The curtain at the Paramount Theatre has barely gone up on “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” – its official opening night is Friday evening — but there’s another hot ticket getting attention in Aurora’s burgeoning downtown theater scene.
“Million Dollar Quartet,” opening July 10 at the brand new Stolp Island Theatre at 5 W. Downer Place, quickly sold out the first four weeks of the performance when tickets went on sale to subscribers Wednesday morning.
And it took a mere 30 minutes, which should impress even Taylor Swift fans.
“We had no idea what to expect,” Paramount President Tim Rater insisted. “But no … selling out in 30 minutes? We figured it would take maybe 48 hours.”
That response certainly was happy news for the Paramount folks, who were so thrilled they quickly added another two weeks to the special subscriber presale offer on Wednesday morning.
When I spoke with Rater around noon, half of those tickets were gone, as well, with all 35 phone lines still busy taking calls, he told me.
And by 3:30 p.m. he texted there were “only a handful” left, which meant a couple more weeks of performances will likely be open to subscribers on Thursday.
All of which means that by the time the tickets go on sale to the general public on May 17, there could be a lengthy wait before getting a chance to see this popular jukebox musical in such a unique and intimate setting.
“I guess you might want to become a subscriber for next year to have access to this,” Rater suggested. “The tickets seem to be quite valuable.”
That shouldn’t surprise Paramount officials, who have felt the excitement building for “Million Dollar Quartet,” which will put audiences within the walls of Sun Studio in Memphis, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins took part in that legendary 1956 impromptu jam session.
“There’s been so much chatter about (the show) and a lot of calls from people. They want to know where (the theater) is and how it will all work,” Rater said Wednesday. “We felt there would be an unusual response today … and we were right.”
But selling out in a half hour?
“It is,” he concluded, “a testament to our subscribers and how much they love what we produce.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
