It’s happened!

Look, I know this show has been around for nearly 15 years, and the music in it is far older than that, but something pretty special is happening with this new production in Aurora.

I feel like we’re approaching a new age in “Immersive Theatre”, where audiences are given more than just a show, but a three-dimensional experience, where the attention to detail goes far beyond the props on stage. Paramount has done this pretty damn well with the new Stolp Island Theater, and I am so happy to be a part of it.

The Stolp Island Theater has 98 seats. For the record, the Paramount Theater has just over 1800 seats. To compensate for this, MDQ had an entire weekend of opening performances, 5 in total, and that still only amounts to about a quarter of the number of butts that can fit in a single typical Paramount “Broadway” opening night. Wild.

But this did something really cool that I didn’t expect. Normally, that one, big opening performance has all the excitement and anxiety of having family, friends, colleagues, and the press all at one show. Instead, at the Sunday night “Company Opening”, I got to experience the show after all the stress and anxiety had burned off, and this fantastic cast just got to play for their loved ones. It was exhilarating, and I hope that this kind of energy can persist throughout this unnaturally-long run.

In other news, I got to play Carl Perkins for 3 previews last weekend, stepping in to the lead guitar role for a day and a half. What can I express but gratitude? It’s not like most other musicals where the challenge is to nail all the lines and blocking, but here, in MDQ, an understudy is a new bandmate, a new organ in the body of the show, and the ebb and flow of each interaction has to be completely renegotiated by everyone on stage. I am SO grateful to have Alex, Bill, Garrett, and Madison (and especially Jake and Dan) to play with, for making my version of Carl feel right at home. (And, of course, I’m grateful to Chris, whose Carl has been so fun to emulate, and who I know will welcome me with the same generosity in the event I’m playing Elvis.)

Now that the show is open, I expect to spend a lot less time at the theater, which is a blessing and a curse; it’s always nice to be granted some additional time for myself, but the question of will I/ won’t I be going in for someone an hour from now is always a delicate emotional balancing act.

For now, it’s guitar practice, Elvis wiggling practice, Lizzie Time, and Foster Cats.

If you’re interested, get tickets HERE.