Porchlight Music Theatre's ICONS Gala to Honor E. Faye Butler
By: Tyler Peterson Jan. 26, 2016
The ICONS Gala is Porchlight's signature benefit event, paying tribute to a person who has forever changed the landscape of American music theatre. This year's icon is Ethel Merman, a person who truly exemplifies the ICON moniker. Merman was a legend both in her own time and beyond it. She is best known for her gutsy, powerful musical comedy performances, her brassy style and a powerful mezzo-soprano voice. Beloved by critics, crowds and composers including Irving Berlin, who wrote the song for which she may be most famous, "There's No Business Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun. Berlin said of Merman, "You give her a bad song, and she'll make it sound good. Give her a good song, and she'll make it sound great. And you'd better write her a good lyric. The guy in the last row is going to hear every syllable." Chicago's leading performers entertain the gala crowd with selections from Merman's career performing the work of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and more.
Another highlight of the ICONS Gala is the presentation of this year's Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago honoring one of the Chicago community's own music theatre masters to E. Faye Butler. Past recipients include director Dominic Missimi, actors Paula Scrofano and Hollis Resnik, music director/conductor Doug Peck and director/artistic director L. Walter Stearns.
ABOUT E. FAYE BUTLER, 2016 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago recipient
E. Faye Butler, a member of Porchlight Music Theatre's advisory board, may be seen as "Motormouth Maybelle" in Hairspray at The Paramount Theatre through February 21. She recently starred in the Chicago premiere of Unspeakable and has appeared at the Goodman in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Pullman Porter Blues, Crowns, Ain't Misbehavin', A Christmas Carol and Purlie. Other Chicago credits include Thoroughly Modern Millie and Little Shop of Horrors at Marriott Theatre; The Little Foxes, La Bête, Once in a Lifetime and the title role in Caroline, or Change at Court Theatre; Crumbs from the Table of Joy at Steppenwolf Theatre Company; Seussical! at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Could It Be Magic? The Barry Manilow Songbook at Mercury Theater; Hello, Dolly!, Hot Mikado and Sophisticated Ladies at Drury Lane Theatre and Black Pearl Sings, Ella, Dinah Was and various New Year's Eve musical concerts at Northlight Theatre, among others. National and regional tours include Mamma Mia!, Dinah Was, Ain't Misbehavin', Nunsense, Don't Bother Me and I Can't Cope. Regionally, she has appeared in Trouble in Mind, Polk County, Oklahoma! and Pullman Porter Blues at Arena Stage in Washington, DC; Dancing With the Holy Ghosts at the New York Film and Play Festival; Saving Aimee and The Gospel According to Fishman at Signature Theatre; The Wiz at La Jolla Playhouse; Once on This Island at Baltimore's Centerstage; Purlie at Pasadena Playhouse and Pullman Porter Blues at Seattle Repertory Theatre. She is the recipient of six Jeff Awards, four Black Theater Alliance Awards, an After Dark Award, a John Barrymore Award, a Rockford Area Music Industry Award, two Helen Hayes Awards, an Excellence in the Arts Award, a Kathryn Lampkey Award and an Ovation Award. Butler was the recipient of the 2011 Sarah Siddons Society Leading Lady Award; she was also named a 2012 Lunt Fontanne Fellow and was inducted into the National Women in the Arts Museum in Washington, DC, in 2012. 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 2016 ICONS Gala celebrating the legendary woman whose name is synonymous with Broadway, Ethel Merman, Sunday, May 1, 2016 11:00 a.m. - 2 p.m., at the Grand Ballroom, InterContinental Chicago Magnificent Mile, 505 N. Michigan Ave. The Gala includes performances from Chicago's leading talents celebrating the rich career of Merman, the presentation of the 2016 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago to E. Faye Butler and silent and live auctions. Proceeds from the event and its accompanying auction benefit Porchlight's educational programs and productions. Tickets are on sale now and required advance purchase, $125 before April 15, $150 after April 15, $50 for children ages 18 years old and younger are available at 773.777.9884 or at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
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