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Jay Kelly, LCWA, [email protected] or (312) 565-4623, (312) 315-3935 cell
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STUDENTS! WORKERS! EVERYONE!
MEGA-MUSICAL
LES MISÉRABLES IS GRAND FINALE OF
PARAMOUNT THEATRE'S BROADWAY SEASON, MAR. 18-APR. 26, 2015
Paramount's Les Misérables, directed by (top row, from left) Jim Corti, music direction by
Tom Vendafreddo, features Robert Wilde as Valjean, Rod Thomas as Javert, Hannah Corneau as Fantine,
(bottom row) George Keating and Marya Grandy as The Thenardiers, Travis Taylor as Enjolras,
Devin DeSantis as Marius, Erica Stephan as Cosette and Lillie Cummings as Eponine.
AURORA, February 11, 2015 - You're not dreaming a dream. Aurora's Paramount Theatre,
wower of audiences and critics this season with consecutive smash hits CATS, Mary
Poppins and The Who's Tommy, is closing its 2014-15 Broadway Series
with Les Misérables, one of the greatest musicals of all time, March 18-April 26, 2015.
Previews start March 18. Press opening is Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. Regular
performances continue through April 26. Show times are 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.; and Sunday at
1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $41 to $54. The Paramount Theatre is located at
23 E. Galena Blvd., in the heart of downtown Aurora.
For tickets and information, go to ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or visit the
Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and two hours prior to
evening performances. Les Misérables is rated PG.
Uplifting, Heartbreaking, Beautiful: Paramount's Les Misérables
Paramount's creative team is infusing exciting new life into Victor Hugo's monumental
novel, the unforgettable story of an ex-convict, Jean Valjean, and his journey for
redemption. On the heels of his current hit production, The Who's Tommy, Paramount
Artistic Director Jim Corti also directs Les Mis, with Tom Vendafreddo likewise following
up Tommy as Paramount Theatre Orchestra music director and conductor.
Last week on his blog, Corti revealed his "formidable, all-star cast" writing, "Ricky Falbo,
currently a knock out on our stage as 10-year-old Tommy, is mighty street rebel Gavroche.
Little Eponine is Savannah Groh who matures into the Eponine of fantastic, soulful Lillie
Cummings, featured as Sally Simpson in Tommy. Little Cosette is Nicole Scimeca, Gretl in
Lyric Opera's The Sound of Music. Golden voiced Erica Stephan is Cosette, and her Marius
is Devin DeSantis, who is currently thrilling and rocking audiences as Tommy himself!"
"Nicholas Foster richly voices the humble, ardent Bishop of Digne. Lancelot of Drury
Lane's recent Camelot, terrific Travis Taylor makes his Paramount debut as handsome,
fiery Enjolras, galvanizing the students of The June Rebellion in Paris of 1832. George
Keating returns and Marya Grandy makes her Paramount debut to create an evil portrait
of The Thenardiers. In gorgeous, raven-haired Hannah Corneau, seen in our Fiddler on the
Roof, is a leading lady of remarkable vocal beauty, Fantine. Our handsome, brooding
Javert, Rod Thomas, will stun with his powerful baritone as a black-hearted and very
human soul, at once righteous and lost.
"Naperville native, New York actor, Robert Wilde is our leading man in the impossible role
of Jean Valjean. A supremely gifted and compelling singer of extraordinary range and actor
of staggering prowess and vulnerability; this is a very exciting occasion for Robert's return
to Chicago Theatre. He is in a word, superb."
The cast also features singers/actors/dancers Aubrey Adams, Ben Barker, Victoria Blade,
Nathan Gardner, Jesse Grider, Sophie Grimm, Jason Kraack, Molly Kral, Elizabeth Lanza,
Russell Mernagh, Jeff Meyer, Brandon Moorhead, Chelsea Morgan, Rob Riddle, Patrick
Rooney, Steve Russell and Patrick Tierney. Young actors include Shane Frantz, Madeline
Hotham and Gianna Groh.
In true Paramount tradition, the 14-member Paramount Orchestra, conducted by Tom
Vendafreddo, will play the full, original Broadway orchestrations for Les Misérables.
The design team includes Trent Stork, assistant director; Kevin Depinet and Jeff Kmiec,
set; Theresa Ham, costumes; Jesse Klug, lights; Nick Belley, assistant lights; Adam
Rosenthal, sound; Ethan Deppe, assistant sound; Sarah Ross, props; Lauren Cecil
and Katie Cordts, wigs; and Rick Gilbert and Victor Bayona, R&D Choreography, violence
design. Rose Marie Packer is Stage Manager and Rebecca Louise Fischer is Assistant Stage
Manager.
About
Les Misérables
Nominated for 12 Tony Awards, taking home eight including Best Score and Best Musical,
Les Mis is an enthralling spectacle with brilliant imagery, magnificent orchestrations,
stirring lyrics and a story of heroic human commitment that audiences will not soon
forget.
Based on the novel Les Misérables by French poet and novelist Victor Hugo, Les
Misérables is set in early 19th century France, where Jean Valjean, a French peasant, is on
a quest for redemption after being jailed for 19 years for having stolen a loaf of bread for
his sister's starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a
kindly bishop inspires him with a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked
down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters
are swept into the French Revolution, where a group of young idealists make their last
stand at a street barricade.
Les Misérables, a sung-through musical, is by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg,
music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, original French text by
Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, adapted and originally directed by Trevor Nunn
and John Caird, and orchestrations by John Cameron.
