Paramount Theatre in downtown Aurora is ready to prove the naked truth – anything can be accomplished with the right mix of friends and courage – with its cheeky 2024-25 Broadway Series opener, The Full Monty.
Director Jim Corti and Associate Director Creg Sclavi, fresh from their acclaimed production of Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre, are teamed again to stage this side-splitting musical about blue-collar steelworkers from Buffalo, New York, who trade the unemployment grind for a different kind of grind.
Paramount Theatre’s 13th Broadway Series season opener, The Full Monty, features (from left) Ben Mayne as Jerry Lukowski, Bernard Dotson as Noah “Horse” T. Simmons, Jackson Evans as Harold Nichols, Jared David Michael Grant as Dave Bukatinsky, Adam Fane as Malcolm MacGregor and Diego Vazquez Gomez as Ethan Girard. Credit: Amy Nelson
The songs in this 10-time Tony Award nominee, including “You Rule My World” and “Breeze Off the River,” capture the spirit of the '90s, creating a feel-good experience that challenges stereotypes and celebrates the triumph of the human spirit.
So throw any old thing on top of your birthday suit, and see why Paramount Theatre is the largest subscription theater in the U.S. Previews of The Full Monty start August 21. Press opening is Friday, August 30 at 8 p.m. Performances run through October 6 at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. Single tickets are $28-$85.
Butt wait, sign up for a Broadway Series subscription for as little as $56, and you’ll get Paramount’s “Buy Two Shows, Get Two Shows Free” offer, along with the best seats available for four blockbuster musicals in 2024-25: The Full Monty, the regional premieres of Disney’s Frozen (October 30, 2024-January 19, 2025) and Waitress (February 12-March 30, 2025), culminating with a revival of Cats (April 30-June 15, 2025).
For subscriptions, single tickets and information, 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 until show time on show days. For the latest updates, follow @paramountaurora on Facebook and Instagram, and Paramount Theatre on LinkedIn.
Paramount Theatre’s 13th Broadway Series season opener, The Full Monty, features (from left) Bernard Dotson as Noah “Horse” T. Simmons, Adam Fane as Malcolm MacGregor, Ben Mayne as Jerry Lukowski, Diego Vazquez Gomez as Ethan Girard, Jackson Evans as Harold Nichols and Jared David Michael Grant as Dave Bukatinsky. Credit: Amy Nelson
Times, Dates and Ticket Information
The Full Monty starts previews Wednesday, August 21 at 7 p.m. Opening Night is Friday, August 30 at 8 p.m. Performances run through October 6: Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Thursdays at 7 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Single tickets are $28-$85. Contains adult language and brief nudity.
Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. For tickets and information, 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 until show time on show days. For group discounts, contact Melissa Striedl, melissas@paramountarts.com or (630) 723-2461.
Pay What You Can Performances
Paramount will offer two Pay What You Can performances of The Full Monty on Thursday, August 22 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, September 3 at 3 p.m. Both days, starting at 10 a.m., visit the Paramount box office in-person to request tickets. Limit four per person. Subject to availability. See ParamountAurora.com/Pay-What-You-Can for details.
Access Services
Paramount offers assistive listening devices free of charge at all performances. Check in at the coat room before the show to borrow a listening device
Paramount will offer open captioning on Wednesday, October 2 at 7 p.m. and American Sign Language interpretation on Friday, October 4 at 8 p.m.
If you require wheelchair or special seating or other assistance, please contact the box office at (630) 896-6666 or boxoffice@paramountarts.com in advance.
Paramount Theatre’s The Full Monty: A toe-tapping celebration of friendship
With their backs to the wall, unemployed Buffalo ‘90s steelworkers Jerry, Dave and their pals decide to use their hearty blue-collar work ethic to create a male strip show to pay their mortgages and provide for their families. Facing their insecurities, along with economic, and in some cases, personal, disaster, these taboo-busting boys bare their souls and their bodies. But they’re not just stripping off their clothes. From the unemployment line to the self-made man, these guys are stripping layers and layers of toxic masculinity to expose the true ingenuity of the American spirit – gettin’ it done.
The principal cast for Paramount’s The Full Monty features (top, from left) Ben Mayne (Jerry Lukowski), young actors Will Daly and Ellis Myers (alternating as Nathan Lukowski), Rebecca Hurd (Pam Lukowski), Jared David Michael Grant (Dave Bukatinsky), Veronica Garza (Georgie Bukatinsky), (bottom) Jackson Evans (Harold Nichols), Ann Delaney (Vicki Nichols), Adam Fane (Malcolm MacGregor), Diego Vazquez Gomez (Ethan Girard), Bernard Dotson (Noah “Horse” T. Simmons) and Liz Pazik (Jeanette Burmeister).
Paramount’s cast for The Full Monty features Ben Mayne (Jerry Lukowski), young actors Will Daly and Ellis Myers (alternating as Nathan Lukowski), Rebecca Hurd (Pam Lukowski), Jared David Michael Grant (Dave Bukatinsky), Veronica Garza (Georgie Bukatinsky), Jackson Evans (Harold Nichols), Ann Delaney (Vicki Nichols), Adam Fane (Malcolm MacGregor), Diego Vazquez Gomez (Ethan Girard), Bernard Dotson (Noah “Horse” T. Simmons) and Liz Pazik (Jeanette Burmeister). The ensemble includes Caron Buinis, Lydia Burke, Alanna Chavez, Evan C. Dolan, Tiyanna Gentry, Donovan Hoffer, Kevin Kuska, David Moreland, Lee Palmer, Abby C. Smith, David Stobbe and Matt Thinnes.
