\u201cHamilton\u201d is not the only big show coming to Chicago this spring. The most Tony Award-nominated play ever, \u201cStereophonic,\u201d will be at the CIBC Theatre, Academy Award- winner Tarell Alvin McCraney will premiere his new play, \u201cWindfall,\u201d at Steppenwolf and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has a new immersive theatrical experience<\/u><\/a> in partnership with the Goodman.<\/p>\n Green Room Newsletter<\/p>\n You\u2019re subscribed!<\/b><\/p>\n Please check your inbox for your confirmation.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Stay ahead of what\u2019s hitting Chicago stages, galleries, museums and more with Green Room, WBEZ\u2019s weekly arts & culture newsletter!<\/p>\n Sorry, there was an error registering your email.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n <\/bsp-form>\n<\/div><\/div>\n Plus, Bill Murray returns to the stage as the third member of an acclaimed blues duo, superstar international conductor Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4 returns to Chicago and composer Brandi Berry Benson will debut new work that pays tribute to members of the Chickasaw tribe. And, dance-world darling Tiler Peck will bring her love letter to the artform to Chicago.<\/p>\n As spring culture season kicks into gear, here is our list of 13 standout performances happening on stages across the city in the coming months, so you can get your tickets now. If we missed a show you are looking forward to, let us know at arts@wbez.org<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n Bill Murray will return to Chicago\u2019s Thalia Hall this month.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where: <\/b>Thalia Hall Local funnyman Bill Murray will return to Chicago\u2019s Thalia Hall with award-winning blues duo Blood Brothers. Murray began performing with Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia in 2024 and brought a pair of sold-out shows<\/u><\/a> to Chicago early last year. Now, the \u201cCaddyshack\u201d star brings the band back to town for two more performances. Castiglia told the Chicago Sun-Times there has been big demand for the concerts featuring Murray, adding that \u201cwhen he\u2019s on stage, he doesn\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>1807 S. Allport St., tickets from $79.50<\/p>\n Where: <\/b>Lyric Opera House For the first time in two decades, Richard Strauss\u2019 \u201cSalome\u201d returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago. Based on Oscar Wilde\u2019s controversial play, the show is considered \u201cone of the most daring and provocative works in the opera repertoire,\u201d according to Lyric. This production by Scottish director Sir David McVicar is set in pre-war fascist Italy. Dubbed a \u201cgory thrill ride,\u201d the show follows a woman consumed by obsession. Soprano Jennifer Holloway will star as the titular femme fatale in her Lyric debut (singer Elena Stikhina was originally slated to play the part, but withdrew from the role due to her pregnancy, Lyric announced in December).<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>20 N. Wacker Drive, tickets from $47<\/p>\n \u201cStereophonic\u201d broke records on Broadway as the most Tony-nominated play of all time. It will be at CIBC Theatre this winter.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Charles Sykes\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where:<\/b> CIBC Theatre, presented by Broadway in Chicago This show broke records on Broadway. It was the most Tony Award-winning show of 2024 and is the most Tony-nominated play of all time. The production features original songs by Academy Award nominee and Grammy Award winner Will Butler, former member of indie rock band Arcade Fire. The show transports audiences back to 1976, in a music studio where an up-and-coming rock band finds itself on the brink of breaking into superstardom. The show is a pressure cooker: Will they break up or will they break through?<\/p>\n If you go:<\/b> 18 W. Monroe St., tickets from $65.60<\/p>\n Where:<\/b> Chicago Shakespeare Theater \u201cHamnet\u201d has been in the headlines for the film of the same name. The play, like the movie, is based on an adaptation of Maggie O\u2019Farrell\u2019s bestselling 2020 novel (also named \u201cHamnet\u201d). The story presents a fictionalized account of William Shakespeare falling in love with Agnes Hathaway in 1582, with the pair losing their son, Hamnet, to the plague. This show is the U.S. premiere of the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s adaptation, written by Lolita Chakrabarti (\u201cLife of Pi\u201d). The show gives audiences a glimpse into the life of the bard. Other characters include Shakespeare\u2019s sister, parents, wife and three kids. The production also tells the tale of why Shakespeare went to London, how he discovered theater, how his family fared in his absence and how the loss of a child led to some of the best writing in human history.<\/p>\n If you go:<\/b> 800 E. Grand Ave., tickets from $58<\/p>\n Chicago composer Brandi Berry Benson will present a world-premiere work at The Checkout this year.