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Health & Fitness

Porchlight Music Theatre Concludes Their 19th Season with the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize Winning HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

The Frank Loesser Musical about the Man Who Rises from Window Washer to Chairman of the Board has Direction by Rob Lindley, Music Direction by Kory Danielson, Choreography by Brenda Didier and the “Voice of the Book” is Chicago’s own Bill Kurtis. 

CHICAGO – Porchlight Music Theatre and Managing Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, April 26 – June 1 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. The classic musical comedy, with book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and songs by Frank Loesser features direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Rob Lindley, music direction by Kory Danielson, in his Porchlight debut and choreography by Porchlight Artistic Associate Brenda Didier. Previews are Saturday, April 26 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 27 at 2 and 6 p.m. and Monday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. Opening/press night is Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The regular run schedule is Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is an added matinee performance Thursday, May 29 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $30 for previews and $43.50 for all other performances. Single tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by phone at Stage 773, 773.327.5252. Groups of ten or more may receive discounts on tickets purchased via Group Theater Tix at 312.423.6612 or grouptheatertix.com. 

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, is based on the best-selling 1952 book of the same name. This satirical look at big business follows the rise of one “J. Pierrepont Finch” (Tyler Ravelson) who uses a little How to… handbook to climb the corporate ladder from lowly window was her to high-powered executive.  Finch, with song and dance numbers from Loesser’s prize winning score, navigates the dangers of the aggressively compliant "company man," the office party, backstabbing co-workers, caffeine addiction and, of course, true love.

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How to Succeed… premiered on Broadway with Robert Morse and Rudy Vallee as the leads and musical staging by Bob Fosse in 1961 and ran for more than 1400 performances, as well as garnering seven Tony Awards, the New York Drama Critics Circle award and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The production inspired a 1967 film version with Morse and Vallee and a variety of revivals featuring Matthew Broderick, Daniel Radcliffe, Nick Jonas, Darren Criss, Ralph Macchio, Megan Mullally, John Larroquette, Beau Bridges and Roger Bart.

The Porchlight How to Succeed… cast also includes Elizabeth Telford (Rosemary), Fred Zimmerman (Mr. Biggley), John Keating (Bud Frump), Sharriese Hamilton (Smitty,) Sarah Hayes (Krumholtz/Scrub/Ensemble), Iris Lieberman (Miss Jones), Emily Rogers (Hedy LaRue), Lexi Lyric (Secretary/Scrub/Ensemble), Matthias Austin (Twimble/Whomper/Matthews), Jason Grimm (Bratt), Christopher Straw (Jenkins), Danny Spanguolo (Peterson/Davis/Waiter/Security), Christopher Kelley (Johnson/Coffee Man/Ensemble), Patrick Martin (Tackaberry/Ovington/TV), Michael Kingston (Gatch/Toynbee), Lindsay Prerost (Ensemble), Marina Kondo (Ensemble) and honored television journalist, producer, narrator and news anchor Bill Kurtis as the “Voice of the Book.”

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The How to Succeed… production team includes Bill Morey (costume designer), Erik Barry (lighting designer), Jeffrey Kmiec (scenic designer), Jenna Moran (sound designer), Kevin Barthel (wig designer,), Heather Townsend (assistant director,), Dina DiCostanzo (assistant choreographer,), Julia Zayas-Melendez (stage manager) and Aaron Shapiro (production manager.). 

ABOUT ROB LINDLEY, director
Jeff Award-winner Rob Lindley is a Porchlight Music Theatre Artistic Associate where he has directed Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (Jeff Award-nomination – Best Production) and A Wonderful Life and is currently the associate director of Fifty Shades – the Musical playing in New York and Los Angeles. At Porchlight, he has acted in Children of Eden, A New Brain, Sweeney Todd and Closer Than Ever. For the past nine years, Lindley has played host and director of Porchlight’s highly anticipated annual Chicago Sings… concerts. Recently, Lindley has been seen in Angels in America and Caroline Or Change (Court Theatre); as well as Candide (Goodman Theatre); Bach at Leipzig (Writers’ Theatre) and The Most Happy Fella starring George Hearn (Ravinia Festival). Lindley was nominated for Jeff Awards for his performances in The Dead and Carousel at Court Theatre and won the Jeff Award for Best Actor in a Revue for his work in Oh Coward! at Writer’s Theatre. 

