PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE ANNOUNCES THE SPRING DATES OF ONE OF ITS MOST POPULAR SERIES WITH NEW FACES SING BROADWAY 1984, FEATURING HOST HONEY WEST, TUESDAY, APRIL 25 AT EVANSTON SPACE AND WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 AT THE DEN THEATRE

New Faces Sing Broadway 1984, Directed by Tommy Novak and Music Directed by Micky York, Takes Audiences Back in Time to the 1984 Broadway Season with Chicago’s Newest Talents Performing Songs from the Hit Shows La Cage Aux Folles, Sunday in the Park with George, Baby, The Rink and others

CHICAGO – Porchlight Music Theatre announces the latest offering in its 2022 – 2023 season, New Faces Sing Broadway 1984, hosted by Honey West*, directed by Tommy Novak^ with music direction and arrangements by Micky York+. New Faces Sing Broadway 1984 takes place Tuesday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Evanston SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave. in Evanston and Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. There will be a pre-show lobby gathering at The Den Theatre beginning at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary appetizers and a cash bar. Tickets are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.

Now in its eighth season, Porchlight Music Theatre’s New Faces Sing Broadway series returns, taking audiences on a musical journey from the start to the finish of an entire Broadway season in 90 minutes. Host Honey West will introduce the audience to the next generation of Chicago music theatre artists while serving as the guide to the stars, songs and stories of the past. New Faces Sing Broadway 1984 includes hit songs from the seminal age of Broadway musicals including La Cage Aux Folles, Sunday in the Park with George, Baby, The Rink and others.

Porchlight’s series is inspired by a set of musical revues produced from 1934-1968 entitled “New Faces” which was instrumental in introducing the public emerging talent with names like June Carrol, Robert Clary, Imogene Coca, Jane Connell, Professor Irwin Corey, Henry Fonda, Alice Ghostley, Ronny Graham, Billy Hayes, Tiger Haynes, Van Johnson, Madeline Kahn, Eartha Kitt, Robert Klein, Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde, Virginia Martin, Bill McCutheon, John Reardon, Maggie Smith, Inga Swenson and many, many more.

Many of the artists who have appeared in Porchlight’s New Faces Sing Broadway series have continued their careers on television, and local and national stages including Neala Barron (Porchlight’s Merrily We Roll Along), Frankie Leo Bennett (Porchlight’s In the Heights), Dawn Bless (Waitress-national tour), Katherine Bourne (School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play at Goodman Theatre), Kayla Boye (Call Me Elizabeth-national tour), Anna Brockman, Tim Foszcz, Haley Gustafson, Josiah Haugen, Cam Turner, Jerod Turner and Evan Wilhelm (Porchlight’s Cabaret), Lydia Burke and Molly Kral (Jeff Award winners [ensemble] Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies), Darilyn Burtley and Max Cervantes (The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera of Chicago), Kyrie Courter (Broadway’s Sweeney Todd), Maddison Denault and David Moreland (Jeff Award-nominees, Cruel Intentions), Gilbert Domally (Broadway’s The Lion King), Andres Enriquez (Jeff Award nominee-Porchlight’s A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), Nik Kmiecik, Ziare Paul-Emile and Alix Rhode (Porchlight’s Rent), 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 (Broadway’s Wicked), Henry McGinniss (Book of Mormon-national tour), Brandy Miller and Bryce Ancil (Jeff Award-nominees She Loves Me), 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, Courtney Mack, Mallory Maedke and Samantha Pauly (SIX on Broadway).

The 2023 season of New Faces Sing Broadway concludes with New Faces Sing Broadway NOW coming this summer.

ABOUT HONEY WEST, host

Honey West (she/her/hers) was most recently seen in Clue and as “Bernadette” inPriscilla Queen of the Desert at Mercury Theater Chicago, (the role she previously received a Jeff Nomination for Best Supporting Actress, in addition to a Best Actress award from BroadwayWorld.com.)  La Cage Aux Folles as “Jacqueline/U/S Albin” at Music Theater Works, “Danni” in Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at Drury Lane Theater and “Mrs. Cratchitt/Electra” in Gypsy at Porchlight Music Theatre. She starred in Dirty Dreams Of A Clean-Cut Kid, Vampire Lesbians Of Sodom, Diva Diaries, Jerry’s Girls, Tony And Tony’s Wedding, As You Like It and Pussy On The House. She was a 2012 inductee into the “Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame”. Currently she is working on a new cabaret act and an autobiographical one woman show. She also landed a co-starring role on Fox’s “Proven Innocent.”

ABOUT TOMMY NOVAK, director

Tommy Novak (they/them/theirs) is a non-binary Chicago-based theater artist, international director, vocal coach and movement specialist. They return to Porchlight where they were seen in Billy Elliot The Musical and Porchlight Revisits Do Re Mi. They directed The Spongebob Musical For Young Audiences (First Stage), Romeo and Juliet (Arkansa Shakespeare Theatre), Songs for a New World (Carthage College) and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Coastline Theater). Additional credits include Fiddler on the Roof (Lyric Opera of Chicago), The Producers (Night Blue; Jeff nomination); Little Shop of Horrors (Mercury Theater Chicago), Hairspray (Skylight Music Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost, King John (Utah Shakespeare Festival), The Music Man andTaming of the Shrew (Arkansas Shakespeare Theater), Rudolph In The Red-Nosed Reindeer™: The Musical and Robin Hood (First Stage). Novak is represented by Paonessa Talent Agency.

ABOUT MICKY YORK, music director

Micky York’s (he/him/his) Chicago theatre credits include Porchlight Revisits Call Me Madam (Porchlight), Whisper House and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Black Button Eyes Productions), Happy End (2007 After Dark Award – Outstanding Music Direction) and Jacques Brel (Brown Couch, RIP) and a variety of musicals over the past 20 years for other theatres that no longer exist. He’s a current member of Dancing Queen: An ABBA Salute and can likely be seen at a street festival near you.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE

Porchlight Music Theatre, now in its 28th season, 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.”

Porchlight’s history over the last 27 years 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 49 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 15 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards and has been honored with seven awards in this tier to date including Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (2019) and Best Production-Revue for Blues in the Night (2022).

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. In 2021, Porchlight launched its annual summer series, Broadway in your Backyard, performing at parks and venues throughout the city.

Porchlight Music Theatre announces the latest offering in its 2022 – 2023 season, New Faces Sing Broadway 1984, hosted by Honey West*, directed by Tommy Novak^ with music direction and arrangements by Micky York+. New Faces Sing Broadway 1984takes place Tuesday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Evanston SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave. in Evanston and Wednesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. There will be a pre-show lobby gathering at The Den Theatre beginning at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary appetizers and a cash bar. Tickets are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.

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The New Faces Sing Broadway series is sponsored by Elaine Cohen & Arlen D. Rubin

Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Allstate; Michael Best & Friedrich LLP; Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation; Elegant Event Lighting; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; A.L. and Jennie L. Luria Foundation; The MacArthur Fund for Culture, Equity and the Arts at Prince; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints and Dr. Scholl Foundation.

The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.