Theater

Spotlight: ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ opens at Paramount while Drury Lane stages ‘On Your Feet!’

Posted January 28, 2026 8:24 am

Barbara Vitello

Paramount Theatre stages the regional premiere of “Dear Evan Hansen” featuring Cody Combs, left, as Evan, Isabel Kaegi as Zoe, Elaine Watson as Alana, Ty Shay as Jared and Jake DiMaggio Lopez as Connor. Courtesy of Amy Nelson

Regional premieres

• Chalk up another coup for Aurora’s Paramount Theatre, which obtained the rights for the regional premiere of the hit musical “Dear Evan Hansen” by composer/lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and book writer Steven Levenson. Cody Combs plays Evan, an anxious, isolated high school student who (incorrectly) is presumed to be the friend of a troubled classmate who took his own life. As a result, Evan finds himself embraced by his fellow students and the dead boy’s grieving family. Jessica Fisch (“Every Brilliant Thing,” “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” “Murder on the Orient Express,” “Catch Me if You Can”) directs.

Previews at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4-5 and 11-12; 7 p.m. Feb. 6; 2 and 7 p.m. Feb. 7; 1 and 5:30 p.m. Feb. 8; and 1:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora. $31-$106. (630) 896-6666 or ParamountAurora.com.

• Drury Lane Theatre concludes its season with the regional premiere of the bio-tuner “On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan” by writer Alexander Dinelaris, with music by Emilio and Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. The tuner tells the story of Gloria and Emilio’s meeting, their romance, and their rise to the top of the pop and Latin charts. Gaby Albo and Samuel Garnica star in director/choreographer Luis Salgado’s revival.

Previews at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31; 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1; and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace. The show opens Thursday, Feb. 5. $75-$130. (630) 530-0111 or DruryLaneTheatre.com.

Metropolis salutes Oscar-winning composer

Metropolis Performing Arts Centre artistic director Johanna McKenzie Miller joins fellow actor/vocalists Christopher Johnson, Aurora Penepacker and Lorenzo Rush Jr. for a concert saluting Alan Menken, the composer responsible for the film and stage scores to “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Newsies” and “Little Shop of Horrors,” among others. Conductor Aaron Kaplan and the JAM Orchestra accompany the vocalists.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights. $45. (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.com.

Neena Arndt, left, Bryce Gangel and Alejandra Escalante rehearse for Goodman Theatre’s production of Richard Greenberg’s adaptation of the 1928 comedy “Holiday,” directed by Robert Falls. Courtesy of Todd Rosenberg Photography

New version of an old favorite

Former Goodman Theatre artistic director Robert Falls returns to his artistic home to helm Richard Greenberg’s adaptation of “Holiday,” Philip Barry’s 1928 romantic comedy about a middle-class guy with unique ideas about work who falls in love with a wealthy young woman whose father has decidedly different opinions. An examination of the “meaning of our existence as human beings, our relationship to success and money, privilege, capitalism,” its themes “are just as relevant in this present-day adaptation as they are in the original version set in the Roaring Twenties,” Falls said in a prepared statement.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, and Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 4-6; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1 and 7; and 2 p.m. Feb. 8, at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens Feb. 9. $34-$104. (312) 443-3800 or GoodmanTheatre.org.

Luke Nowakowski, left, Michael Mahler, Leah Morrow and Emily Goldberg star in Porchlight Music Theatre’s production of “The Irish … and How They Got That Way” at Porchlight Music Theatre. Courtesy of jbernPhoto

Celebrating Irish culture

Broadway veteran and Chicago theater mainstay David Girolmo directs Porghlight Music Theatre’s “The Irish and How They Got That Way.” Writer Frank McCourt’s survey of Irish culture and history during the 20th and 21st centuries incorporates such classics as “Danny Boy,” “Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ra,” “The Rose of Tralee” and “The Rare Old Times,” as well as U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Previews at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31; 6:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday, Feb. 1-2; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4-5, at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens Feb. 6. $24-$110. (773) 777-9884 or PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.

‘Trial in the Delta’ remount

Collaboraction Theatre Company remounts its acclaimed docudrama “Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till,” about the lynching of a 14-year-old Black boy accused of offending a white woman in Mississippi in 1955. Performances mark the opening of Collaboraction’s new home.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1, and Thursday, Feb. 5, at the Kimball Arts Center, 1757 N. Kimball Ave., Chicago. The show opens during the center’s grand opening Friday, Feb. 6. Regular run: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday through March 1. $25-$55. collaboraction.org.

Theater on the rocks

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, “Drunk Romeo & Juliet” makes its Chicago debut, serving up William Shakespeare’s tragedy on the rocks. It opens with an actor downing five shots of whiskey before “diving headfirst into the world of star-crossed lovers.”

7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 9-10; 7 and 9 p.m. Feb. 6; 3, 5, 7 and 9 p.m. Feb. 7; and 5 and 7 p.m. Feb. 8 and through Sept. 12 at The Lion Theatre, 182 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago. Tickets start at $49. drunkshakespeare.com.

Aurora Real de Asua plays Hedda in Remy Bumppo Theatre’s revival of Christopher Shinn’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” directed by artistic director Marti Lyons.

A classic revived

Remy Bumppo Theatre Company’s 30th anniversary season continues with “Hedda Gabler,” adapted by Christopher Shinn from Henrik Ibsen’s 1890 play about an unhappily married century woman who manipulates the people around her to tragic results. Artistic director Marti Lyons helms the revival, which stars Aurora Real de Asua in the titular role.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 5-7, and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago. The show opens Feb. 9. $32-$55. (773) 975-8150 or RemyBumppo.org.

The Second City presents the review “Black and Highly Flavored” Feb. 5 through March 20 at the UP Comedy Club.

Second City’s Black excellence revue

The Second City presents “Black and Highly Flavored,” its fourth Black excellence revue showcasing Second City alums and rising stars E.J. Cameron, Jillian Ebanks, Kimberly Michelle Vaughn, Jason Tolliver, Tyler VanDuvall and Lauren Walker. The production, helmed by Second City alum Julia Morales, marks the first time a woman of color has directed the revue.

8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Feb. 5-6, and through March 20 at the UP Comedy Club, Piper’s Alley, 230 W. North Ave., Chicago. Tickets start at $39. (312) 337-3992 or secondcity.com.

In other news

• Chicago Theatre Week runs Thursday, Feb. 5, through Sunday, Feb. 15, at suburban and Chicago theaters including Marriott, Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, Drury Lane, Oil Lamp, Northlight, TimeLine, Raven, Shattered Globe, Remy Bumppo and others. Discount tickets are available for select performances for $30, $15 or less at HotTix.org. Again this year, HotTix will extend Theatre Week discount tickets to select performances Feb. 16-22. See ChicagoTheatreWeek.com for participating theaters.

• The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation recently awarded $1.76 million in grants to 66 of Chicago’s small arts and arts advocacy organizations. Twenty-seven of those organizations received multiyear grants of $30,000. Theaters receiving grants include: Raven Theatre, Remy Bumppo Theatre, Theater Wit, Teatro Vista, eta Creative Arts Foundation, Free Street Theater, Griffin Theatre, PrideArts Center, The Gift Theatre, Theatre Y, Lifeline Theatre, City Lit Theater, Jackalope Theatre, Oak Park Festival Theatre, Trap Door Theatre, Aguijon Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, Piven Theatre Workshop, Red Theatre Chicago and Pegasus Theatre.