Joseph Anthony Byrd (foreground) plays the Emcee and Kelly Felthous (back) is Sally Bowles in Paramount Theatre’s Cabaret.

Aurora’s Paramount Theatre has earned 10 Equity Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for the 2017-18 season — including two for best musical — among major venues in the Chicago area.

The Jefferson committee, which announced the nominations last week, honored all four of the Paramount’s musical productions.

Paramount was the only Chicago theater to land two nominations in the highly competitive category of Production – Musical – Large for its stagings last season of Million Dollar Quartet and Cabaret. Productions of Once and Elf The Musical also received nominations.

“Our audiences, the critics and the Jeff Committee clearly agree -Paramount is producing many of the very best musicals in the entire Chicagoland area,” said Paramount President and CEO Tim Rater. “This is our fourth consecutive year for multiple nominations across the board. We consider this important recognition for the consistently excellent work being produced on our beautiful stage, and for our top-notch production values that rival theaters anywhere in Chicago, on Broadway and around the nation.”

Paramount’s work has been eligible for review by the Jeff Committee for just the past four seasons. At last year’s Jeff Awards, Paramount emerged as the evening’s top winner with eight Jeffs – more than any other Chicago theater – for its 2016-17 productions of Sweeney Todd-The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

Million Dollar Quartet received four nominations, including Large Musical or Revue, Large Ensemble, Performer in a Supporting Role (Gavin Rohrer asJerry Lee Lewis),  Lighting Design -Large (Jesse Klug).

Cabaret received three nominations, including:  Large Musical Production; Performer in a supporting Role (Hollis Resnik as Fraulein Schneider) and  Lighting Design -Large (Yael Lubetzky).

Paramount Theatre’s 2017-18 Broadway Series opener Million Dollar Quartet

Once received nominations for Performer in a Principal Role (Tiffany Topol) and Music Direction (Tom Vendafreddo) while Elf The Musical was nominated for production design (Joseph A. Burke).

Jeff Award winners will be announced Oct. 22. To see the full list of nominees, visit jeffawards.org.

Paramount is one of three live performance venues programmed and managed by the Aurora Civic Center Authority, which also oversees Paramount’s “sister” stage, the intimate 173-seat Copley Theatre located across the street from the Paramount at 8 E. Galena Blvd., as well as RiverEdge Park, downtown Aurora’s summer outdoor concert venue at 360 N. Broadway.

Paramount’s 2018-19 season opens this month month with Legally Blonde (Sept. 5-Oct. 21), The Wizard of Oz (Nov. 14,-Jan. 6, 2019), The Producers (Feb. 6-March 17, 2019) and the world premiere of August Rush, based on the Oscar-nominated movie (April 24-June 2, 2019).