ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar
A slice of heaven: Paramount Theatre’s Midwest Regional Premiere of
Broadway’s hit musical Waitress
runs February 12-March 30, 2025
Paramount Theatre’s Midwest Regional premiere of Waitress, directed by (top, from left) Katie Spelman, features Michelle Lauto in her Paramount debut as as Jenna, with (bottom, from left) Teressa LaGamba as Becky, Kelly Felthous as Dawn, David Moreland as Dr. Pomatter, Ian Paul Custer as Earl, Ron E. Rains as Joe, Jonah D. Winston as Cal, Jackson Evans as Ogie (through March 16), and Nik Kmiecik as Ogie (March 19-30). I'll be out for the press opening February 21, reviewing for ChiIL Live Shows.
What’s more American than Apple Pie? A small-town waitress with a dream and the recipe for success. Catch that sweet smell of success at the largest subscription theater in the U.S., Aurora’s Paramount Theatre, when it greets 2025 with the Midwest Regional Premiere of Waitress. Music and lyrics are by Grammy Award winner and Tony nominee Sara Bareilles, with a book by Jessie Nelson.
Director Katie Spelman returns to Paramount to stage the first Chicago-area production of the hit Broadway musical, with Michelle Lauto making her Paramount debut as Jenna. Performances are February 12-March 30, 2025.
Sugar, butter and flour aren’t the only ingredients Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker, uses to make her famous pies. Stuck in a small town, a loveless marriage, and a surprise pregnancy, Jenna hopes to bake her way out of trouble. Jenna puts her heart and soul into her delicious pies, winning over anyone who tastes them. But battling expectations and low self-esteem, Jenna’s pies reflect her state of mind with names like “I Hate My Husband Pie,” “Pregnant, Miserable, Self-Pitying Loser Pie” and “Baby Screaming it’s Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining My Life Pie.
Full of romance and the joy of an uninhibited fling, Waitress challenges the stereotype of a pregnant woman trapped in a small town between the life she’s living and the life she wants. Her customers, co-workers, and the town’s handsome new doctor may all offer conflicting recipes for happiness, but only Jenna can do the soul-searching to decide what the right ingredients are for her own happiness.
Want to know her secret recipe? Come get a taste of Paramount’s delicious new production of Waitress, nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Original Score, and serving up terrific songs like “What’s Inside” “What Baking Can Do,” “Club Knocked Up” with a side of romantic tunes including “It Only Takes a Taste” and “When He Sees Me.”
Seeing Waitress at Paramount Theatre is easy as pie. Performance are February 12 through March 30, 2025: Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Thursday at 7 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Tickets are just $28-$85, a fraction of the cost to see a show in downtown Chicago. Plus Aurora’s live downtown theater district boasts easy, cheaper parking and an influx of great new restaurant options opening all around.
Paramount Theatre is located at 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora. For tickets and information, visit ParamountAurora.com, call (630) 896-6666, or stop by the Paramount box office Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and until show time on show days. For group discounts, contact Melissa Striedl, melissas@paramountarts.com or (630) 723-2461.
Note: Paramount will offer two Pay What You Can previews on Thursday, February 13 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, February 15 at 3 p.m. See ParamountAurora.com/Pay-What-You-Can for details.
Access Services
Paramount will offer open captioning on Wednesday, March 26 at 1:30 p.m. and American Sign Language interpretation on Friday, March 28 at 8 p.m.
Paramount always offers assistive listening devices free of charge at all performances. Check in at the coat room before the show to borrow a listening device. If you require wheelchair or special seating or other assistance, please contact the box office at (630) 896-6666 or boxoffice@paramountarts.com in advance.
Baked from the heart: Behind the scenes of Paramount’s Waitress
Katie Spelman
Katie Spelman (director and choreographer) is a Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based choreographer, director, and intimacy director who creates work with an emphasis on story, the feminine and collaboration. Her hometown directing credits include acclaimed productions of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 at Writers Theatre, multi-Jeff-nominated productions of Once at Writers Theatre and The Music Man at Marriott Theatre, and Paramount’s Cabaret in 2018, also Jeff-nominated for best production. She made her Broadway choreographic debut in 2024 with The Notebook. Spelman was also associate choreographer on Moulin Rouge for the Boston, Broadway and Australian companies, a dance consultant on the West End and first U.S. national touring productions, and an associate on Amelie, American Psycho and Once on Broadway. She has received a Helen Hayes Award, the Agnes de Mille Commission from SDCF, and appeared on the Broadway Women's Fund Women to Watch List and the inaugural list of Theatrely’s 31. katiespelman.com
Michelle Lauto
Michelle Lauto, an award-winning New York-based actor, singer, director, and educator, makes her Paramount debut as Jenna. Lauto grew up in the Jersey suburbs before moving to Chicago in 2012 to study her love of comedy. She is a 2014 graduate of The Second City Training Center's Conservatory program. Since graduating, she has starred in more than a dozen musicals all over Chicagoland, won a 2017 Jeff Award for Best Actress in a Revue in the original Chicago cast of Spamilton: An American Parody, and has worked at several prominent regional theaters.
