Video: First Look at NEXT TO NORMAL at Paramount Theatre

Prepare to be spellbound by the award-winning musical Next to Normal, playing through September 3, 2023 in Paramount Theatre’s intimate new Copley Theatre in downtown Aurora.

Get a first look at the production below!

Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, nominated for 11 Tony Awards and winner for Best Musical Score, Next to Normal is thrilling, courageous and timely storytelling at its best, all set to a contemporary rock music score.

It’s also an ideal show to set the tone for the second season of Paramount’s BOLD Series, a three-play line-up of classic and contemporary works for those who crave live theater that is intimate, honest, fervent and emotionally intoxicating. 

Helming Next to Normal is Paramount Theatre Artistic Director Jim Corti. Today, Paramount announced the cast for this powerful rock musical about a suburban family grappling with mental illness.

Donna Louden, an accomplished L.A. musical theater actor new to Chicago, makes her Paramount debut as Diana. Barry DeBois, so memorable as the male lead, Guy, in Paramount’s Once, and more recently in Paramount’s Kinky Boots, plays the father, Dan. Angel Alzeidan, fresh off Goodman Theatre’s Layalina, makes her Paramount debut as Natalie, the daughter. Devin DeSantis, a Paramount favorite after playing Tommy in The Who’s Tommy, and subsequent lead roles in Into the Woods, Kinky Boots, The Little Mermaid, plays Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine. Aurora native Jake Ziman, who performed in Paramount’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Fiddler on the Roof, returns as Gabe, the son. Jake DiMaggio Lopez, seen last season in Paramount’s The Sound of Music, plays Natalie’s love interest, Henry. Understudies are Michelle Tibble, Simon Keiser, Emily Ling Mei and Andrew Sickel.

Previews start July 26, including two Pay-What-You-Can Previews, Thursday, July 27 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, July 29 at 2 p.m.

Press openings are Wednesday and Thursday, August 2 and 3 at 7 p.m.

Performances continue through September 3: Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. and
7 p.m.; Thursdays at 7 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Note: Next to Normal contains mature language, recreational drug use and mental health topics.

Subscribe now to Paramount’s 2023-24 three-play BOLD Series package for the best seats to Next to Normal, and the lowest ticket prices. Packages start at just $75, including Next to Normal, plus the recent Broadway sensation What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck (October 4-November 12, 2023), and Tennessee Williams’s classic A Streetcar Named Desire (March 13-April 21, 2024).

Single tickets to Next to Normal are $40-$55 and go on sale June 2. For subscriptions, single tickets and information, visit paramountaurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount Theatre box office, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until show time on show days.  

All BOLD Series productions are presented in Paramount’s newly renovated Copley Theatre, a sleek, state-of-the-art, 165-seat theater with a modern new lobby bar and lounge, located at 8 E. Galena Blvd., in downtown Aurora.

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