John R. Powers

Porchlight Music Theatre has announced its 26th season that includes the 2020 - 2021 Mainstage, Porchlight Revisits and New Faces Sing Broadway series. Porchlight's Mainstage and Porchlight Revisits return to the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street with its annual fundraising concert Chicago Sings Andrew Lloyd Webber launching the season taking place at the Museum of Contemporary Arts, 220. E. Chicago Ave.

 Celebrating over 20 years of acclaimed musical theatre training for young thespians, the Centenary Stage Company's Young Performers Workshop returns to the Little TheaterAugust 5 through August 14 with the annual Summer Festival of Shows.  These talented young thespians between the ages of 8 and 18 will present a variety of musical theater favorites including; Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?, Merrily We Roll Along, Miss Nelson has a Field Day, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and the One-Act Festival.

Every year, despite a litany of warnings they come to the Big Apple with big dreams. Warnings like: “You have to pay your dues.” “It's a tough business, kid.” “How are you going to survive?” There's no such thing as an overnight success, yet still they come to be at “the top of the heap,” as Kander and Ebb so eloquently put it. The four young performers featured here haven't yet vaulted to the top of the cabaret heap, but they've certainly made their marks with excellent shows during 2014, while exhibiting the potential to get there. The spotlight is already shining on Chrysten Peddie, Angela Dirksen, Rembert Block, and Kristoffer Lowe.

After reading far too many obituaries claiming, while not exactly mourning, the death of the Broadway musical, insisting that the art form can only be revived by injections of the kind of music that appeals to today's young audiences, I decided to take a night off from cabarets and piano bars a couple of Sundays ago to see what kind of songs were going to save the hallowed grounds of Gershwin, Porter and Rodgers.

The West Allis Players Hold Auditions For 'DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES' 5/17-18

The West Allis Players Hold Auditions For 'DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES' 5/17-18

The West Allis Players Hold Auditions For 'Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?' 5/17-18

The West Allis Players Hold Auditions For 'DO BLACK PATENT LEATHER SHOES' 5/17-18

The West Allis Players Hold Auditions For 'Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?' 5/17-18