(WBBM NEWSRADIO ) — After a 17-month COVID interruption, live theater has returned to Aurora and the Paramount Theatre.
A production of the musical Kinky Boots opened Wednesday night.
“We’re back, baby!,” says Trent Stork, the show’s director.
“Even with proof of vaccination, even though people are masked, it was still like a such a successful night,” he said. “You can tell that people are anxious to be back in the theater and be entertained.”
More than 600 people were at the first night’s performance, he said. Nearly 75 people took advantage of the Paramount’s “Pay What You Can Night” promotion.
When the Paramount Theatre shut down almost a year and a half ago, the musical was two weeks from the start of rehearsals.
“The set was ready to get loaded onto a truck and come over to the theater to get installed. Like, half the costumes were built. All that had to kind of get packed up and go to storage,” Stork said.
Like the cast and crew, Stork was furloughed from the Paramount Theatre.
“I was a nanny and I worked at a bakery and I also got my real-estate license,” he said.
Stork said he relishes being back and knows that remaining open is not guaranteed. So, every show feels like a blessing, he said.
Kinky Boots is the perfect production to return with because it’s a fun show about love and acceptance, Stork said. It’ll be followed in November by Cinderella.
“We’re all about the shoes,” Stork said, laughing.
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