Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre announces today that multi-award winner Leslie Uggams is the 2025 ICON Award recipient and will attend the signature fundraising event. The ICONS Gala Celebrating Leslie Uggams, is Sunday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m., directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber, music directed by Linda Madonia and co-hosted by Weber and Broadway veteran Kenny Ingram at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago at Water Tower Place, 160 E. Pearson St. The ICONS Gala supports Porchlight’s mission of celebrating the past, present and future of music theatre through its artistic, educational and community programming and also presents the 2025 Luminary Award to Chicago philanthropists Brenda and James Grusecki.
Single tickets are $500 and table reservations are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Sponsorship opportunities are also available, for more information about sponsorship opportunities, contact Development Director Pam Klier at Pam@PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
Porchlight’s annual fundraiser, the ICONS Gala, honors Leslie Uggams, whose career has spanned more than seven decades and includes Broadway, Hollywood, national tours, special events and more. The ICONS Gala includes a full slate of entertainment featuring an interview between the Tony and Emmy-winner Ms. Uggams and WGN’s Paul Lisnek and performances by Porchlight favorites Juwon Tyrel Perry, Ava Stovall, Bethany Thomas and special guest, Tony Award-nominee Felicia P. Fields celebrating Ms. Uggams’s career with songs from Hallelujah Baby!, Blues in the Night, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes and others.
The gala also includes the presentation of the 2025 Luminary Award for Exemplary Leadership and Support of Music Theatre to Brenda and James Grusecki, highlights from Porchlight’s educational and community initiatives, a deluxe brunch buffet with mimosas and wine sponsored by Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar.
The ICONS Gala was launched in 2012 and many icons have been honored throughout its history including Hal Prince, Elaine Stritch, Bob Fosse, Ethel Merman and Fred Astaire among others. In 2020, the ICON Award was established to celebrate a notable artist who has made an indelible contribution to American entertainment and has since been presented to living legends Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie, Ben Vereen and Raúl Esparza.
The Luminary Award for Exemplary Leadership and Support of Music Theatre is bestowed annually at the ICONS Gala and this year it is presented to longtime supporters Brenda and James Grusecki. This honor recognizes an outstanding individual, family or family foundation with a history of philanthropic and volunteer leadership on behalf of Porchlight and music theatre in Chicago, and whose generosity inspires others to philanthropic action. Past honorees include Rick and Deann Bayless and the Bayless Family Foundation, Elaine Cohen and Arlen D. Rubin, Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro, Jim Jensen, Jean Klingenstein, Dan Ratner and the Ratner Family Foundation and Paul M. Lisnek.
ABOUT LESLIE UGGAMS, 2025 ICON AWARD RECIPIENT
Leslie Uggams is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress and singer whose career has brought her from Harlem (The Apollo Theater) to Broadway (Hallelujah, Baby!), the big screen (“Deadpool,” “American Fiction”) to television (“Empire,” “The Leslie Uggams Show”). Perhaps best known for her stirring portrayal of “Kizzy” in the landmark TV mini-series “Alex Haley’s Roots” (Critics Choice Award, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations), Ms. Uggams has performed to critical and popular acclaim ever since her early professional appearances at the age of nine at the famed Apollo Theater in New York City. There she opened for such musical legends as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington. Now, after seven decades on stage and screen, she is a legend in her own right. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Apollo and holds Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Connecticut and the University of Michigan. She has been honored with membership in the Theater Hall of Fame; the American Artist Award by Arena State; the Broadway League’s inaugural Juneteenth Legacy Award; the York Theatre’s Oscar Hammerstein Award and Theatre World’s John Willis Lifetime Achievement Award.
On Broadway, Ms. Uggams made her stunning musical theater debut starring in Hallelujah, Baby! earning both Tony and Theater World awards. Since then, she has starred on Broadway in Blues in the Night, Her First Roman with Richard Kiley, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes at the Lincoln Center Theatre (also the first national tour), King Headley II with Brian Stokes Mitchell (Tony Award nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie and On Golden Pond opposite James Earl Jones. Most recently she appeared in Jelly’s Last Jam at City Center Encores. Off-Broadway, she has won Audelco Awards for The Old Settler, Keb Mo’s blues musical Thunder Knocking on the Door and First Breeze of Summer at the acclaimed Signature Theater. Favorite regional productions include Gypsy, Mame, A Little Night Music, The Rink, Into the Woods, Master Class, Call Me Madam, Blue, Hello, Dolly! and the national tour of Guys and Dolls.
In addition, Ms. Uggams has toured nationally, performing to sold-out audiences, with her autobiographical one-woman musical Uptown/Downtown (LA Drama Critics Circle Award, NAACP Theatre Award, IRNE Award, Broadway World People’s Choice Award) which chronicles her extraordinary career in stories and song. From New York to Boston and Los Angeles, critics have raved, calling her “dazzling,” “indefatigable,” and “delectable!” Ms. Uggams also made theater history by becoming the first African American actress to portray the iconic character of “Mama Rose” in Connecticut Repertory Theatre’s acclaimed production of Gypsy. She also starred in the Encores! presentation of Pipe Dream at New York City Center; and in the world premiere of Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story (Ovation nomination) at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, where she broke the all-time house attendance record.
