“I guess we’re gonna keep that tape rollin.’”
That’s Sun Studios’ Sam Phillips’ line in Million Dollar Quartet, and it’s true of Paramount’s smash hit new production, now extended through June 29, 2025 at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G in downtown Aurora.
Paramount’s Million Dollar Quartet is like none other, custom produced as an immersive experience in Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, where it has been playing to sold-out audiences since this wildly popular jukebox musical about four rock music legends inaugurated Paramount’s new theater last July.
(from left) Garrett Forrestal plays Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Scott Sheets is Johnny Cash, Alex Swindle plays Elvis Presley, and Adam Wesley Brown has joined the cast as Carl Perkins in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, in Aurora. Performances have been extended through June 29, 2025. Brown plays Carl Perkins through December 29, then Matt McClure will take over the role in January. Credit: Alex Toth for Jennifer Heim Photography
That’s when Barbara Vitello of the Daily Herald called Paramount’s new immersive staging of Million Dollar Quartet “a roof-rattling…rapturous celebration of early rock ‘n’ roll. Four stars.” Dean Richards with WGN-TV/AM said the experience is “like stepping into Sun Records where one special night took place."
Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune wrote “this exuberant new take really is all about trying to include the audience in the jam session” noting Paramount’s Million Dollar Quartet in the new Stolp Island Theatre is “another example of how much the success of the nonprofit, audience-focused Paramount has transformed the center of Aurora into a live entertainment destination.”
Don’t miss Paramount’s radically unique restaging of Million Dollar Quartet, a three-time Tony Award nominee, including Best Musical, boasting incredible performances of 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.”
In cast news, Adam Wesley Brown has joined the company as Carl Perkins and will wear Perkins’ blue suede shoes through December 29. Paramount audiences will recall Brown as Paramount’s original Carl Perkins in its Jeff-nominated Broadway Series production of Million Dollar Quartet in 2017.
Adam Wesley Brown has joined the cast of Paramount Theatre’s immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet. He’ll play Carl Perkins through December 29, then Matt McClure will take over the role starting January 8. Credit: Alex Toth
Starting in January, Matt McClure will make his Paramount debut, taking over the role of Carl Perkins. McClure is a traveling actor/musician, known for his performances all around the country playing the title role in another famous rock ‘n roll jukebox musical, Buddy Holly in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story.
McClure will join Paramount’s original Million Dollar Quartet cast members Garrett Forrestal as Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Scott Sheets as Johnny Cash, Alex Swindle as Elvis Presley, Dan Leali as Fluke, Madison Palmer as Dyanne, Sam Pearson as Sam Phillips, Jake Saleh as Brother Jay and Haley Jane Schafer as Marion. Understudies include Michael Kurowski, Roy James Brown, Brian Grey, Jordan Alexander Goulding, Drew Mitchell and Haley Jane Schafer.
Originally extended through Sunday, December 29, following a holiday break December 30 through January 7, 2025, performances of Million Dollar Quartet will pick back up on Wednesday, January 8 and run through June 29, 2025: 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. Tickets remain just $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.
Watch the new sizzle video for Paramount's immersive new production of Million Dollar Quartet.
(from left) Garrett Forrestal plays Jerry Lee Lewis, Adam Wesley Brown is Carl Perkins (through December 29), Alex Swindle plays Elvis Presley and Bill Scott Sheets is Johnny Cash, here reenacting the famous photo from their 1954 Sun Studio recording session in Million Dollar Quartet. Credit: Alex Toth for Jennifer Heim Photography
Welcome to Sun Studios, December 4, 1956. Please step inside…
When audiences step inside Stolp Island Theatre’s lobby, they’ll feel like they’ve stepped back in time to December 5, 1956, outside Sun Studio in Memphis, at Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre, 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, in downtown Aurora. Credit: Amy Nelson
As soon as audiences step inside Stolp Island Theatre’s inner lobby, they’ll feel like they’ve stepped back in time to December 5, 1956, outside Sun Studio in Memphis. Credit: Amy Nelson
When audiences step foot into the lobby of Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, they feel like they’ve stepped back in time to December 4, 1956, right outside the Sun Records recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee. They can take a selfie in front of the Sun Studios entrance, astride a vintage motorcycle, check out displays revealing the history of the play, and step up to the Taylor’s Good Food concession counter to order an old-fashioned Moon Pie, a vintage Pepsi, a can of Elvis Juice IPA beer, or other snacks and beverages, all affordably priced.