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Zubaer Khan\/Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where: <\/b>The Checkout In \u201cSongs of the Chickasaws: Epic Tales Told Through Music,\u201d Chicago composer Brandi Berry Benson<\/u><\/a>, a member of the Chickasaw nation, honors five influential members of the tribe. The world-premiere work, presented by Chicago\u2019s Bach + Beethoven Experience, will be performed by an almost all-Native ensemble and will feature both Western and indigenous instruments. In this work, Benson pays tribute to Chickasaw Chief Tishu Miko; Lushanya, considered the first Native opera star; \u201cSadie\u201d Humes, who helped author the first Chickasaw dictionary; and others. The performance will take place at the CheckOut<\/u><\/a>, the Lake View music venue housed in a former 7-Eleven.<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>4116 N. Clark St., tickets from $25<\/p>\n \u201cHamilton\u201d may be the hardest ticket to snag in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where:<\/b> CIBC Theatre, presented by Broadway in Chicago This may be the hardest ticket to get in 2026. The original Broadway production garnered a record-breaking 16 Tony Awards nominations, but some could argue no one loves \u201cHamilton\u201d like Chicagoans. In 2016, Chicago was one of the first stops of the show\u2019s national tour, and the production stayed on stage at the CIBC Theatre for three years \u2014 the longest run outside New York. More than 2.6 million people saw the show in Chicago during its first run of 1,341 performances \u2014 a higher audience total than the original show\u2019s run on Broadway. So with the show returning this spring, many predict \u201cHamilton\u201d will be one of the hottest tickets in town. Early ticket sales became available in October, and producers plan to hold day-of raffles to ensure as many people as possible have a chance to see the show.<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>18 W. Monroe St., tickets from $68<\/p>\n Where: <\/b>Symphony Center As he gets closer to officially becoming the Chicago Symphony Orchestra\u2019s 11th music director, Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4<\/u><\/a> is making more visits to town. The superstar international conductor will be in Chicago for a series of concerts in late February and early March. On that trip, M\u00e4kel\u00e4 will conduct Igor Stravinsky\u2019s famous \u201cThe Rite of Spring.\u201d The concert will be rounded out by other 20th-century masterpieces: Darius Milhaud\u2019s \u201cLe Boeuf sur le Toit\u201d and George Gershwin\u2019s \u201cAn American in Paris.\u201d M\u00e4kel\u00e4 will officially begin in the CSO role in September 2027.<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>220 S. Michigan Ave., tickets from $59<\/p>\n Where: <\/b>The Auditorium Tiler Peck, the New York City Ballet superstar principal dancer and Instagram\u2019s \u201cballerina big sister,\u201d visits Chicago for only one weekend. The performance, \u201cTurn It Out with Tiler Peck and Friends,\u201d is billed as Peck\u2019s \u201clove letter to dance\u201d and will feature fellow stars such as Chun Wai Chan, Mira Nadon and Roman Mejia. The program first opened in New York in 2022 and has toured around the world since. It features choreography from Peck herself, along with William Forsythe, Alonzo King and Michelle Dorrance. Plus, the genre-defying evening spotlights music by the likes of James Blake and Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw.<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, tickets from $40<\/p>\n David Byrne partnered with the Goodman Theatre to present an immersive theatrical experience.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where:<\/b> Reid Murdoch Building, presented by Goodman Theatre The Goodman partnered with former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne<\/u><\/a> for this fresh and immersive theatrical experience. Creators flipped 15,000 square feet of space in the historic Reid Murdoch Building in Downtown Chicago into a neuroscientific journey that tantalizes all the senses. While the specifics remain a little murky, the details we do know are interesting. For example, 16 audience members at a time will embark in experiences led by a tour guide named David, who is dressed in a costume fashioned after Byrne\u2019s wardrobe when he was 2 years old. Before the adventure, audience members receive a new identity as a fresh start before heading into what creators describe as a \u201cdream world.\u201d<\/p>\n If you go:<\/b> 325 N. La Salle Drive, tickets from $66<\/p>\n Tarell Alvin McCraney, who won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for \u201cMoonlight,\u201d is back with a new play at Steppenwolf this spring.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where:<\/b> Steppenwolf Theatre Written by Academy Award-winning ensemble member Tarell Alvin McCraney (\u201cMoonlight\u201d) and directed by Awoye Timpo (2024\u2019s Jon Michael Hill led \u201cLeroy and Lucy\u201d), this new play stars three ensemble members (Alana Arenas, Glenn Davis and Jon Michael Hill) who recently had roles on Broadway in Steppenwolf\u2019s Tony Award winning show \u201cPurpose.\u201d Rounding out the announced cast is fellow ensemble Namir Smallwood, currently on Broadway for Steppenwolf\u2019s \u201cBug.\u201d In \u201cWindfall,\u201d a father loses his son in a clash with police and must decide whether to accept a hefty cash settlement from the city.<\/p>\n If you go:<\/b> 1650 N. Halsted St., tickets from $64.50<\/p>\n Chicago\u2019s inaugural poet laureate, avery r. young, is bringing a new night of music to the Lyric Opera in April.