – 1939
WINTER, 2017 (Date TBA)

Featuring The Boys from Syracuse, DuBarry was a Lady, The Girl from Wyoming, Helzapoppin, The Hot Mikado, Knickerbocker Holiday, Leave It to Me!, Stars in Your Eyes, The Swing Mikado, Swingin’ The Dream, Too Many Girls, Very Warm for May, Yokel Boy, You Never Know and others.

New Faces Sings Broadway’s winter edition celebrates the start to the finish of the year 1939 on Broadway, peppered with photos and films of the era in an exciting multimedia presentation with a favorite Chicago theatre veteran hosting and introducing the next generation of music theatre artists and acting as your guide through a past season on the Great White Way.

MAINSTAGE
Merrily We Roll Along
January 26 – March 11, 2018
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart

Set over three decades of friendship and business, the landmark musical Merrily We Roll Along charts the highs and lows of the turbulent relationship between three very close friends. Travelling backwards in time from the stark reality of knowing adulthood to the idealistic intentions of inexperienced youth, this powerful and emotionally moving story of looking at your life from the vantage point of having lived it features some of Stephen Sondheim’s most beautiful songs including Good Thing Going, Not a Day Goes By and Old Friends.

PORCHLIGHT REVISITS
They’re Playing Our Song (1979)
March 6 – 8, 2018 at 7:15 p.m.
Book by Neil Simon
Music by Marvin Hamlisch
Lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager

A romantic musical comedy about the affair (both professional and romantic) of a wisecracking composer and an aspiring, offbeat lyricist. Creatively, their relationship works great, but personal trials and tribulations lead them toward finding a new way to make harmonious music together in this laugh-a-minute romantic charmer.

New Faces Sing Broadway – 1959
SPRING, 2018 (Date TBA)

Featuring Destry Rides Again, Fiorello!, First Impressions, Flower Drum Song, Goldilocks, Gypsy, Happy Town, Juno, The Nervous Set, Once Upon a Mattress, Redhead, Saratoga, The Sound of Music, Take Me Along, Whoop Up and others.

New Faces Sings Broadway’s spring edition celebrates the start to the finish of the year 1959 on Broadway, peppered with photos and films of the era in an exciting multimedia presentation with a favorite Chicago theatre veteran hosting and introducing the next generation of music theatre artists and acting as your guide through a past season on the Great White Way.

MAINSTAGE
Memphis
April 19 – June 3, 2018
Music and Lyrics by David Bryan
Book and Lyrics by Joe DiPietro

From the underground dance clubs of 1950s Memphis, Tennessee, comes the Tony Award winning Best Musical that bursts off the stage with explosive dancing, irresistible songs and a thrilling tale of fame and forbidden love. Inspired by actual events, Memphis is the story of a white radio DJ who wants to change the world and a black club singer who is ready for her big break. Their incredible journey to the ends of the airwaves is filled with laughter, soaring emotion and a roof-raising musical score by David Bryan of the band Bon Jovi.

PORCHLIGHT REVISITS
Do Re Mi (1960)
May 22 – 24, 2018 at 7:15 p.m.
Book by Jule Styne
Music by Garson Kanin
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Originally created for the comic style of the great Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, it’s the story of “Hubie Cram,” a minor-league con man endlessly scheming to win big who, at the urging of his long-suffering wife, “Kay,” decides to go (somewhat) straight by moving into the juke box and music promotion business as he concocts his biggest score ever.

Featuring the hits: Make Someone Happy, Fireworks and I Know About Love

New Faces Sing Broadway – 1975
SUMMER, 2018 (Date TBA)

Featuring 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, A Chorus Line, Chicago, Doctor Jazz, Goodtime Charley, The Lieutenant, Mack & Mabel, Man on the Moon, Shenandoah, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Wiz and others.

New Faces Sings Broadway season concludes with the start to the finish of the year 1975 on Broadway, peppered with photos and films of the era in an exciting multimedia presentation with a favorite Chicago theatre veteran hosting and introducing the next generation of music theatre artists and acting as your guide through a past season on the Great White Way.

For more information on Porchlight Music Theatre visit porchlightmusictheatre.org.