Aurora's Paramount Theatre Will Present ROCK OF AGES, CINDERELLA and More in 2020-21 Broadway Series

Aurora's award-winning Paramount Theatre - the second largest subscription house in the U.S. - announced today the four blockbuster musicals on tap for its 10th anniversary season in 2020-2021:

Rock of Ages, Paramount's 10th season opener, will take audiences back into the iconic music era of the '80s, where rock-n-roll dreamers turn their fantasies into reality. Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Rock of Ages is a Hollywood love story told through the mind blowing hits of top 80s rock bands like Journey, Bon Jovi, Styx, Poison and more. Paramount Theatre New Work Development Director Amber Mak directs. Are you ready to rock? Performances are September 2-October 18, 2020.

Cinderella, the classic musical from the genius minds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, is an enchanting story that will make entire families wish fairy godmothers and glass slippers weren't just for fairy tales. Paramount is planning a mesmerizing new production that gives parents and children a familiar yet reimagined take on the story families have returned to over and over across generations. Performances are November 11, 2020-January 17, 2021.

Groundhog Day, based on the classic Bill Murray film comedy, will be a Midwest regional premiere, produced by Paramount Theatre. Imagine being stuck in a time loop, waking up and realizing you're living the same day over and over and over and over again. Set your alarm to make sure you see this uproariously funny, surprisingly touching and simply inspirational musical comedy, nominated for seven Tony Awards. Paramount Theatre Artistic Director Jim Corti will direct. Performances are February 10-March 28, 2021.

Ragtime, the turn-of-the-century American musical set in the age of "ragtime," a new form of music that electrified the country. But beneath the pounding of piano keys are three different families trying make their way through tumultuous times in a country still experiencing growing pains, class struggle and racial prejudice. Appropriately, Paramount Theatre Artistic Director Jim Corti, who famously played Harry Houdini in the original Broadway production, will direct. Performances are April 28-June 13, 2021.

Paramount will offer the same affordable "Buy Two Shows, Get Two Shows Free" subscription offer, just as it has since it launched its first Broadway Series in 2011. Broadway Series packages start as low as $72. Fees not included.

Renewals begin today, Monday, February 3, at 10 a.m. Current subscribers will be given first chance to secure their seats for all four shows, February 3 through March 29. Non-subscribers can pre-order new subscriptions to get in line for priority seating. Pre-orders are available online only from today, February 3 through Sunday, February 9. Phone and in-person pre-orders begin Monday, February 10.

For information, visit ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or visit the Paramount Theatre box office, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

Paramount Theatre's 2020-2021 Broadway Series:

"Season 10 mirrors a kaleidoscopic panorama of 20th century musical genres blasting off with the '80s rocker flashback of heart and soul and head-bashing fervor, Rock of Ages," said Paramount Artistic Director Jim Corti. "Our family-friendly tradition presenting holiday spectacle ensues with the timeless riches of Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. Time literally and hysterically repeats itself in the 2017 Broadway musical adaptation of the '90s Bill Murray comedy film classic Groundhog Day. In 1902, new music called Ragtime sent the century spinning accompanying industrialization, immigration, class and racial conflict. In this historical fiction exquisitely scored by 1998 Tony Award winning Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, injustice and hope two-handedly play America like an old piano tune at once devastatingly poignant and refulgent, resonant and relevant."

"We have an incredible season in store with stories that rock, enchant, charm and inspire," added Tim Rater, President and CEO, Paramount Theatre.

Rock of Ages

September 2-October 18, 2020

Press opening Friday, September 11, 8 p.m.

Directed by Amber Mak

Book by Chris D'Arienzo

Arrangements and orchestrations by Ethan Popp

Suggested for ages 14 and up, includes adult language and sexual content

Are you ready to rock? Like, really rock?!

Nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Rock of Ages will take Paramount audiences back into the iconic music era of the '80s, where rock-n-roll dreamers line up to turn their fantasies into reality - and you can be in the front row to watch it all come to life.

Rock of Ages is the story of a small-town girl with Hollywood dreams who meets a big-city boy chasing his rock-star fantasies on L.A.'s infamous Sunset Strip. With the historic Bourbon Room as the backdrop, their love story unfolds right where the biggest names in rock got their start - all told through the mind blowing hits of top '80s rock bands like Journey, Bon Jovi, Styx, Poison and more.

