“West Side Story,” “Into the Woods” and “Sweeney Todd” — only a few of Stephen Sondheim’s works that the Burlington Paramount Theater will be celebrating in “95 Years of Stephen Sondheim.”
At 7 p.m. March 13, Elon’s Music Theatre Department will perform “95 Years of Stephen Sondheim” to close out the Burlington Paramount Theater before its year and a half long renovation and expansion. Director of the Paramount Theater Eric Kerchner said the renovations hope to bring more people to downtown Burlington and create a space unique to the area.
The theater approached the Music Theatre Department about doing a show before the space closed for renovations, codirector and narrator of the show, professor of the performing arts Chris Rayis, said.
“They wanted to do sort of a send off to everything that had happened in that theater,” Rayis said. “We were there when this idea sort of came to them, and we were really lucky.”
Rayis said it is very exciting for the department to be a part of the theater’s history.
“It’s enormously meaningful, and that we have the opportunity to be a part of Burlington’s change from its history to its future is really cool,” Rayis said.
The Paramount Theater was built in 1927 as one of three movie theaters in what Kerchner said was a booming city.
“Burlington, when the textile industry was still going, was a big time deal,” Kerchner said. “They had a railway stop, and so it was quite an affluent area and a lot of workers.”
In 1997, the theater had fallen into disrepair. The city of Burlington purchased and renovated the space into its current form today. Kerchner said that in November 2024, a bond referendum was passed by the city to complete the renovations and expansion to the theater.
Now Kerchner said the city hopes to improve the space through both cosmetic changes such as new lighting and sound equipment to adapt the space more for live theater, as well as internal changes such as new plumbing and HVAC systems.
Beyond renovating the existing theater, a new event center will be built next door. The event center will house two floors of multipurpose event spaces with an openair rooftop entertainment space making up the top floor.
The current budget for the project, according to the city of Burlington, has $11 million in funding allocated to the project. Kerchner said he met with all the contractors interested in bidding for the project for the first time Feb. 26.
The goal of the project is to bring more people to downtown Burlington and support multiple local businesses, not just the theater.
“It’s all very different,” Kerchner said. “Nothing like this exists in Alamance County, so we really hope that people will be excited about it and use it.”
Specifically, Kerchner said that making a strong connection with Elon University was important and bringing the Music Theatre Department in for the final show before closing for renovations helped start that connection.
“Elon students do not come to downtown Burlington all that much,” Kerchner said. “We want to try and give them a reason and say, ‘It’s not that far and you can have a really good time.’”
This is not the first tribute concert held at the Paramount Theater in recent months. University of North Carolina, Greensboro performed a tribute to jazz performer John Coltrane in September 2024 and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University performed a tribute to singer Nina Simone in November 2024.
Rayis said that Sondheim’s works were chosen for the show not only to commemorate the composer and lyricist’s 95 birthday, but also for the notability of his works such as “West Side Story,” “Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” which will be performed by the department in May.
“I think it’s fair to say that Sondheim is our greatest writer,” Rayis said. “You couldn’t really find anybody better than Sondheim.”
The show will survey works from throughout Sondheim’s career, from the beginning with “West Side Story” going throughout the length of his career.
Junior Music Theatre major Andrew France is performing in two numbers for the show. He said rehearsals are very loose as the students in each number meet in groups on their own instead of formal rehearsals for now.
“A lot of us are talking about just how cool of a project it is,” France said. “How lucky we are to get another performance opportunity that we can showcase a really unique part of ourselves that we don’t always get to do with grand night or collage or the big spectacle things, or normal shows.”
Rayis said this show is meant to kick off a new outreach strategy for the Music Theatre Department and will hopefully help the department learn more about the communities’ interests.
“We love the work we do here, but it’s important that we reach out to the community and to let the community know that we’re here,” Rayis said. “To find what the community’s interest is in what we’re doing here.”
The show is open to both the public and the Elon University population. Tickets do not need to be purchased ahead of time and can simply be purchased day of at the box office in the theater at 128 E. Front St. in Burlington. Community members can purchase tickets at Paramount Theater’s website. Elon students, faculty and staff can simply show their Elon ID at the box office for free admission.