More shows, more variety at Aurora’s Paramount Theatre

The Paramount Theatre in Aurora generally hosts between 30 and 50 performances on its main stage each season.

This season, there will be 138.

The theater’s first self-produced Broadway series, which will include 96 performances of four shows — “My Fair Lady,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “A Chorus Line” and “Hair” — accounts for most of the increase, said Tim Rater, the Paramount’s executive director.

“We’ve had Broadway here before. We’ve presented touring shows. To produce our own is a step away from the norm,” Rater said. “It’s extremely challenging. It’s not easy to do great theater.”

But the theater has more in store than the Broadway series. The 138 performances doesn’t include Classic Movie Mondays, when viewers can see a classic film for 80 cents because it’s the theater’s 80th anniversary, or a monthly showing of a fine art film.

“We don’t expect to make money — we’re just trying to provide opportunities for people to come to the theater,” Rater said about the ultracheap Monday movie nights.

Add in the cheap classic movies and art films, and the theater easily is tripling the number of shows this year when compared with the past.

But never fear — the Paramount is ready to make its Broadway shows and other productions a success this season, Rater said.

The theater needs a “small army” of staff to put on each show, including musicians, designers, lighting technicians, scene and stage building crews, ushers, stage hands, bartenders and of course, actors.

The Broadway shows will bring with them a few extra staffers, including the theater’s first creative director, Jim Corti, who will direct “My Fair Lady.”

Still, the theater is working to keep prices down, Rater said. Tickets for the four Broadway shows range from $17.45 to $22.45 each, and the theater is offering free admission to two shows for patrons who buy tickets to the other two.

“We’re trying to make this affordable. We’re trying to remove barriers,” Rater said. “We don’t want for there to be a reason for people not to come downtown.”

Instead, the theater strives to give Aurora-area residents more reasons to visit the city’s downtown, including matinees and weekday shows that Chris Goerlich Weber, chairwoman of the Paramount’s board, said people are excited about.

“We’re hoping to get more subscribers to not only come in for the regular season but to be drawn in for Broadway,” Weber said. “While the Paramount has always had stalwart regulars and patrons and contributors, we certainly are trying to draw in a different audience and bring in first-time patrons.”

The venue’s varied performances may fill the seats with people of different ages, genders, cultural backgrounds and of course, tastes in music, comedy and musicals, Weber said.

She’s excited to see “My Fair Lady” because she saw it in New York City when she was 6 years old.

“People want to see top-notch Broadway productions and we’re going to provide it,” Weber said.

But she said her 13-year-old daughter is excited to see Kevin Bacon play with his band, The Bacon Brothers. The concert featuring the “Footloose” actor is one of the first non-Broadway shows in the performance season, scheduled for 8 p.m. Aug. 30.

Other offerings range from the Happy Together Tour, featuring cover bands playing rock hits of the 1960s, to “A Christmas Carol” displaying Ebenezer Scrooge and his angry ways; or from the instrumental music experience of “Blast!” to the physical comedy and banter of “The Flying Karamazov Brothers.”

The Paramount is just one downtown Aurora venue, and this is the beginning of just one season of extra shows.

But Paramount staff and supporters are excited about the possibilities, and Aurora officials believe this could be the beginning of an arts and entertainment district downtown.

Paramount season highlights

The Paramount Theatre in downtown Aurora will offer 138 shows on its main stage at 23 E. Galena Blvd. this performance season, which begins in August.

Musical tickets already are for sale; single-show tickets for other performances go on sale June 13. Call (630) 896-6666 or visit paramountaurora.com.

Here are some highlights of the upcoming season:

Ÿ The Bacon Brothers band, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30. Tickets $49.50 to $59.50.

Ÿ “My Fair Lady,” Sept. 14 to Oct. 2. Tickets $17.45 to $22.45 or as part of a four-musical package for $70.

Ÿ Comedian Frank Caliendo, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7. Tickets $55 to $65.

Ÿ Blast! instrumental music, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15. Tickets $38 to $48.

Ÿ Huey Lewis and the News band, 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. Tickets $50 to $75.

Ÿ “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Nov. 2 to Nov. 20. Tickets $17.45 to $22.45 or as part of a four-musical package for $70.

Ÿ “A Christmas Carol,” 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 8; 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9. Tickets $14 to $37.

Ÿ Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl dance troupe, 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17. Tickets $18 to $25.

Ÿ “A Chorus Line,” Jan. 18 to Feb. 5. Tickets $17.45 to $22.45 or as part of a four-musical package for $70.

Ÿ Celtic Fire magic, 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10. Tickets $38 to $48.

Ÿ “Hair,” March 14 to April 1. Tickets $17.45 to $22.45 or as part of a four-musical package for $70.