ABOUT KORY DANIELSON, music director
One of the hottest rising music directors now working in Chicago, Kory Danielson was the music director of Haven Theatre’s inaugural production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and their production of The Wedding Singer, played piano in Theo Ubique’s production of Smokey Joe’s Café at The Royal George Theatre and served as assistant music director under Roberta Duchak for Xanadu and Singin' in the Rain at Drury Lane Oakbrook. In Chicago, he has worked with Chicago Children's Theatre, Bailiwick, National Pastime Theatre, and Hell in a Handbag (Trogg, Poseidon, Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer). At The Music Theatre Company, he provided music direction for the last two 48-Hour Musicals, Lucky Stiff in Concert and the last two Young Artists' Programs including Zanna, Don't!. He studied Musical Theatre Performance at Columbia College Chicago where he worked on such shows as Bernarda Alba, Hello, Again, LaChiusa's Wild Party, The 25th Annual...Spelling Bee, Chicago and many others.

ABOUT BRENDA DIDER, choreographer
Multiple Jeff Award-winning Director/Choreographer Brenda Didier is based in Chicago and owns and directs the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, now in its 14th successful season in a brand new 5,000 square foot facility. A Porchlight Advisory Board member and artistic associate, Didier has collaborated with Porchlight Music Theatre on nine productions, most recently directing and choreographing Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Putting it Together and choreographing the acclaimed Pal Joey. Didier has received multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards for both direction and choreography. She has served as a guest instructor and choreographer for Northwestern University, Columbia College, the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Carthage College. Didier has choreographed musicals, industrials, special events as well as productions for Second City's main stage and five installments of Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier's Skyline Stage the summers of 2007-2012.

ABOUT TYLER RAVELSON, “J. Pierrepont Finch”
Making his Porchlight Music Theatre debut, Tyler Ravelson is currently starring in Sons of the Prophet at American Theater Company. He was most recently seen in Sweet Bird of Youth at the Goodman Theatre, Rent (directed by David Cromer), The Original Grease (Jeff Award for Production - Musical) and It’s A Wonderful Life: The Radio Play at American Theater Company; The Nutcracker and Girls vs. Boys at The House Theatre of Chicago; Talk Radio at The State Theatre of Chicago and The Hundred Dresses at Chicago Children’s Theatre. Ravelson also performed in Twelve Angry Men at Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Florida under the direction of Frank Galati (Carbonell Award for Best Ensemble). He is a graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and a member of the rock ’n’ roll band/performance art ensemble Pirates!!!.

ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, currently celebrating its 19th 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 experiences and opportunities for growing, diverse audiences. With the vision of Managing Artistic Director Michael Weber, Porchlight builds on its role as Chicago’s leading music theatre producer. Porchlight’s rich history includes the staging of more than 50 productions with 12 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. Most recently premiered through this process, BEST MUSICAL! A Completely Improvised Musical Comedy! enjoyed a smash engagement at The Second City’s UP Comedy Club. The School at Porchlight is Chicago’s new center for music theatre training in the areas of performance, writing and appreciation. The company has received a total of 73 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations resulting in 26 Jeff Awards, most recently garnering the 2013 Jeff Award for Best Production for the Chicago Premiere of A Class Act

Porchlight Music Theatre’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, April 26 – June 1 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. Previews are Saturday, April 26 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 27 at 2 and 6 p.m. and Monday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. Opening/press night is Tuesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m. The regular run schedule is Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is an added matinee performance Thursday, May 29 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $30 for previews and $43.50 for all other performances. Single tickets are on sale now and may be purchased online at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by phone at Stage 773, 773.327.5252. Groups of ten or more may receive discounts on tickets purchased via Group Theater Tix at 312.423.6612 or grouptheatertix.com. 

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Porchlight Music Theatre is the proud recipient of the Hopie Award from the Lester and Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts and is partially supported by generous support from Actors' Equity Foundation, the Arts Work Fund at the Chicago Community Trust, Chapman & Spingola LLP, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council (a state agency), the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the National Association of Realtors, Peoples Energy and The Saints.

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