Paramount's 10th anniversary season opener will be a show for the ages that will have you singing "Here I Go Again" all the way home. Don't miss this trip back to when rock was king, and every song was a kingmaker. Relive some of the biggest, baddest rock songs of all time including "Just Like Paradise," "Sister Christian," "We're Not Gonna Take It," "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Can't Fight This Feeling," "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and a whole lot more.



Cinderella

November 11, 2020-January 17, 2021

Press opening Friday, November 20 at 8 p.m.

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

New Book by Douglas Carter Beane

Original Book by Oscar Hammerstein II

Orchestrations by Danny Troob

Music adaptation and arrangements by David Chase

Suggested for ages 5 and up

Cinderella, from the genius minds of Rodgers and Hammerstein, the masters behind The Sound of Music and Oklahoma!, is an enchanting musical that will make audiences wish fairy godmothers and glass slippers weren't just for fairy tales.

Experience one of the most beloved and cherished stories of all time like you've never seen it before, live on Paramount's stage with all the spectacle and splendor audiences have come to expect. Paramount is planning a mesmerizing production that gives parents and children a familiar yet reimagined take on the story families have returned to over and over across generations. Experience jaw-dropping magic like never before. From pumpkins that turn into enchanted carriages to tattered rags that suddenly become a beautiful gown, Cinderella will captivate young and old alike.

Fit for a royal ball, Paramount's Grand Gallery will be decked out for the holiday season with a giant two-story, fully decorated Christmas tree and all the trimmings. With its feel-good message for the entire family, Cinderella is the perfect fit for the holiday season that will leave all ages feeling like the impossible is possible.



Groundhog Day

Midwest regional premiere

February 10-March 28, 2021

Press opening Friday, February 19 at 8 p.m.

Directed by Jim Corti

Book by Danny Rubin

Music and lyrics by Tim Minchin

Based on the Columbia Pictures motion picture and the story by Danny Rubin

Orchestrations and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale

Suggested for ages 14 and up, includes adult language and mature content

Imagine being stuck in a time loop, waking up and realizing you're living the same day over and over and over and over again.

Meet cynical weatherman Phil Connors, who is living a never-ending nightmare stuck in a small hick town whose biggest claim to fame is meteorologist groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. What sounds like an outlandish fantasy becomes an insightful look at discovering what you're capable of when you finally lower your defenses, find the selfless person within and make the most of each day.

Based on the classic Bill Murray comedy, Groundhog Day is full of "fertile and feverish theatrical imagination" (The New York Times). Nominated for seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score, Paramount Theatre is beyond proud to present the Midwest regional premiere of this uproariously funny, surprisingly touching and simply inspirational musical comedy.

Will the groundhog see his shadow? Will you want to see this marvelously manic musical again and again? And again and again and again? We think so!



Ragtime

April 28-June 13, 2021

Press opening Friday, May 7 at 8 p.m.

Directed by Jim Corti

Music by Stephen Flaherty

Lyrics by Lynn Ahren

Book by Terrence McNally

Based on the novel "Ragtime" by E. L. Doctorow

Suggested for ages 12 and up, includes adult language and mature content

How far would you go for the American dream? For your family to have a better life?

It's the early 1900s - the age of "ragtime," a new music that is electrifying the country. But beneath the pounding of piano keys is a white, affluent New Rochelle family in crisis, a black piano player from Harlem trying to win back the love of his life while fighting a tragic injustice and a Latvian Jewish immigrant artist determined to give his child a new life in America.

Watch and marvel as three different families make their way through tumultuous times in a country still experiencing growing pains. Set amidst a backdrop of class struggle and racial prejudice, Ragtime reconstructs an era of hard-fought hope and change, whether some want it or not. By mixing historical with fictional characters, Ragtime unpredictably and undeniably moves people, and makes contemporary audiences rethink what it means to grasp for the American dream.

Paramount Artistic Director Jim Corti, who played Harry Houdini in the original Broadway production (go listen to him sing beautifully on the cast recording!) will direct Paramount's 10th anniversary season finale.

To post a comment, you must register and login.