Paramount has assembled a stellar design and production team for The Full Monty including Jim Corti, director; Creg Sclavi, associate director; Tor Campbell, choreographer; Kory Danielson, music director and conductor; Michelle Lilly, scenic designer; Izumi Inaba, costume designer; Heather Gilbert, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; Aimee Plant, properties designer; Ethan Deppe, electronic music designer; Violent Delights, intimacy/fight direction; Faith Walh, associate choreographer; Cameron Tragesser, associate music director and associate conductor; Bailey O’Neil, young performer supervisor; Matthew Silar, stage manager; and Emma Franklin and Rachel Campbell, assistant stage managers.
The Full Monty, book by Terrence McNally, music and lyrics by David Yazbek, is based on the motion picture released in 1997 by Fox Searchlight Pictures, written by Simon Beaufoy, produced by Uberto Pasolini and directed by Peter Cattaneo.
Paramount's The Full Monty, features (front to back) Bernard Dotson as Noah “Horse” T. Simmons, Adam Fane as Malcolm MacGregor, Ben Mayne as Jerry Lukowski, Diego Vazquez Gomez as Ethan Girard, Jackson Evans as Harold Nichols and Jared David Michael Grant as Dave Bukatinsky. Credit: Amy Nelson
Ben Mayne (left) plays Jerry Lukowski and Ellis Myers plays Jerry’s son, Nathan, in Paramount Theatre’s 13th Broadway Series season opener, The Full Monty. Myers alternates performances with Will Daly as Nathan. Credit: Amy Nelson
Ben Mayne plays Jerry Lukowski, an unemployed steelworker and would-be male stripper with “a nice rear,” in Paramount Theatre’s The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Jared David Michael Grant plays unemployed steelworker Dave Bukatinsky, a good-natured soul with body weight and self-esteem issues, in Paramount Theatre’s The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Adam Fane plays Malcolm MacGregor, an unemployed mill worker whose self-esteem soars around his new companions, in Paramount Theatre’s The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Jackson Evans plays Harold Nichols, an unemployed steelworker who hides his joblessness while keeping his wife be-decked in upper middle class luxury, in The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Diego Vazquez Gomez plays Ethan Girard, an optimist struggling with unemployment, in Paramount Theatre’s The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Bernard Dotson plays unemployed steelworker Noah “Horse” T. Simmons, an excellent dancer with great dead-pan comedy, in The Full Monty. Credit: Amy Nelson
Paramount Artistic Director Jim 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, Fun Home, A Streetcar Named Desire, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and most recently, Million Dollar Quartet at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre. 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). In addition to Beautiful, Corti is also directing Paramount’s BOLD Series spring 2024 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire with Elizabeth Swanson, March 13-April 21 at Paramount’s Copley Theatre.
Creg Sclavi (associate director, The Full Monty) has spent the past year project-managing the construction and opening of Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre. He also served as co-director with Corti of its inaugural production, Million Dollar Quartet. His other 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
Sponsors
The Full Monty is sponsored by Hollywood Casino Aurora. Paramount Theatre Broadway Season sponsors are the Dunham Foundation, BMO, ComEd, Illinois Arts Council and the City of Aurora.
The Full Monty is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
Paramount Theatre also presents:
Following its fall opener, The Full Monty, Paramount’s 13th Broadway Series continues with two highly anticipated Regional Premieres – Disney’s Frozen (October 30, 2024-January 19, 2025) and Waitress (February 12-March 30, 2025) – climaxing with a revival of Cats (April 30-June 15, 2025). Broadway packages start as low as $56.
Paramount’s third BOLD Series will present three fresh, exciting works in 2024-25 – Peter and the Starcatcher (July 24-September 1, 2024), An Act of God (October 2-November 10, 2024) and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (March 12-April 27, 2025) – right across the street in Paramount’s intimate Copley Theatre. BOLD packages start at just $75.
(from left) Garrett Forrestal plays Jerry Lee Lewis, Christopher Wren plays Carl Perkins, Alex Swindle plays Elvis Presley and Bill Scott Sheets is Johnny Cash in Million Dollar Quartet, the inaugural production at Paramount Theatre’s new Stolp Island Theatre. Credit: Liz Lauren
In addition, Stolp Island Theatre, Paramount’s third live theater venue, is now open with a rockin’, critically acclaimed production of Million Dollar Quartet. This new staging is custom produced for Paramount’s new, 98-seat experiential theater space, where audiences will feel like they are part of the show. Due to popular demand, Million Dollar Quartet has already been extended through December 29, 2024. Stolp Island Theatre is located at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, in downtown Aurora. All tickets are just $65.
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 115 Jeff nominations and 29 wins over the last eight 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 just 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 experiential 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 the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com or follow @paramountaurora on Facebook and Instagram, and Paramount Theatre on LinkedIn.
