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Porchlight Music Theatre 2012-2013 Season to Include PAL JOEY, GIFTS OF THE MAGI

By: Mar. 05, 2012

Michael Weber, Artistic Director of Porchlight Music Theatre, announces Porchlight's 18th season. The season includes the Chicago premiere of A Class Act, September 1 – October 14; a new to Chicago holiday production of The Gifts of the Magi, November 17 – December 30 and two classics of the American musical canon: Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, February 2 – March 17, 2013 and Pal Joey, April 20 – June 2, 2013. Weber described Porchlight's 2012 – 2013 18th season as "Continuing the path we began in 2011, by presenting Chicago's audiences with incomparable productions that not only entertain but also challenge audiences to see music theatre in a new way." "Early Bird" Season Membership Renewals are on sale March 6 - April 1. New Season Memberships go on sale Monday, April 2 and single tickets to the 2012-2013 season go on sale Monday, April 23. All memberships are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by phone at 773.777.9884.

The Porchlight Music Theatre 2012 – 2013 18th season includes:

A Class Act

A Musical About Musicals

Chicago Premiere/Best Musical Tony Award nominee
Music and Lyrics by Edward Kleban
Book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price
Direction and Choreography by Tammy Mader
Music Direction by Beckie Menzie
Theatre Wit, 1229 West Belmont Ave.
September 1 - October 14

A Class Act, nominated for three Drama Desk Awards and five Tony's including "Best Musical," is a "musical about musicals" based on the life of one of the award winning collaborators of A Chorus Line, Composer–Lyricist Edward Kleban, who died at the age of 48 in 1987. Kleban's friend Linda Kline and Lonny Price created the story from Kleban's work that was never produced and found after his death.
 
 
Providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how a musical is created and the forces behind its creation, A Class Act, uses flashbacks to retrace the high and low points of Kleban's amazing career and explores how an artist's personal life can inspire or interfere with professional pursuits. The show integrates songs from widely different Kleban projects into the narrative, with the topics ranging from the tricks of songwriting to personal/professional relationships to self-critical examination. Each number establishes a particular moment of insight creating a study of a lost era in show business.

The Gifts of the Magi
O. Henry's American Christmas Carol
Chicago Premiere
 
Music by Randy Courts
Direction by Nick Bowling
Music Direction by Elizabeth Doran
Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
November 17 - December 30
 
Porchlight adds a new holiday family event to the Christmas calendar with the Chicago premiere of The Gifts of the Magi. Drawn from two short stories by the immortal O. Henry, "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Cop and the Anthem," this show transports the audience to Christmas in New York, 1905 where they not only meet the famEd Penniless lovers but also a metropolis of people going about their holiday business including "Soapy Smith," a cheerful bum hoping to be arrested so he can spend winter in a warm cell. 
 
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill
A Musical Biography of a Legend
Direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Rob Lindley
Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont Ave.
February 2 - March 17, 2013
 
It's 1959 and legendary musical performer Billie Holiday is just four months away from death as she steps to the microphone in a seedy bar in Philadelphia for one of her final performances. Though she is there to sing, the audience will find she has a lot more on her mind than music. In addition to featuring a dozen of her hits, Holiday tells the tale of who she is, in her own original style. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill showcases the talents of the strong, yet, fragile woman who pioneered a new way of looking at music while presenting a story fused with drama as much as humor that plays like one of Lady Day's legendary songs.
 
Pal Joey
The Beguiling Broadway Classic
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Book by John O'Hara
Direction by Porchlight Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Doug Peck
Choreography by Porchlight Artistic Associate Brenda Didier
Stage 773, 1225 West Belmont
April 20 - June 2, 2013
 

Pal Joey, the O'Hara, Rodgers & Hart masterpiece introduced the world to the first anti-hero to propel a musical; featuring a musical score including "I Could Write a Book," "You Mustn't Kick it Around," "Zip" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." The story, based on the book by The New Yorker columnist John O'Hara, focuses on the dirty deeds done by the charming cad Joey Evans. Starting a new job at a seedy south side Chicago nightclub, Joey is soon juggling the affections of a naive shop girl and a wealthy society dame who is also married. Once Joey has charmed the socialite into setting him up in his own joint, Chez Joey, he ditches the shop girl and is riding high, playing the big-time operator.  However, life for Joey is never easy and when he is threatened with his affair being leaked to the socialite's husband his glamorous world is turned upside down. 


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