Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce its 31st season launching with the ICONS Gala, honoring Tony and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Uggams, Sunday, Sept. 14; then continues with the 10th anniversary edition of New Faces Sing Broadway with New Faces Sing Broadway 1960, Tuesday, Sept. 30; with the latest project in Porchlight’s new works development series, Off The Porch, Making Marilyn Miller - An Immersive Musical, in fall; and the premiere of a holiday musical celebration, Porchlight Sings the Season, Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9; and the 2025 - 2026 season continues on the mainstage, a return of the Chicago smash hit The Irish … And How They Got That Way, January 31 - March 15, 2026. The 31st season continues with a new edition of Porchlight In Concert featuring Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s legendary Follies, Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26, 2026; and the return of its annual fundraising concert with the latest edition, Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion and concludes with a return of Porchlight’s signature free, outdoor summer concert series, Broadway in Your Backyard. The 2025 - 2026 subscription series includes Porchlight Sings the Season, The Irish … And How They Got That Way and Porchlight In Concert: Follies. Renewal subscriptions begin Tuesday, Aug. 12 at 12 p.m. New subscriptions begin Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 12 p.m. via PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Porchlight Follies Passes will also go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 12 p.m. offering early access to Follies single tickets. Current box office hours may be found at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org and are updated weekly.
Porchlight Music Theatre’s 31st Season includes, chronologically:
ICONS Gala Celebrating Leslie Uggams
Sunday, Sept. 14 at 11 a.m.
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Directed by Linda Madonia
The Ritz-Carlton Chicago at Water Tower Place, 160 E. Pearson St.
Tickets: $500 with sponsorship opportunities available
The ICONS Gala may be added to 2025 - 2026 subscription orders as a separate event.
Single tickets are on sale now.
The 2025 ICONS Gala celebrates the incredible life and career of Tony and Emmy Award-winner Leslie Uggams with performances from her legendary career by Porchlight favorites including Tony Award-nominated Felicia P. Fields, co-hosted by Broadway’s Kenny Ingram, with a live on-stage interview with WGN’s Paul Lisnek, highlights from Porchlight’s educational and community initiatives, the presentation of the 2025 Luminary Award to Brenda and James Grusecki and a deluxe brunch buffet.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1960
Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Directed by Frankie Leo Bennett
Music Directed by Micky York
Hosted by Johanna McKenzie Miller
Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave.
New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 may be added to 2025 - 2026 subscription orders as a separate event.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 26 at 12 p.m.
The 2025 - 2026 season marks the 10th anniversary of one of Porchlight’s most popular series, New Faces Sing Broadway. This concert introduces audiences to the next generation of Chicago music theatre artists and, with a celebrity host, takes them on a musical journey from the start to finish of an entire Broadway season in 90 minutes. Past editions have focused on the seasons 1957 (The Music Man, Lil’ Abner, My Fair Lady), 1970 (Company, 1776, Applause), 2002 (The Full Monty, The Producers, Urinetown) and others. New Faces Sing Broadway 1960 features hit songs from Bye, Bye Birdie, Camelot, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, West Side Story and others as well as sing-alongs, a trivia contest with prizes and more.
Off The Porch: Making Marilyn Miller - An Immersive Musical
Fall 2025
Book and lyrics by David H. Bell
Music by Ira Antelis
Porchlight’s new work developmental series, Off the Porch, hosts Making Marilyn Miller - An Immersive Experience. Making Marilyn Miller follows the audition process for a modern musical based on the life of the great music theatre icon of the 1920s. Three women are the finalists for this role of a lifetime and in the audition process, they explore the complex, contradictory, meteoric success of one of the theatre's first superstars.
Marilyn Miller starred in her first Ziegfeld Follies in 1918 when she was only 22 years old. She became the highest paid performer on Broadway and Hollywood and was the embodiment of the "modern flapper" and a symbol of the Jazz Age.
Porchlight Sings the Season
Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Directed by Brenda Didier and Michael Weber
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Rhapsody Theater, 1328 W. Morse Ave.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
Porchlight Sings the Season celebrates the holidays with music from Broadway and Hollywood with Porchlight luminaries performing songs from Mame, Meet Me in St. Louis, Holiday Inn and others. This premiere offers a musical respite from the holiday stress with an unforgettable evening of festive entertainment, a salute to Chicago holidays past, warm cookies, sing-alongs, an ugly Christmas sweater contest and more.
The Irish … and How They Got That Way
January 31 - March 15, 2026
By Frank McCourt
Original Musical Arrangements by Rusty McGee
Directed by David Girolmo
Music Directed by David Fiorello
Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
The uplifting story of an American immigrant journey, The Irish … and How They Got That Way is an irreverent history of Ireland through the tumultuous 20th and 21st centuries seen through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man) whose razor sharp wit, coupled with his trademark satirical irony and boundless love for the Irish People are all underscored by humor, heartache and a glorious score that spans 100+ years from “Danny Boy,” “Galway Bay” and “The Rare Old Times” to “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra” and U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I Am Looking For.”
Porchlight In Concert: Follies
Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 26, 2026 at 2 p.m.
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by James Goldman
Directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber
Music Directed by Linda Madonia
Studebaker Theater, 410 S. Michigan Ave.
Single tickets go on sale Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 12 p.m.
Porchlight In Concert debuted in 2024 with sold out performances of Sunday in the Park with George and this season returns to the Studebaker for a limited engagement of another Stephen Sondheim classic, Follies. Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Score, Follies shares the reunion of the legendary "Weismann Follies" company on the eve of their crumbling theater's demolition, to reminisce about their past and confront their futures with a rich score that celebrates show music of the 20s - 40s. Considered to be one of the landmark American musicals, Follies includes the celebrated Sondheim standards "Broadway Baby," "I'm Still Here," "Losing My Mind" and more.
Chicago Sings Broadway’s British Invasion
Spring 2026
Porchlight’s annual concert fundraiser highlights Great Britain’s contributions to the biggest hits of Broadway. Chicago music theatre’s leading performers add their signature style to the musical favorites that premiered “across the pond” in this one-night-only event. From early West End successes like Me and My Girl, Oliver! and Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, to the “rock operas,” Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess and Evita, blockbusters including Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Les Misérables and recent favorites Mamma Mia!, Six, Operation Mincemeat and more.
Broadway in your Backyard
Summer 2026
Porchlight's free, outdoor summer concert series marks its sixth edition in 2026 at parks throughout Chicago. The 60-minute, family-friendly, outdoor performance includes some of the best loved show tunes from Broadway and Hollywood with sing-alongs, a raffle for valuable prizes and more.
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’s 31st season is sponsored by Brenda & James Grusecki.
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; 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.