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Nima Taradji for the Chicago Sun-Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where: <\/b>Lyric Opera House Chicago\u2019s inaugural poet laureate<\/u><\/a>, avery r. young, brings a new night of music to the Lyric Opera. With two performances only, safronia tells the triumphant and tragic story of the Great Migration, the period in the 20th century when an estimated 6 million Black Americans moved from the South to the North and Midwest, settling in places such as Chicago. Young\u2019s Afro-surrealist story follows the Booker family as they return from the Northern U.S. to the South to bury their patriarch. The work combines poetry, folklore, history and music that draws inspiration from genres including gospel, blues, funk and soul. The performance is billed as a visually immersive, concert-style evening.<\/p>\n If you go: <\/b>20 N. Wacker Drive, tickets from $38<\/p>\n Deeply Rooted Dance Theater is celebrating its 30th anniversary this spring.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Courtesy of Jennifer Alice Jackson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Where: <\/b>The Auditorium Chicago\u2019s own Deeply Rooted Dance Theater marks its 30th anniversary. The contemporary dance company combines modern, classical, American and African American styles. The company celebrates its milestone with a season framed around the theme of \u201clove, joy and resistance.\u201d The season culminates in a final performance at The Auditorium featuring world premieres by artistic director Nicole Clarke-Springer and cofounder Kevin Iega Jeff. There will also be a company premiere by cofounder Gary Abbott and a reprisal of audience favorites from throughout the years.<\/p>\n![\"Bill](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/5f91bf1\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3500x2489+0+0\/resize\/840x597!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Feb%2Fbc%2Ffbd2df984ce18125bdf5424bc1a0%2Fap25317216913208.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nBill Murray & his Blood Brothers<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>Jan. 9-10<\/p>\nSalome<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>Jan. 25-Feb. 14<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/7141e9b\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5616x3744+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ffa%2F7a%2F22e0785c4f62915e11384f3393fe%2Fap24169057737881.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nStereophonic<\/u><\/b><\/a> <\/b><\/h3>\n
When:<\/b> Jan. 27-Feb. 8<\/p>\nHamnet<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>Feb. 10-March 8<\/p>\n![\"Brandi](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/0a8caa7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5745x3830+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fd9%2Fc0%2Ff2083e9943718087973bbcb67605%2Findigenous-composer-051425-5.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nSongs of the Chickasaws<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>Feb. 28-March 1<\/p>\n![\"In](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/a6ad913\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3600x2400+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F2d%2Fee%2F2ac7f62f48f6a2fedb160a20c01d%2Fap17325671888726.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nHamilton<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When:<\/b> March 4-April 26<\/p>\nM\u00e4kel\u00e4 conducts The Rite of Spring<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>March 5-6<\/p>\nTiler Peck and Friends<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>March 7-8<\/p>\n![\"Academy,](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/e049804\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2500x1667+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fa5%2F6b%2F644e57744deabed12af2eb6bbce6%2Fdavidbyrne-1029250243.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nTheater of the Mind<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When:<\/b> March 11-May 31<\/p>\n![\"Tarell](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/0dd4334\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x2101+0+0\/resize\/840x588!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F90%2Fc1%2Faf4a61cb492c824e38b323cfacf6%2Fap17058360984541.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nWindfall<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When:<\/b> April 9-May 31<\/p>\n![\"Award-winning](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/35d56e9\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2500x1667+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Fb8%2F22%2F1974fc0643a690a9009da219bcc4%2Ffloydfeature-10xx25-10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nsafronia<\/u><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>April 17-18<\/p>\n![\"Deeply](\"https:\/\/cst.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/aac3d4a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/3000x2000+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F34%2F22%2F7d92b29e47519a75ce429a94bc24%2Fsacred-spaces-photo-jennifer-alice-jackson-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nDeeply Rooted Dance Theater<\/u><\/b><\/a>\u2019s 30th anniversary<\/b><\/h3>\n
When: <\/b>May 30<\/p>\n