VIDEO: Get A First Look At Paramount Theatre's ONCE

Aurora's Paramount Theatre - Chicago's most decorated theater at the 2017 Jeff Awards with the third largest subscriber base in the nation - is excited to present the first Chicago-area regional staging of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Once to close its 2017-18 Broadway Series.

Get a first look at the production in the video!

Paramount Artistic Director Jim Corti and Music Director Tom Vendafreddo, who together helmed the Jeff Award-winning Best Production-Musical-Large for the past three seasons, are teaming up again to stage this modern-day musical about an Irish busker (Guy), his immigrant fan (Girl) and their eventful week in Dublin as they write, rehearse and record songs from which their beautiful love story unfolds.

Barry DeBois and Tiffany Topol, both nationally acclaimed actor/musicians, will play the leads, surrounded on Paramount's glorious stage by fantastically talented co-stars and top-notch production values.

Grand in its themes of love and longing, yet simple and subtle in its execution, Paramount's new production of Once will remind people that in today's world where we're all struggling to connect, often the simplest way is through song.

Previews of Once begin April 25, 2018. Once runs through June 3: 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.; and Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Single tickets to Once are $36 to $64. For tickets, visit ParamountAurora.com, call(630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and two hours prior to evening performances.

The Paramount, located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora, is surrounded by affordable parking and a variety of restaurants. Once is rated PG-13 for some four-letter words and mild sexual innuendo.

People come into our lives for a reason. Sometimes it leaves us with joy, other times with sorrow. But it's what we do with those chance encounters that truly define who we are.

Guy and Girl, as they're known throughout the show, share a fateful meeting on the bustling streets of Dublin spurred by their mutual love for music. Guy is a singer about to give up his dream. Girl is a fan entranced by his music. Their story begins when he tells her of his day job as a vacuum repairman. Lucky for him, she's got a Hoover that "doesn't suck." When she asks him to fix it, she says she can only pay with a song. That song is all it takes for Guy and Girl to fall in love, but with that love also comes baggage. Guy has an ex he can't get out of his head, and Girl has an estranged husband and a daughter. What's holding them back couldn't be heavier, but when it comes to love, the only thing that can stop them is life.

Hailed as "glorious and inspiring," "gorgeous" and "complete magic," Once, based on the Oscar- winning movie, won eight Tony Awards in 2012, including Best Musical, Best Actor and Best Book. Enda Walsh penned the book, with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who also originated the roles of Guy and Girl in the 2007 film written and directed by John Carney. The signature song from Once, "Falling Slowly," went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

For subscriptions, tickets and information, visit ParamountAurora.com, call

(630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in Aurora.

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