What if a future Broadway star lives right next door?
The western suburbs could the training ground for the next generation of musicians, artists, and performers. That’s the dream Dylan Ladd, cofounder of the Illinois Conservatory for the Arts, has been working toward. To help with the creating such an academy, he’s bringing some of Broadway’s top names to Naperville for a benefit concert that will give students a taste of just what’s possible. “Our mission is all about bringing a high level of arts training to the community,” he says. “We figured that for this event, we want to showcase who we are as an organization and try to bring the biggest and best to perform for us. It’s really a testament to the musical theater community that they travel here to support children and their passion to do the same thing they’ve done as a career.”
The third annual A Night of Broadway gala will take place February 21 at Wentz Concert Hall in Naperville, bringing together several Tony winners and a 20-piece orchestra to perform selections from musical theater. Those in the all-star lineup include: J. Harrison Ghee, winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Some Like it Hot; Miles Frost, winner of the 2022 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Michael Jackson in MJ the Musical; Amber Iman, a 2024 Tony nominee for Lempicka; Aisha Jackson, who’s played Anna in Frozen and is currently starring in The Notebook on Broadway: and Karen Mason, a native of Arlington Heights who originated the role of Tanya in Mamma Mia! The orchestra will be led by Valerie Gebert, a veteran musical director who has a long list of Broadway credits, most recently The Who’s Tommy.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to see these performers with a 20-piece orchestra,” Ladd says. “We’re putting together a show with the stylings of musical theater, all under a Broadway conductor leading the orchestra. It really ties a lot of what we believe in together in a really unique way.”
It’s rewarding for the gala’s headliners as well.
“This is an exciting thing that Dylan has put together,” says Mason, who has spent a career performing on stages in New York and all over the world. “Who doesn’t want to help kids find their way in the arts? I’m very proud to be asked to be a part of something like this.”
Such support from Broadway veterans is critical for those looking to make a living in the arts, which often doesn’t follow a typical career path.
“A career in any of the arts can be scary for some, especially when they don’t understand what that career can look like,” Ladd says. “What we try to do, at the very least, is showcase people who are successful in this industry. Yes, it is possible to make a living, and we can learn from their stories and their experiences on how they’ve done it, and they will be there as mentors for students as they continue to grow.”
Ladd cofounded the Illinois Conservancy for the Arts in 2020 as a nonprofit educational institution to provide instruction for adolescents and teens. It currently offers year-round classes in music, dance, and theater in addition to weeklong intensive seminars. This fall it aims to start a pilot program for a grade-6-to-12 day school that combines academics with arts training.
“That’s the ultimate goal, to create an arts-focused school curriculum at our own facility in the area,” Ladd says. While the current focus is primarily on musical theater education, Ladd hopes to continue to expand that into additional artistic areas as well as classes for adults.
“It’s an exciting time for us, that’s for sure,” Ladd says. “A career in the arts isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding. This is an event that shows our students and the community just what can be achieved.”
