LuPone, McDonald, Mitchell, Stritch, White, et al. Set for 2006 Ravinia Festival

Broadway stars Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Elaine Stritch, and Lillias White will be among the artists featured at this summer’s Ravinia Festival in Chicago, which will run June 1-September 16.

LuPone, a frequent presence at Ravinia, will head the cast of a concert version of Gypsy, which will also feature the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lonny Price will direct the production, which will run August 11-13. No other casting has been announced. White will star in a workshop production of the new musical The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea, based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (September 15-16).

McDonald will team up with Mitchell for the July 15 benefit concert, Gershwin Gala: Rhapsody in Blue and More. She will also conclude Ravinia’s cabaret series, Martinis at the Martin, on September 10. The series will also feature performances by Stritch (Aug. 1), as well as jazz singer Jane Monheit (June 5), Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder (July 18), and the Tierney Sutton Band (August 21).

Other performances of note at the Festival include Madeline Peyroux (June 17), Patti LaBelle (July 26), Tony Bennett (September 1), and Hershey Felder in Monsieur Chopin (September 7).

For more information about the Ravinia Festival, visit www.ravinia.org.