They then walk through a replica of Sun Studio owner Sam Pearson’s office to enter a theatrical recreation of the actual recording studio, 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 ‘n’ roll history. The recording studio is lined on two sides with just 98 seats, where audiences are treated to a personal, intimate, one-of-a-kind live musical theater experience, fully immersed by amazing talent and the dazzling production values audiences have come to expect from Paramount.
Directors Jim Corti and Creg Sclavi worked with a “million dollar” production team on Million Dollar Quartet including Kory Danielson, music director; Jeffrey D. Kmiec, scenic designer; Matt Guthier, costume designer; Greg Hofmann, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Mike Tutaj, projections designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; Jonathan Berg-Einhorn, properties designer; Ethan Deppe, electronic music designer; Susan Gosdick, dialect coach; Max Fabian, fight and intimacy director; Devon Hayakawa, dramaturg; Bill Scott Sheets, associate music director; Rebecca J. Lister, stage manager; and Emily Hanlon, assistant stage manager. Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrex. Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrix.
Meet the band
Adam Wesley Brown (Carl Perkins, through December 29) starred in Paramount’s Hand to God and played Carl Perkins in Million Dollar Quartet in 2017. Other credits include Broadway: Once. Regional: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern... (Helen Hayes Award Nomination, Folger Shakespeare Library), The Woman in Black (First US National Tour), Long Way Go Down (Jeff Award Nomination, Jackalope Theatre), The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Book of Joseph and Macbeth (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Film/TV: Widows, Justified: City Primeval and Chicago Fire.
Garrett Forrestal (Jerry Lee Lewis) is making his Paramount debut. Since his first production of Million Dollar Quartet in 2022, Forrestal has dreamt of doing the show in an intimate space. He has performed all over the country and is especially excited to call Chicago home for the next bit of time.
Bill Scott Sheets (Johnny Cash) returns to Paramount after playing Johnny Cash in its acclaimed 2017 Broadway Series production of Million Dollar Quartet. His credits include Million Dollar Quartet Christmas (2021, 2022, 2023 national tour and original cast album), Million Dollar Quartet (Norwegian Cruise Line and more) and Ring of Fire (Drury Lane, Palace Theater). Concert performances include Cash vs. The King, Million Dollar Reunion and December of ‘63. billscottsheets.com
Alex Swindle (Elvis Presley) is a singer, musician, National Grand Champion and 2015 Ultimate Elvis Top Ten World Finalist from Birmingham, Alabama. Growing up in a household of musicians, Swindle discovered his passion for performing at a very young age. After twelve years of performing as an Elvis tribute artist, he brings to the stage the thrill and charged atmosphere that’s reminiscent of young Elvis in his Sun record days of 1956. A genuine southern gentleman, Swindle presents to his audience a raw talent and compelling charm much like Elvis at the beginning of his career.