Jim Corti (director) was hired in 2011 to be the first-ever Artistic Director in the
Paramount's 80+ year history. He was instrumental in launching Paramount's inaugural
Broadway Series, and directed and choreographed Paramount's first self-produced
Broadway show, My Fair Lady, which played to rave reviews. His 2013 Paramount
production of Fiddler on the Roof was a smash hit. More recently, Corti's Miss Saigon was
the only musical to make the Chicago Tribune's Top Ten Shows of 2013, and his
RENT in 2014 and The Who's Tommy in 2015 underscored Paramount's rise to the top of
Chicago's musical theater landscape. He is a seasoned Broadway veteran, appearing in the
New York casts of Ragtime, A Chorus Line and Candide and the national tours of
Urinetown, Cabaret and Bob Fosse's Dancin'. Highlights from his body of work over three
decades include being the only director in Chicago to have two productions at the same
time in the Chicago Tribune's list of 10 Best Shows in 2009 - Drury Lane's Cabaret
and Writers' Theatre's Oh, Coward! He remains the sole honoree to have garnered a Jeff
Award as an actor (in Marriott's Grand Hotel), a choreographer (Drury Lane's Singin' In
The Rain) and director (Northlight's Blues In The Night and Drury Lane's Sweet Charity).
Tom Vendafreddo (music director/conductor) is a music director, conductor and actor
with an eclectic career both nationally and internationally. At the Paramount, he has
music directed and conducted acclaimed productions of In the Heights, Mary Poppins and
The Who's Tommy. Other recent credits include On the Town and Godspell (Marriott
Lincolnshire); Road Show and Shrek: The Musical (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre); Sweet
Charity (Writers Theatre); The Spitfire Grill (BoHo Theatre - Jeff Nomination for Music
Direction); and Pump Boys and Dinettes (Metropolis Performing Arts Center). Select
regional credits include RENT (San Diego Musical Theatre), Odyssey (Old Globe Theatre),
Forever Plaid (Chestnut Fine Arts) and It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play (Cygnet
Theatre). As a cabaret artist, Tom has performed in Chicago, New York, San Diego and
Melbourne, Australia. In 2014, he became the founding artistic director of the Chicago
Artists Chorale, a choral ensemble comprised of working professionals in the Chicago
theatre community. Vendafreddo received a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and
Music Education from Eastman School of Music and a Master of Fine Arts in Musical
Theatre from San Diego State University. tomvendafreddo.com
Paramount's 2014-15 Broadway Series is sponsored by the Dunham Fund, BMO Harris
Bank and Paramount Arts Centre Endowment (PACE). Broadway Series Lighting Sponsor
is ComEd. Broadway Series Costume Sponsor is Gerald Auto Group. Les Misérables is also
sponsored by Kevin Fitzpatrick.
More about Paramount's 2014-15 Season
In just three seasons, the Paramount Theatre's bold new Broadway musical series has
wowed critics, audiences and skeptics alike. To date, 25,000 subscribers have signed up to
take advantage of Paramount's 2014-15 subscription offer. They already were amply
rewarded with amazing productions of CATS, Mary Poppins and The Who's Tommy and
are about to experience Paramount's blockbuster spring season finale, Les Misérables.
In addition to its popular Broadway series, Paramount's 2014-15 season also boasts Vicki
Lawrence & Mama: A Two Woman Show (Feb. 22), Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe winner
John Lithgow in his one-man show Stories by Heart (Mar. 7), Defending the Caveman
(Mar. 13-29, in the Copley Theatre), An Evening with David Sedaris, one of the top
humorists of our time (Apr. 28), the internationally acclaimed, shape-shifting dance troupe
Pilobolus (Apr. 30) and gal pal favorite Menopause the Musical (May 6-Jun. 28, in the
Copley Theatre). Classic Movie Mondays are back in 2015 too, with $1 screenings of
everyone's favorite flicks most Monday nights. For tickets and information, go
to ParamountAurora.com or call (630) 896-6666.
About The Paramount Theatre
The Paramount Theatre is the center for performing arts, entertainment and arts
education in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. Named "One of Chicago's Top 10
Attended Theatres" by the League of Chicago Theatres, the 1,888-seat Paramount
Theatre, located in the heart of downtown Aurora at 23 E. Galena Blvd., is nationally
renowned for the quality and caliber of its presentations, superb acoustics and historic
beauty.
The Paramount opened on September 3, 1931. Designed by renowned architects C.W. and
George L. Rapp, the theater captures a unique Venetian setting in the art deco influence of
the 1930s. The first air-conditioned building in Illinois outside of Chicago, the Paramount
offered the public a variety of entertainment, including "talking pictures," vaudeville,
concerts and circus performances for more than 40 years.
In 1976, Aurora Civic Center Authority purchased the Paramount and closed the theater
for restoration. The $1.5 million project restored the Paramount to its original grandeur.
On April 29, 1978, the Paramount Arts Center opened, offering a variety of theatrical,
musical, comedy, dance and family programming. In 2006, a 12,000-square-foot, twostory Grand Gallery lobby was added, with a new, state-of-the-art box office, café and art
gallery. Today, the Paramount produces its own, self-produced Broadway Musical series
and presents an eclectic array of comedy, music, dance and family shows. For tickets and
information, go to ParamountAurora.com or call (630) 896-6666.
The Paramount Theatre is one of three live performance venues programmed and
managed by the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA). ACCA also oversees the
Paramount's "sister" stage, the intimate, 216-seat Copley Theatre located directly across
the street from the Paramount at 8 E. Galena Blvd., as well as RiverEdge Park, downtown
Aurora's new summer outdoor concert venue.
The 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 more information, visit ParamountAurora.com.
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