Bethany Thomas News

Porchlight Music Theatre annouces that its 2017 ICONS Gala celebrating the career of Broadway legend Hal Prince held Sunday, April 30 in the Atlantic Ballroom at the Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, 221 N. Columbus Drive, broke its records for number of attendees and funds raised, making it the most succesful gala in the organization's 22-year history. The Gala, with honorary chair Paul Lisnek, included special guest Lonny Price and performances from Chicago's leading talents celebrating the career of Hal Prince, the presentation of the 2017 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago to Rachel Rockwell and silent and live auctions. Proceeds from the event and its accompanying auctions benefit Porchlight's educational programs and productions.

The Skivvies will return to Chicago!  This weekend (April 30th at 8pm & Monday, May 1st at 8pm) the comedy-pop, undie rock band is set to play the Uptown Underground.

True blue fans of Stephen Sondheim (this reviewer included) will be drooling over Porchlight's latest offering MARRY ME A LITTLE. This two-hander revue showcases a number of Sondheim's finest trunk songs-early renditions of numbers that were cut from such musicals as FOLLIES, INTO THE WOODS and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. Conceived and developed by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, MARRY ME A LITTLE (which has been revised for this production) introduces audiences to two lonely singles in New York City-known merely as "The Man" and "The Woman." Living just an apartment floor away, these two lament their loneliness, and it becomes up to audiences to decide if the relationship that transpires in the show is real or imagined. The details are a bit foggy as MARRY ME A LITTLE has no dialogue whatsoever, but the piece is ultimately designed to showcase Sondheim's work.

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the final mainstage production it its 2016 - 2017 season Marry Me a Little starring Austin Cook and Bethany Thomas, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and originally conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, with direction by Jess McLeod and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Cook. Previews are Friday, April 14 at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 15 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m. and Monday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. Opening night is Tuesday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with an added matinee performance Thursday, May 11 at 1:30 p.m. NOTE There are no 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, April 20 and  May 11 and no 4 p.m. performance  Saturday, April 22. Tickets to Marry Me a Little are available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Stage 773 box office, 773.327.5252. 

Porchlight Music Theatre presents the final mainstage production in its 2016 - 2017 season, Marry Me a Little, starring Austin Cook and Bethany Thomas, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheimand originally conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, with direction by Jess McLeod and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Cook. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the duo onstage in honor of tonight's opening!

Jeff Award-nominee and HIV+ director/producer Christopher Pazdernik is pleased to announce the 3rd annual CHRIS' BIRTHDAY BELT FEST, a benefit concert for Howard Brown Health on Monday, May 15 at 8 pm at Uptown Underground, 4707 N. Broadway in Chicago. Featuring 40 award-winning musical theater performers from across Chicago and musical direction by Aaron Benham, this year's benefit will feature a record number of performers and a brand new theme: Duets! Tickets, priced at $25, are currently available at uptownunderground.net or by calling (773) 867-1946. Uptown Underground is a 21+ venue; advance reservations strongly recommended.

Writers Theatre Artistic Director Michael Halberstam and Executive Director Kathryn M. Lipuma announce the first Gillian Theatre production of the 2017-2018 season - Quixote: On the Conquest of Self, written by Monica Hoth and Claudio Valdes Kuri, English Translation by Georgina Escobar, directed by Kuri, and featuring Henry Godinez as Don Quixote, September 27 - December 17, 2017.

Route 66 Theatre company has announced the cast and design team for the second show of its ninth season, the Chicago premiere of Halley Feiffer's dark comedy A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY UNIT AT SLOAN-KETTERING MEMORIAL CANCER CENTER OF NEW YORK CITY.

The 3rd annual TEST DRIVE has begun!

Route 66 Theatre Company is pleased to announce the line-up for its 6th annual Mile Markers Benefit Concert: REVOLUTION: SONGS OF PROTEST AND EMPOWERMENT on Today, March 10, 2017 at Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for MILE MARKERS are currently available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2879219.

Route 66 Theatre Company is pleased to announce the line-up for its 6th annual Mile Markers Benefit Concert: REVOLUTION: SONGS OF PROTEST AND EMPOWERMENT on Friday, March 10, 2017 at Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for MILE MARKERS are currently available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2879219.

Join Route 66 Theatre Company at the The Den Theatre THIS MONDAY for an extra February Driver's Seat Reading with an awesome cast! 

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the final mainstage production it its 2016 - 2017 season Marry Me a Little starring Austin Cook and Bethany Thomas, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and originally conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, with direction by Jess McLeod and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Cook. 

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber have announced the final mainstage production it its 2016 - 2017 season Marry Me a Little, starring Austin Cook and Bethany Thomas, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and originally conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, with direction by Jess McLeod and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Cook.

On Friday, March 10th, you can have the great privilege of watching these amazing musical talents rock out at our annual benefit concert!

Relive the music of a generation when the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players (cp2 ) present "Sounds of Change," a celebration of music from the 60s and 70s at City Winery Chicago. From Hendrix to Shostakovich, the transforming world spread its message though the music of the times.

Firebrand Theatre, the first musical theatre company committed to employing and empowering women by expanding opportunities on and off the stage, is pleased to announce its inaugural season, featuring two fully-produced musicals. Firebrand's 2017-18 season kicks off this fall with the Chicago premiere of LIZZIE, a rock musical based on the true-life story of accused axe-murdereress Lizzie Borden. Directed by Victoria Bussert with music direction by Andra Velis-Simon, LIZZIE feature music by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt, lyrics by Cheslik-deMeyer and Tim Maner and book by Tim Maner.

Directors Scott Weinstein and Hannah Dawe and Music Director Jermaine Hill will lead a Valentine's Day themed event, LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE: A concert benefiting Planned Parenthood, the Trevor Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The concert is set to take place at 8PM on Monday, February 13, at Windy City Playhouse (3014 W Irving Park Rd) and will feature several of Chicago's most beloved theater artists including Donica Lynn, Alex Weisman and Jonathan Butler-Duplessis.

When we know tomorrow will just bring more tragedy, why do we get out of bed? Emerging playwright K.M.C. explores that question with humor, a fistful of feathers, and a plethora of plums in  Jocasta, or The Three Plums  by exploring Jocasta's last day behind the scenes of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. 

The 'Driver's Seat' Monthly Reading Series  continues with... THE LAST MATCH by Anna Ziegler.