Garrett Forrestal (center) plays Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre.Credit: Liz Lauren
Sam Pearson (left) plays Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Studio, and Alex Swindle plays Elvis Presley in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
Director bios
Jim Corti (Paramount Artistic Director, co-director, Million Dollar Quartet) is fresh from co-directing Paramount’s 12th Broadway Series finale, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, with Johanna McKenzie Miller. Corti inaugurated Paramount’s Broadway Series with President and CEO Tim Rater in fall 2011 with the critically acclaimed My Fair Lady and a subscriber base of 12,500 patrons. In 2015, Paramount’s Broadway Series became Jeff Award eligible. Since then, Paramount has garnered 115 nominations with 29 wins, including three consecutive Best Large Musical awards for Les Misérables, West Side Story and Sweeney Todd. Corti helmed all three, and won Best Director for two of them, Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd. Corti also directed Paramount’s Fiddler on the Roof, Miss Saigon, RENT, The Who’s Tommy, Oklahoma!, Mamma Mia!, Million Dollar Quartet, Once, The Producers, Newsies, Groundhog Day: The Musical, Next to Normal, and co-directed Into the Woods, A Streetcar Named Desire and Fun Home. A Broadway veteran, he appeared in the original New York casts of Ragtime and Candide, joined the long running A Chorus Line, and toured nationally in Urinetown, Cabaret and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’. Other highlights include being the only director to have two productions in the same year in the Chicago Tribune’s 2009 list of 10 Best Shows for Drury Lane’s Cabaret and Writers Theatre’s Oh, Coward! He remains the sole honoree to have won Jeff Awards as an actor (Marriott’s Grand Hotel), choreographer (Drury Lane’s Singin’ in the Rain) and director (Paramount’s Sweeney Todd and Les Misérables, Drury Lane’s Sweet Charity and Northlight’s Blues in the Night).
Creg Sclavi (Stolp Island Theatre Project Manager, co-director, Million Dollar Quartet) has spent the past year project-managing the construction of the new Stolp Island Theatre. His credits include associate director, Next to Normal (Paramount’s BOLD Series) and assistant director, Murder on the Orient Express (Maltz Jupiter) and Dead Man’s Cell Phone (FSU/Asolo). Sclavi earned a BFA in Musical Theatre at UW-Stevens Point, and a MFA in Acting at FSU/Asolo Conservatory). cregsclavi.com
Garrett Forrestal plays Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
Sam Pearson (right) plays Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Studio, and Hayley Jane Shafer plays his studio assistant, Marion, in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
Madison Palmer plays Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
Dan Leali (left) plays Fluke, Jake Saleh is Brother Jay, (behind in the booth, from left) Hayley Jane Shafer is studio assistant, Marion, and Sam Pearson plays Sun Studio founder Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
Buy a Moon Pie, Cracker Jacks, a Schlitz beer, a retro label Pepsi or an affordably priced cocktail at Taylor’s Good Food. It’s part of the Memphis streetscape lobby experience, and doubles as concessions, at Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Amy Nelson
Authentic 1950s favorites like Moon Pies and Schlitz are popular concessions and part of the experience at Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Amy Nelson
About Paramount Theatre
Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., is the center for performing arts in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. The beautiful, 1,843-seat theater, graced with a strong 1930s Art Deco influence and original Venetian décor, nationally known for its high-quality productions, superb acoustics and historic grandeur, has been downtown Aurora’s anchor attraction since 1931.
Since launching its own Broadway Series in 2011, Paramount has amassed more than 37,000 subscribers, making it the largest subscription house in the U.S.
For over 50 years, the Joseph Jefferson Awards has recognized excellence in Chicago area theater. Paramount has been honored to earn 124 Jeff nominations and 31 wins over the last nine years of eligibility, including six Jeff Awards in 2022 for Kinky Boots, including Best Musical-Large, Paramount’s fourth win in that category following Sweeney Todd (2017), West Side Story (2016) and Les Misérables (2015).
Paramount Theatre is one of five live performance venues overseen by the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA). ACCA also programs and manages the 165-seat Copley Theatre, home to Paramount’s BOLD Series, at 8 E. Galena in the North Island Center; Stolp Island Theatre, now open at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, with a critically acclaimed immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet; RiverEdge Park, downtown Aurora’s outdoor summer concert venue at 360 N. Broadway; and the Paramount School of the Arts, all located in downtown Aurora.
Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority; Jim Corti, Artistic Director, Paramount Theatre; a dedicated Board of Trustees and a devoted staff of live theater and music professionals.
For updates, follow @ParamountAurora on Facebook, Instagram and @paramountarts on LinkedIn.