Ravinia 2024 Issue 3

NORM LEWIS Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nom- inee Norm Lewis has recently been onstage starring in the national tour of A Soldier’s Play . He also recently starred in Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed Da 5 Bloods and the FX series Pose , and he portrayed Caiaphas in the award-win- ning NBC broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! alongside John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper. Lewis’s upcoming roles include starring in the Amazon Prime se- ries Swarm and Hulu’s musical series Up Here . He returned to Broadway in the fall of 2021 starring in Chicken and Biscuits , having pre- viously appeared in the Broadway revival of Once on This Island and as Sweeney Todd in the Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street , where he earned the Audelco Award for his performance. In May 2014, Lewis—a founding member of Black The- atre United—made history as The Phantom of the Opera ’s first African American Phantom on Broadway. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess . Lewis’s Broadway credits also include Sondheim on Sondheim , The Little Mermaid , Les Misérables , Chicago , Amour , The Wild Par- ty , Side Show , Miss Saigon , and The Who’s Tom- my . He appeared as Javert in Les Misérables on London’s West End as well as in the 25th anni- versary concert special presentation that aired on PBS. Off-Broadway, Lewis has performed in Dessa Rose (Drama Desk nomination, Audelco Award), Shakespeare in the Park’s The Tempest , The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Drama League nomination), Captains Courageous , and A New Brain . His regional credits include Porgy in The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (A.R.T.), Rag- time, Dreamgirls (with Jennifer Holliday), First You Dream, Sweeney Todd , and The Fantasticks . Norm Lewis is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. KAREN MASON Karen Mason has recently been seen onstage as Madame Giry in the North American premiere of Love Never Dies , Andrew Lloyd Webber’s se- quel to The Phantom of the Opera , as well as on screen as Mrs. Marsh on Ryan Murphy’s Halston on Netflix. Among her most notable Broadway credits, Mason originated the role of Tanya in Mamma Mia! , earning a 2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress, and portrayed The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland , having starred as Norma Desmond in Webber’s Sunset Boule- vard during its original Broadway run as well as in Los Angeles. She has also portrayed Velma von Tussel is a Broadway company of Hairspray and Mazeppa (“Mr. Monotony” singer) in the anthology Jerome Robbins’ Broadway . Mason’s touring and regional credits include Chasing Rainbows at the The PaperMill Playhouse, Miss Shields in A Christmas Story ’s first national tour, White Christmas with St. Louis Municipal Op- era Theatre (The Muny), Gypsy with Sundance Theatre and The Muny, and Company with Bos- ton’s Huntington Theatre. Off-Broadway, she won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her per- formance in And the World Goes ’Round . The re- cipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award, Mason is a 14-time MAC Award winner and a three-time Bistro Award winner. Her eight albums include the single “It’s About Time,” written by Paul Rolnick and Shelly Markham; Let The Music Play ; Right Here/Right Now ; The Sweetest of Nights ; When the Sun Comes Out ; Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! ; Better Days , featuring the 1998 Emmy Award-winning song “Hold Me”; and Not So Simply Broadway . She also appears on cast albums of Also, Wonder- land (original cast), And the World Goes ’Round , Jeffrey , and Wonderful Town . Karen Mason is making her Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. RAVINIA JAZZ MENTOR PROGRAM Founded in 1995 with the help of the late Ramsey Lewis and Penny Tyler, then the leaders of jazz programming at Ravinia, and former Chicago Public Schools music administrator William Johnson, the Jazz Mentor Program provides tal- ented high school musicians the opportunity to develop their skills, deepen their connection to music, and create pathways for continued suc- cess. The program was the very first CPS initia- tive of Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play® programs. The Jazz Mentors, a teaching and performing ensemble consisting of eight of Chicago’s finest jazz musicians, give performances and master classes in Chicago Public High Schools. The Jazz Mentors share their enthusiasm with music students and build on concepts taught by school band directors. A central component of the Jazz Mentor Program is the selection (through au- dition) of the Ravinia Jazz Scholars, a group of Chicago’s most talented student musicians. The Jazz Scholars receive intensive, year-round training by the Jazz Mentors, as well as schol- arships and opportunities to perform. Many Jazz Scholars alums go on to study music in college, and several have become professional musicians, including Calvin Rogers, a drummer who was sought out early in his career by Ram- sey Lewis for a recording session, and Franklin Vanderbilt, a drummer who performs with Len- ny Kravitz. Former Jazz Scholars Marquis Hill, Michael Piolet, Kyle Swan, Alexis Lombre, and Carmani Edwards have been participants in the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz. In 2014, Hill won the Thelonious Monk Inter- national Jazz Trumpet Competition, the most prestigious of its kind. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JULY 22 – AUGUST 4, 2024 82 PETERMARKS(LEWIS);GENEREED(MASON)