Top 10 theater for winter 2024: From the world premiere of ‘Purpose’ to Dana Delany in ‘Highway Patrol’

Scrooge and the elves are packed away for another year. And Chicago theater reaches boldly into 2024.

The winter theater season, generally a time for substantial fare, is upon us.

With the usual proof-is-in-the-pudding caveats, here’s an alphabetical list of 10 Chicago-area shows opening between now and the end of March that look especially interesting. Many more are on offer, of course, but here’s a few to pique your excitement for the new year.

Alex Edelman’s “Just For Us”: Although presented at Steppenwolf, Alex Edelman’s “Just For Us” is essentially a tour of Edelman’s very successful Broadway show from earlier this year. Part stand-up, part narrative, Edelman’s hilarious piece is structured around an event at once ordinary and bizarre: Edelman’s uninvited attendance — given that he grew up as an Orthodox Jew — at a meeting of tawdry white supremacists in Queens. On Broadway, the laughs came in waves as Edelman lampooned both his own religiosity and the prevalence of antisemitism. He’s a new generation of Jewish storyteller with one foot in the old school and the other in podcast-friendly personal narrative. Feb. 15-25 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.; tickets $52-$102 at 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org

“Antigone”: Court Theatre is surely the leading American theater when it comes to productions of Greek tragedy and, this winter, the Hyde Park company stages a new production of Sophocles’ “Antigone,” a masterful drama about the clash of wills and political ideas between King Creon and his strong-willed niece. Aeriel Williams and Timothy Edward Kane are cast in the two leading roles under the direction of Gabrielle Randle-Bent. Using an adaptation by the late Court artistic director Nicholas Rudall, this staging of “Antigone” will complete Court’s multi-season “Oedipus Trilogy.” Feb. 2-25 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; tickets $56-$88 at 773-753-4472 and courttheatre.org

“Anything Goes”: Presented in honor of Cole Porter’s 90th birthday and brimming with the glories of the American songbook, this new staging of the toe-tapping aquatic musical ushers in Porchlight Music Theatre’s 29th season of musicals. The highly experienced team of Michael Weber and Tammy Mader are director and choreographer, respectively, and the leading role of Reno Sweeney will be played by Chicago’s Meghan Murphy. Jan. 13 to Feb. 25 at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Ave.; tickets $41-$77 at 773-777-9884 and porchlightmusictheatre.org

“The Band’s Visit”: This will be the first Chicago-style production of the beautiful Broadway musical penned by Itamar Moses and gorgeous scored by David Yazbek, wherein an Egyptian police band ends up in the wrong, one-horse Israeli town, where the citizens are friendly, but also saddened by their own stifling unimportance. David Cromer’s Broadway staging was masterful and seen here in a 2019 tour. But Writers Theatre likely will use the intimacy of its theater to find new resonances in a show about longing, settling, provincialism and acceptance, as this revitalized theater did so well last year with “Once.” Zi Alikhan directs. Feb. 8 to March 17 at Writers Theater, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe; tickets $35-$90 at 847-242-6000 and writerstheater.org

“Billy Elliot”: After a spate of solid local productions around a decade ago — and, of course, an extended Chicago run for Stephen Daldry’s original Broadway staging beginning in 2010 — fans of this heartwarming British musical by Lee Hall and Elton John have not able to get their fix at the level of production typically offered by the Paramount Theatre. That all changes in January when a new generation gets its chance both to see, and in some cases to perform in, one of the biggest musical hits of the early 2000s. I’m excited to see a young Yorkshire miner’s kid dance out his own destiny once again, especially with Chicago actors such as Ron E. Rains, Joe Foust, Jennie Sophia and Barbara E. Robertson in the cast. Feb. 7 to March 24 at Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora; tickets $28-$79 at 630-896-6666 and paramountaurora.com

“Girl From the North Country”: As unlikely as a Bob Dylan jukebox musical may sound, “Girl From the North Country” took Dylan’s music (“Slow Train Coming,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Forever Young”), as rearranged and reorchestrated by Simon Hale with uncanny texture and dramatic complexity, and then integrated the songs into an original story by the great Irish playwright Conor McPherson (“The Weir,” “The Seafarer”). “Girl From the North Country” is set among the mostly down-and-out denizens of a Duluth, Minnesota, boardinghouse during the early 1930s. For my money, this gorgeous show deserved far more Broadway success than it could manage in the wake of COVID-19 closures. This is the first (and likely only) national tour and is not to be missed. Feb. 13-25 at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; tickets $37.50-$110.50 at broadwayinchicago.com

“Highway Patrol”: The well-known actress Dana Delany (”China Beach,” “Desperate Housewives”) stars in an unusual and highly intriguing new show based on one of her own online relationships with a mysterious and complicated fan in the early days of social media. The Goodman Theatre premiere, as adapted from Delany’s “digital archives” by the playwright Jen Silverman and directed by Mike Donahue, is likely to attract national attention. Dot-Marie Jones (Glee’s Coach Beiste) is also in the cast. Jan. 20 to Feb. 18 at the Goodman’s Albert Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $25-$90 at 312-443-3800 and goodmantheatre.org

“Illinoise”: This conceptual new musical is based on Grammy and Oscar-nominated Sufjan Stevens’ widely acclaimed 2005 concept album and features a freewheeling story by Justin Peck (Broadway’s “Carousel” and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story), and Jackie Sibblies Drury (”Fairview”). With a cast of dancers choreographed by Peck, three singers and a live band, “Illinoise” will lead audiences at Chicago Shakespeare’s The Yard theater through the lushly orchestrated history, culture, art and geography of the Land of Lincoln. The show was developed last summer at Bard College. Jan. 28 to Feb. 18 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier, 800 E. Grand Ave.; tickets $45-$125 at 312-595-5600 or chicagoshakes.com

“Notes from the Field”: The highly regarded Chicago director Mikael Burke stages the first Chicago production of Anna Deavere Smith’s 2015 docudrama, drawing from more than 250 interviews with students, parents, teachers and administrators caught in the so-called school-to-prison pipeline. Although originally conceived as a one-person show, Burke’s production will star Mildred Marie Langford, Adhana Reid and Shariba Rivers, collectively giving voice to 18 different characters. Jan. 31 to March 24 at TimeLine Theatre, 615 W. Wellington Ave.; tickets $35-$67 at 773-281-8463 and timelinetheatre.com

“Purpose”: After a long and atypical midwinter pause, Steppenwolf Theatre Company comes roaring back into production with the world premiere of a new play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, replete with direction by Phylicia Rashad and Harry Lennix appearing in a leading role. Jacobs-Jenkins is coming off a smash hit with this month’s Broadway production of “Appropriate,” a play that also began in Chicago. An exploration of intergenerational Black radicalism, this newest Jacobs-Jenkins play looks at a storied Black political family whose long-held values are upended. March 14 to April 21 at Steppenwolf Theatre, 1650 N. Halsted St.; tickets $44-$102 at 312-335-1650 and steppenwolf.org

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com