Auditorium Theatre 2019-2020 Celebrate Sondheim

4 | CHICAGO CELEBRATES SONDHEIM! | NOVEMBER 16, 2019 BIOGRAPHIES Daniels is proud of the various charitable organizations he has worked with throughout his career, especially the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls in Chicago (former board chairman), the DePaul University School of Music (current board chairman), and the Archdiocese of Immigrant Affairs (treasurer). He is also a board member of the Chicago Federation of Musicians and a delegate to the Chicago Federation of Labor. He was appointed to the board of the Illinois Arts Council for a four-year term by Illinois governor Pat Quinn in 2013. Daniels and his lovely wife Kathy have four beautiful children: Rich, Mary Kate, Emily, and Maggie. Heidi Kettenring is best known for her performance as Nessa in Broadway In Chicago’s Wicked . She has worked with Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Northlight Theatre, Court Theatre, Marriott Theatre, Drury Lane Theatre, Writers Theatre, American Theatre Company, Theatre at the Center, Chicago Commercial Collective, and Porchlight Theatre. She performed in the national tour of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Film and television work includes Man of Steel , Chicago Fire , and Cupid . She received a Joseph Jefferson Award for her performance as Anna in Marriott Theatre’s The King and I and has garnered eight Jeff nominations. She is also the recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award, an After Dark Award, the Richard M. Kneeland Award, and two Broadway World Awards. She is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and is a Northwestern University graduate. Paul Marinaro is a jazz vocalist who has performed at venues including the Green Mill, Andy’s Jazz Club, and the Chicago Jazz Festival in Millennium Park. Marinaro’s performances have been named among the best of the year in the Chicago Tribune numerous times. He is a featured vocalist with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and was the sole vocalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2019 production of The Oscar Peterson Story . The Chicago Tribune called his voice “one of the most beautiful vocal instruments in the business today” and he has become one of the most in-demand and respected male vocalists on the scene today. He has released two albums, Without a Song (2013) and the live album One Night in Chicago (2015). He appeared in various Nat King Cole centennial concerts throughout 2019. Johnny Rodgers is an internationally celebrated singer-songwriter, pianist, Broadway veteran, and recording artist who has been described by Stephen Holden of the New York Times as an entertainer “who has show business in his bones.” He tours for the State Department of the United States to places including the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands, and has toured Russia and performed with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. He doubled as a piano player and music director for Liza Minelli performances and tours and wrote the song “I Would Never Leave You” for her Tony Award-winning production Liza’s at the Palace . He has earned Nightlife, Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC), and Bistro awards for his performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and other venues. His songwriting has been recognized with Billboard and ASCAP Foundation Awards. Robert Sims is a vocalist who has been highly praised for his moving interpretations of African American spirituals. He has given numerous recitals of these spirituals throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has appeared with many orchestras in the United States, and toured Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra, where he was featured in a nationally televised performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Opening Prayer . In 2005, Sims made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall and was invited by Jessye Norman to participate in Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy at Carnegie Hall in 2009. He has appeared with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in two international telecasts and has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Symphony Center, the Auditorium Theatre, the Harris Theater, and the Goodman Theatre. Sims is a Professor of Voice at Northeastern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL.