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Chicago's Porchlight Palooza fundraiser goes online to honor Joel Grey

For Porchlight Music Theatre's 25th anniversary Icons Gala scheduled for this past March, event co-chair Donna LaPietra planned to wear a custom-made evening dress sporting the phrase: "Eat. Sleep. Musicals. Repeat."

"That's all you need to live on," laughed LaPietra, a Mettawa resident and longtime admirer of the Chicago theater company famed for its way of intimately re-imagining big Broadway musicals.

The Icons Gale was postponed because of COVID-19. But like so many theaters that have adapted during the pandemic to create socially distant content, Porchlight re-imagined the company fundraiser as a three-night online Porchlight Palooza starting Friday, Aug. 21.

"We had an opportunity to expand and make it more substantial," said Porchlight artistic director Michael Weber.

Michael Weber is artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre.

Porchlight's traditional Icons Gala typically featured dinner, musical theater performances and an appearance by an important theater trailblazer. Tony and Academy Award-winner Joel Grey, the original star of blockbuster musicals "Cabaret" and "Wicked," was this year's honoree.

Weber said that Grey really wanted to attend the gala, especially since Chicago figured prominently in his early career. As a child, Grey toured nightclubs with his bandleader father, Mickey Katz, who specialized in Yiddish spoofs of traditional and American pop songs.

Instead, Grey was remotely interviewed online by local radio and TV broadcaster Bill Kurtis, who is also an event co-chair and LaPietra's husband. Several Broadway stars including Chita Rivera, Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters have recorded greetings in honor of Grey.

Wheaton actress Cory Goodrich is a performer with Porchlight Palooza, a three-day online fundraiser this weekend to benefit Chicago's Porchlight Music Theatre.

There are also filmed musical theater tributes to Grey's long career featuring local (and socially distanced) performers including Jeff Award-winning actress Cory Goodrich of Wheaton. Goodrich was to have starred in Porchlight's canceled summer production of "Freaky Friday," so she's glad to be included in taped musical montages singing "I Belong Here" from the lesser-known 1979 Jerry Herman musical "The Grand Tour" that originally starred Grey.

"That song is now going to go into my audition book, because it's absolutely beautiful," Goodrich said. "I was back onstage singing in front of a microphone, and we were so overjoyed to be together, even if it's only for a couple of hours to work on this music."

Just as the performances needed to be adapted because of the pandemic, so did some of the Porchlight Palooza raffle prizes to help achieve the theater's fundraising goal of $250,000. In addition to Bahamas and Chicago staycation prize packages, there are two celebrity garden tours devised by co-chairs Kurtis and LaPietra with restaurant power couple Rick and Deann Bayless.

The Porchlight Music Theatre 25th Anniversary Committee Chairs are Bill Kurtis, left, Donna LaPietra, and Deann and Rick Bayless. Courtesy of Michael Courier

"We came up with this idea for garden lovers for two tours of really incredible Chicago-area gardens," said co-chair Deann Bayless, who will co-host a Margaritas in the Bayless Garden prize in Chicago. "Part of what we do a lot in our garden is invite people in for fundraisers."

As for Kurtis and LaPietra, they'll offer a tour of their restored prairies and formal gardens on their property in Mettawa.

"We're huge fans," said LaPietra about the couple's strong support of the theater. "Porchlight in Chicago is the place for musical theater."

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Porchlight Palooza

When: 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Aug. 21-23

Aug. 21: Friday's performances include music directed by Michael McBride and feature Brian Acker, Adrian Aguilar, Missy Aguilar, Charissa Armon, Jayson Brooks, Caron Buinis, Lydia Burke, David Girolmo, Lucy Godinez, Sharriese Hamilton, Jermaine Hill, Callie Johnson, Donterrio Johnson, Michelle Lauto, John Marshall Jr., Alexis J. Roston and Stephanie Stockstill. There's also a welcome from co-chairs Donna LaPietra and Bill Kurtis.

Aug. 22: Saturday's performances include music directed by Linda Madonia and feature performances from E. Faye Butler, Matt Crowle, James Earl Jones II, Heidi Kettenring and Gene Weygandt. There's also a welcome from co-chairs Rick and Deann Bayless, plus, the presentation of the Luminary Award to Elaine Cohen and Arlen D. Rubin.

Aug. 23: Sunday features an interview with Joel Grey by co-chair Bill Kurtis, plus a song tribute that includes music directed by Linda Madonia and stars Andres Enriquez, Erica Evans, Cory Goodrich, Christopher Kelley, Laura Savage and Joey Stone. Also featuring celebrity tributes.

Tickets: Free, but registration is required and donations are appreciated; $50 single raffle ticket and $100 for three

Details: (773) 777-9884 or porchlightmusictheatre.org/palooza

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