Her recent feature length films are “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “American Fiction,” Dotty & Soul” and “Nanny.” Streaming and television series include “Fallout,” “Extrapolations,” “The Bite,” “New Amsterdam” and “Empire.” She is set to appear in Season 3 of “The Gilded Age” on HBO. She also has voiced characters for the Netflix animated series “My Dad, the Bounty Hunter,” the Disney animated series “Minnie’s Bow-Tunes” and “The Family Guy.” Other prominent film and TV appearances include “Skyjacked;” “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks;” “Nurse Jackie;” “The Good Wife;” “Memphis Beat” and “NYC 22”. Her still vibrant television career, which began at the age of six portraying Ethel Waters’ niece on the TV series “Beulah,” spans decades. As a teenager she famously won a $12,500 college scholarship on “Name That Tune” and as a regular on “Sing Along with Mitch” she was the first African American performer to be featured on a weekly national primetime television series. Other early guest appearances included “Your Show of Shows,” “The Milton Berle Show,” “The Arthur Godfrey Show” and “The Ed Sullivan Show.” In 1970, she hosted her own primetime variety series, “The Leslie Uggams Show.” Later starring roles included her award-winning portrayal in “Alex Haley’s Roots,” the miniseries “Backstairs at the White House,” the ABC-TV movie “Sizzle,” the HBO special “Christmas at Radio City Music Hall” and her Emmy-winning duties as co-host of the NBC-TV series “Fantasy.”
While a student at Julliard School in New York, Ms. Uggams released the first of 10 solo albums she was to record for Columbia Records. Later she signed with Atlantic Records. Her newest CDs are “Leslie Uggams: Uptown/Downtown;” “On My Way to You: The Songs of Marilyn and Alan Bergman” and “Wishing You a Happy New Year” with the Curtis McKonly Orchestra. She can also be heard on the cast album of “Pipe Dream.”
In concert, Ms. Uggams toured with Peter Nero and Mel Torme; performed at the Hollywood Bowl in “Jerry Herman’s Broadway” and appeared as a guest soloist with numerous symphony orchestras across the country, including The National Symphony Orchestra, The Cincinnati Pops, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and The Rhode Island Symphony. In addition, she performed before 300,000 people during the “Memorial Day Concert” on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol which was also broadcast live by PBS to millions of viewers nationwide. June 1 is now considered “Leslie Uggams Day” from that performance.
For more information, please visit her online at LeslieUggams.com, Facebook.com/LeslieUggams, YouTube.com/SmagguProductions and on Instagram @LeslieUggams1.
ABOUT BRENDA AND JAMES GRUSECKI, 2025 LUMINARY AWARD FOR EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP AND SUPPORT OF MUSIC THEATRE RECIPIENTS
Brenda and James Grusecki enjoy, champion and support the many cultural opportunities that Chicago offers. Together they administer the James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation that funds education, the arts and housing and social services. Brenda Grusecki is a lifelong learner and advocate for the humanities. She chaired the English Division of Oak Park and River Forest High School, instructed and supervised student teachers at Northwestern University and Dominican University and taught the gifted program at Northwestern. Besides her passion for the teaching of English, three non-profit board positions of several have been especially close to her heart: the Thrive Counseling Center of Oak Park and River Forest, Remy Bumppo Theatre Company and the American Writers Museum. James Grusecki is Chairman Emeritus of one of the largest privately owned commercial and industrial real estate development and construction companies in the Midwest, Northern Builders, Inc. Currently, he is an advisory board member of Roosevelt University’s Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate, a director of the First National Bank of Brookfield, a governing member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a trustee of Theatre Aspen. Two quotations have guided the professional and philanthropic work of the Gruseckis, the first from E.M. Forester, “Only connect” and the second, as the pandemic descended, from Yo-Yo Ma, “How do we do everything possible to rebuild the world we really want to live in?”
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 31st 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 nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. 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 which continues this summer.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Arlen and Elaine Cohen Rubin Charitable Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City; Bayless Family Foundation; Bukiety Floral; Chicago Free for All; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; Mesirow Financial; Carol Oppenheim & Jerome Lamet Charitable Fund; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Service Club of Chicago, The Shubert Foundation and Uvae Kitchen & Wine Bar
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency.
Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Allstate; BDO; Comcast; Crowdstrike; Google and The Saints.
2025 ICON Award recipient Leslie Uggams. Photo by Joseph Moran
2025 Luminary Award for Exemplary Leadership and Support of Music Theatre Recipients Brenda and James Grusecki. Photo by Porchlight