Final Installment of Porchlight Music Theatre's NEW FACES SING BROADWAY Explores 1949

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the final 2015 - 16 installment of Chicago’s hit new musical revue series, New Faces Sing Broadway. This edition, conceived and directed by Michael Weber and Chris Carter with music direction by Nick Sula, hosted by James Earl Jones II and featuring a cast of Chicago’s hottest emerging artists, takes a journey through the best of Broadway’s 1949 musical season via rare multi-media visuals, songs, trivia games and sing alongs in New Faces Sing Broadway 1949, Tuesday, June 7 at 8 p.m. at Uptown Underground, 4707 N Broadway. Tickets are $22, with no drink minimum and are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling 773.777.9884.

From 1934 – 1968, New Faces, a series of musical revues on Broadway, was instrumental in introducing the public to emerging talent with names like June Carroll, Robert Clary, Imogene Coca, Jane Connell, “Professor” Irwin Corey, Henry Fonda, Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham, Tiger Haynes, Van Johnson, Madeline Kahn, Eartha Kitt, Robert Klein, Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde, Virginia Martin, John Reardon, Maggie Smith, Inga Swenson and many, many more.

In tribute to the original New Faces, Porchlight Music Theatre created this Chicago musical revue series, New Faces Sing Broadway, as a showcase for the best emerging musical talent now performing on Chicago stages. This newest edition is a journey from the start to the finish of the 1949 musical season 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 to audiences. Songs featured from the hits and misses of the 1949 Broadway season include numbers from that year’s smashes Kiss Me, Kate, South Pacific, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Where’s Charley? as well as the lesser known treasures Miss Liberty, a rare Irving Berlin miss; Lost in the Stars, from the story Cry, the Beloved Country; Lend an Ear, the show that gave Carol Channing her first big break; Love Life, the only collaboration by Alan Jay Lerner and Kurt Weill; Along Fifth Avenue, a hit for the young Jackie Gleason, and others.

In addition to the performances on stage, the host engages the audience to sing along as the “Broadway chorus” of some of the best-known production numbers from that classic Broadway season and challenges them to “Name that Showtune,” a fun and fast-moving music theatre trivia game where participants win prizes.

The company of New Faces Sing Broadway 1949 includes Dawn Bless, currently the understudy to “Effie” in Dreamgirls and a familiar face at Black Ensemble Theatre; Molly Coleman, seen in The Wild Party and Carrie with Bailiwick Chicago; Vasily Deris, seen in Smokey Joe’s Café at The Royal George Theatre and Joseph/Dreamcoat at The Paramount; Gilbert Domally, currently appearing as “C.C.” in Dreamgirls and having recently appeared in Hairspray at The Paramount; Candace Edwards, currently starring as “Deena” in Dreamgirls at Porchlight where she made her debut in Far From Heaven; Michael Ferraro, currently appearing in Dreamgirls having been recently seen in The Little Mermaid at Chicago Shakespeare; Javier Ferreira, who appeared in Porchlight Revisits Babes in Arms as well as Porchlight’s Sweeney Todd; Johann George, recently seen in The Man Who Murdered Sherlock Holmes at the Mercury Theatre and Sweeney Todd at Porchlight; Teressa LaGamba, seen in Heathers with Kokandy and The Wedding Singer with Haven Theatre and Courtney Mack, non-union Jeff nominated star of Heathers with Kokandy who made her Porchlight debut in Side Show.

ABOUT JAMES EARL JONES II, host

James Earl Jones II made his Porchlight debut in the Jeff Award-winning Best Production Sondheim on Sondheim for which he was nominated as Best Actor in a Revue. At the Goodman Theatre, he can currently be seen starring in Carlyle and previously appeared in the New Stages Festival production of that production. His Chicago credits include October Sky, Elf, Dreamgirls and The Full Monty (Marriott Theatre); Satchmo at the Waldorf, The Secret Garden, The Good Book and Porgy and Bess (Court Theatre); Shrek (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Cymbeline (First Folio Theatre); Sweet Charity and the upcoming Company (Writers Theatre); Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Porgy and Bess (Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera); The Wiz (Theatre at the Center, Jeff Award nomination); Aida, Spamalot and Ragtime (Drury Lane Theatre); A Civil War Christmas (Northlight Theatre); Annie Get Your Gun (Ravinia Festival); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Broadway in Chicago and Mason Street Warehouse); Dessa Rose (Apple Tree Theatre); Aspects of Love (Jedlicka Performing Arts Center); I Pagliacci (Intimate Opera); On the Town (New Classic Singers), as well as The Gondoliers, Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance. National tour credits include The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Jones’ television and film credits include Pokerhouse, Chicago Fire and Empire.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Porchlight Music Theatre, now in its 21st season, is nationally recognized for developing innovative new works, reimagining classic productions and showcasing musical theatre’s noted veterans and rising stars. Porchlight elevates the genre in Chicago by providing intimate and powerful theatrical experiences for its growing and diverse audiences. With the vision of Artistic Director Michael Weber, Porchlight builds on its role as Chicago’s only Equity not-for-profit company exclusively specializing in music theatre. Porchlight’s rich history includes the staging of more than 60 productions with 13 Chicago premieres and five world premieres. Through Porchlight’s “Off the Porch” new works program, the musicals of the next generation are developed and given a first audience. The School at Porchlight is Chicago’s new center for music theatre training in the areas of performance, writing and appreciation. The company’s many accolades include 11 Black Theatre Alliance nominations and two awards, as well as a total of 115 Joseph Jefferson Award

nominations resulting in 31 Jeff Awards including three consecutive Best Production awards for Sondheim on Sondheim (2015), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (2014) and A Class Act (2013) as well as Sondheim on Sondheim being named one of the Chicago Tribune’s “Best Theatre of 2015.”

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the final 2015 - 16 installment of Chicago’s hit new musical revue series, New Faces Sing Broadway. This edition, conceived and directed by Michael Weber and Chris Carter with music direction by Nick Sula, hosted by James Earl Jones II and featuring a cast of Chicago’s hottest emerging artists, takes a journey through the best of Broadway’s 1949 musical season via rare multi-media visuals, songs, trivia games and sing alongs in New Faces Sing Broadway 1949, Tuesday, June 7 at 8 p.m. at Uptown Underground, 4707 N Broadway. Tickets are $22, with no drink minimum and are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling 773.777.9884.

# # #

Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from the Actors’ Equity Foundation, the Arts Work Fund at the Chicago Community Trust, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Prince Foundation, the National Association of Realtors, the Bloomberg Philanthropies, James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation, Cooper’s: A Neighborhood Eatery and The Saints. The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.