‘Million Dollar Quartet’ transports audiences back in time to 1950s Memphis recording studio

As soon as audiences enter Paramount Theatre’s brand-new Stolp Island Theatre in downtown Aurora, they’ll feel like they’ve stepped back in time to Dec. 4, 1956, inside the Sun Records recording studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

That’s 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.

Nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Musical, “Million Dollar Quartet” features 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.”

“Our 2017 Broadway staging of ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ remains an audience favorite, and has always been one of our top-requested shows to ‘bring back,’” said Jim Corti, Paramount Theatre’s artistic director and co-director. “Not only are we bringing it back, but this new production will be staged in a whole new way, where audiences are going to feel surrounded by amazing musical talent and the dazzling production values they’ve come to expect from Paramount.”

The theater’s lobby has been transformed into a streetscape of Memphis in the 1950s, replete with photos and other memorabilia from the real artists. The new space has just 98 seats, so audiences feel like they’re in the studio with the musicians.

The show opened in July, and will run through Dec. 29. Showtimes are Wednesday at 1:30 and 7 p.m., Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 5:30 p.m.

In addition to “Million Dollar Quartet,” other shows are coming to the Paramount Theatre for its 2024-25 season.

Paramount has a blockbuster, four-show lineup of musicals for its 13th Broadway Series, launching this fall with “The Full Monty,” Aug. 21-Oct. 6, followed by the regional premieres of Disney’s "Frozen,” Oct. 30-Jan. 19, and “Waitress,” Feb. 12-March 30, before ending with a revival of “Cats,” April 30-June 15.