MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET Extends at Paramount Theatre

Downtown Aurora, Illinois is gonna be “All Shook Up” this summer, as tickets to a new live, immersive staging of Million Dollar Quartet, the debut production in Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre, are flying off the shelf.

Earlier this month, Paramount offered its subscribers first dibs on tickets, and talk about popular demand: the first four weeks of shows sold out in 30 minutes. The first eight weeks sold out in less than 48 hours. 

When tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday, May 17, Paramount officials announced an immediate extension through the end of the year, December 30, 2024. 

Stolp Island Theatre, Paramount’s third live theater venue in downtown Aurora, is now under construction at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G. At just 98 seats, this unique new space is specifically designed for experiential live theater, meaning Million Dollar Quartet will be presented in such a way that the audience will feel they are part of the show. 

As soon as audiences step inside Stolp Island Theatre, they’ll feel like they’ve stepped back in time to December 5, 1956, inside the Sun Records recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee, where music legends Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins came together and recorded one of the most historic jam sessions in rock and roll history. 

Nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Million Dollar Quartet features some of the biggest and best songs of all time, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” “Hound Dog” and “Great Balls of Fire.”

“Our 2017 Broadway staging of Million Dollar Quartet remains an audience favorite, and has always been one of our top requested shows to ‘bring back,’” said Jim Corti, Paramount Artistic Director and co-director of Million Dollar Quartet. “Not only are we bringing it back, but this new production will be staged in a whole new way, where audiences are going to feel surrounded by amazing musical talent and the dazzling production values they’ve come to expect from Paramount.” 

Creg Sclavi, who is both the project manager supervising construction of Stolp Island Theatre, and co-directing Million Dollar Quartet with Corti, added, “When audiences walk inside Stolp Island Theatre, they’ll encounter dramaturgical displays about the history behind one of the most seminal nights in music history. Making their way through a 1950s downtown Memphis streetscape, they will then step inside a theatrical recreation of Sun Studio, with seats all around. It will feel like Elvis, Jerry Lee, Johnny and Carl are treating them to a personal, intimate, one-of-a-kind live music experience.”

“Downtown Aurora is already a destination for Broadway-caliber musicals in our beautiful Paramount Theatre, thought-provoking works in our intimate Copley Theatre, and live outdoor concerts at RiverEdge Park,” said Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority. “Now, we’re adding a new, immersive theater experience, right on the Fox River. With Paramount’s commitment to doing more and better, and the City of Aurora’s commitment to the arts and downtown, we are becoming the model that others can look to as to how the performing arts can revitalize a community.” 



Previews start July 10. Opening Weekend is July 19-21. Show times are Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. though December 30, 2024.

Single tickets to Million Dollar Quartet are $65. For tickets and information, visit paramountaurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount Theatre box office, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until show time on show days.

Stolp Island Theatre is located at 5 E. Downer Place, facing the Fox River in downtown Aurora. It’s just a block and a half from Paramount Theatre, the 1,888-seat Art Deco palace, home to Paramount’s blockbuster Broadway Series, not to mention the largest subscription base in the nation, and the 165-seat Copley Theatre, where Paramount presents its BOLD Series of more intimate works.

To post a comment, you must register and login.