Robbie Ellis of WFMT emceed the pre concert talk, featuring conductor Lucas Waldin for the first 10 minutes before he had to leave to prepare for the concert.

Then the program went off the rails. Ellis and his other two guests, neither of whom I have any clue about, started comparing jukebox musicals to elements of Harry Potter. Half the attendees, myself included, had no idea what they were talking about.

Then, just as I was ready to bail, Ellis turned the discussion to a jukebox musical coming to town in 2025. Without going into detail, let me say that I, and the Porchlight Music Theatre (co producer of said show, Titanique, with Broadway in Chicago) Board of Directors sitting next to me, let our presence and enthusiasm be known, leading to a short dialogue with Ellis, who praised Porchlight, leading to cheering from the crowd.

It was then on to the concert itself, which consisted of a wonderful array of songs, energetically performed, and more costume changes by Lakisha Jones and Chloe Lowery in 90 minutes than I make in a year.

It was two shows in one, as a woman sitting three rows in front of me relived her youth throughout, while the man who appeared to be her husband sat stoically next to her, apparently no longer excited by her singing and chair dancing to the music.