Light Opera Works News

American Blues Theater concludes its 2017-2018 Season with BUDDY - The Buddy Holly Story, written by Alan Janes, directed by Lily-Anne Brown, with musical direction by Ensemble Member Michael Mahler. BUDDY - The Buddy Holly Story runs April 27 - May 26, 2018 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. in Chicago. 

Porchlight Music Theatre's Mainstage 2017-2018 season concludes with Memphis, April 19 - June 3, at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Memphis, book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music and lyrics by David Bryan, is directed by Daryl D.  Brooks, assistant directed and choreographed by Christopher Carter, music directed by Jermaine Hill and assistant choreographed by Reneisha Jenkins. 

Porchlight Music Theatre announced that Lorenzo Rush Jr has replaced James Earl Jones II in Porchlight Revisits They're Playing Our Song, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and book by Neil Simon, with direction and choreography by Christopher Carter and musical direction by Andra Velis Simon. Porchlight Revisits They're Playing our Song is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, March 6 through Thursday, March 8 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along (previews begin January 26) at Porchlight's new home, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for They're Playing Our Song are $35.

Jeremiah Alsop and Bradley Halverson have joined the cast of Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of YANK! A WWII Love Story.  Halverson, whose recent credits include THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG with Brown Paper Box Company and HIGH FIDELITY with Refuge Theatre Project, is now playing Czechowski, the 'nice guy' of the platoon.  Alsop, a recent graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts, is playing India and is a member of the ensemble.

On Saturday, April 14, 2018, Music Theater Works will celebrate its 2018 season with the annual spring gala benefit at the Sunset Ridge Country Club in Northfield, Illinois.

Porchlight Music Theatre announced that Lorenzo Rush Jr has replaced James Earl Jones II in Porchlight Revisits They're Playing Our Song, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and book by Neil Simon, with direction and choreography by Christopher Carter and musical direction by Andra Velis Simon. Porchlight Revisits They're Playing our Song is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, March 6 through Thursday, March 8 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along (previews begin January 26) at Porchlight's new home, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for They're Playing Our Song are $35. All tickets include access to the popular pre-performance event, Behind the Show Backstory, a multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Weber that discusses the 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 They're Playing Our Song and subscriptions for the entire series are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of YANK! A WWII Love Story will be extended by four weeks due to audience demand. David Zak, Executive Director of Pride Films and Plays, announced the extension today. The hit off-Broadway musical, which opened to the press in Chicago on January 18, is the story of a midwestern boy who joins the Army during World War II, falls in love with another soldier in his squad and is later introduced to the gay underground of the Armed Services through a journalist for the Army magazine YANK. Zak directs the musical, with Robert Ollis providing musical direction and Jenna Schoppe choreography.

Porchlight Music Theatre continues its fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series with Porchlight Revisits They're Playing Our Song, starring Sharriese Hamilton and James Earl Jones II, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager and book by Neil Simon, with direction and choreography by Christopher Carter and musical direction by Andra Velis Simon. Porchlight Revisits They're Playing our Song is presented for three-nights-only Tuesday, March 6 through Thursday, March 8 at 7:15 p.m. and is performed on the set of Porchlight's Merrily We Roll Along (previews begin January 26) at Porchlight's new home, The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Tickets for They're Playing Our Song are $35. All tickets include access to the popular pre-performance event, Behind the Show Backstory, a multimedia presentation, created and hosted by Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Director Michael Weber that discusses the 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 They're Playing Our Song and subscriptions for the entire series are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) 2018 season opens with Gilbert and Sullivan's THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (June 9-17), followed by Cole Porter's ANYTHING GOES (August 18-26), JUDY GARLAND: COME RAIN OR COME SHINE, STARRING ANGELA INGERSOLL (October 5-14), and Stephen Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS (December 22-31).

Asolo Rep will host Inside Asolo Rep: SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and MORNING AFTER GRACE on Wednesday, January 31 at 11am, with refreshments at 10:30am. This insightful special behind-the-scenes panel will feature Peter Amster, Director of MORNING AFTER GRACE, Jordan Brown, Will Shakespeare in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and Henry McClusky/Robert Flowers/Abortion Doctor/Ensemble in ROE, Catherine Smitko, Abigail in MORNING AFTER GRACE and Nurse in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, and Rex Willis, Musician in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE. The discussion will be moderated by Asolo Rep Dramaturg and Literary Manager Paul Adolphsen.

Game on! The Chicago premiere of Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, a 'smart, hilarious, delightful meditation on society, sex and soccer' (The Village Voice), directed by Vanessa Stalling, launches Goodman Theatre's 2018 Owen Theatre season. A 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Wolves follows a suburban girls soccer team as they navigate life's big questions and wage their own tiny battles-with all the 'bark and bite' (Vulture.com) of a pack of adolescent warriors. Hailed as 'one of the year's best plays' (The New York Times), The Wolves is DeLappe's break-out play that recently concluded an off-Broadway run at Lincoln Center Theater. Stalling directs the Chicago premiere with an all-Chicago company.

Casting for Pride Films and Plays' Chicago premiere of YANK! A WWII Love Story was announced today by David Zak, Executive Director of Pride Films and Plays.

Windy City Playhouse announces an expansion in programming with a world-premiere immersive theatrical production, 'Southern Gothic,' premiering February 7, 2017 in an open-ended engagement.

Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) presents PETER PANat Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, December 23, 2017 through January 1, 2018.

Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) presents PETER PAN at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, December 23, 2017 through January 1, 2018.

Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) presents PETER PANat Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, December 23, 2017 through January 1, 2018.

Windy City Playhouse announces an expansion in programming with a world-premiere immersive theatrical production, Southern Gothic, premiering February 7, 2017 in an open-ended engagement. Written by Leslie Liautaud and directed by David H. Bell, Southern Gothic gives audiences the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at a cocktail party in Ashford, Georgia in the 1960s where four couples gather together to celebrate a birthday.

JPAC's Upcoming Production of The Glass Menagerie will feature a professional actress living with disabilities.

Music Theater Works (formerly Light Opera Works) presents PETER PAN at Cahn Auditorium in Evanston, December 23, 2017 through January 1, 2018.

JPAC's Upcoming Production of The Glass Menagerie will feature a professional actress living with disabilities.