The principal cast also features Teressa LaGamba as Becky, Kelly Felthous as Dawn, David Moreland; Ian Paul Custer as Earl; Ron E. Rains as Joe, Jonah D. Winston as Cal, Jackson Evans as Ogie (through March 16), and Nik Kmiecik as Ogie (March 19-30). The ensemble includes Marta Bady, Logan Becker, Andrés Enriquez, Sophie Grimm, Devon Hayakawa, Laura Savage, Emma Ogea, David Stobbe and Anakin Jace White. Youth actors Julianna Velez
and Reese Bella alternate performances as Lulu.
Paramount’s design and production team includes Katie Spelman, director and choreographer; Kory Danielson, music supervisor; Celia Villacres, music director and conductor; Scott Davis, scenic designer; Mieka van der Ploeg, costume designer; Eric Southern, lighting designer; Adam Rosenthal, sound designer; Katie Cordts, wig, hair and makeup designer; Ivy Thomas, properties designer; Ethan Deppe, electronic music designer; Alyssa Vera Ramos, intimacy director; Susan Gosdick, dialect coach; Emily Ann Brooks, associate director and associate choreographer; Kailey Rockwell, associate music director and associate conductor; Bailey O’Neil, young performer supervisor; Jinni Pike, stage manager; and Lina Benich and Emma Franklin, assistant stage managers.
Waitress the musical is based on the hit 2007 indie film written and directed by Adrienne Shelly, starring Keri Russell as Jenna. After a 2015 tryout at American Repertory Theater, Waitress premiered at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 2016, directed by Diane Paulus, starring Chicago’s own Jessie Mueller as Jenna, and earning four Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Original Score. Following a London production, national and international tours, Waitress returned in 2021 to Broadway for a limited engagement starring Sara Bareilles as Jenna, resulting in the live stage recording of the show released in 2023.
Aurora Bank & Trust is the official show sponsor of Waitress. Paramount Theatre Broadway Season sponsors are the Dunham Foundation, BMO, ComEd, Illinois Arts Council and the City of Aurora. Waitress is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
Also playing in 2025 on Paramount’s three stages in downtown Aurora
Paramount has had a smash hit on its hands since last summer with its new, immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet, now extended all the way through June 29, 2025 at Paramount’s new Stolp Island Theatre.
Right across the street from Paramount, in the sleek new Copley Theatre, study up for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, part of Paramount’s BOLD Series, March 12-April 27, 2025.
A stunning revival of Cats wraps Paramount’s 13th Broadway Series at Paramount Theatre, April 30-June 15, 2025. For tickets, information and the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com.
About Paramount Theatre
Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., is the center for performing arts in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois. The beautiful, 1,843-seat theater, graced with a strong 1930s Art Deco influence and original Venetian décor, nationally known for its high-quality productions, superb acoustics and historic grandeur, has been downtown Aurora’s anchor attraction since 1931.
Since launching its own Broadway Series in 2011, Paramount has amassed more than 37,000 subscribers, making it the largest subscription house in the U.S.
For over 50 years, the Joseph Jefferson Awards has recognized excellence in Chicago area theater. Paramount has been honored to earn 124 Jeff nominations and 29 wins over the last eight years of eligibility, including six Jeff Awards in 2022 for Kinky Boots, including Best Musical-Large, Paramount’s fourth win in that category following Sweeney Todd (2017), West Side Story (2016) and Les Misérables (2015).
Paramount Theatre is one of five live performance venues overseen by the Aurora Civic Center Authority (ACCA) in downtown Aurora. ACCA also programs and manages the 165-seat Copley Theatre, home to Paramount’s BOLD Series, at 8 E. Galena in the North Island Center; Stolp Island Theatre, now open at 5 E. Downer Place, Suite G, with a critically acclaimed immersive production of Million Dollar Quartet, extended through June 2025; RiverEdge Park, downtown Aurora’s outdoor summer concert venue at 360 N. Broadway; and the Paramount School of the Arts.
Paramount Theatre continues to expand its artistic and institutional boundaries under the guidance of Tim Rater, President and CEO, Aurora Civic Center Authority; Jim Corti, Artistic Director, Paramount Theatre; a dedicated Board of Trustees and a devoted staff of live theater and music professionals.
For the latest updates, visit ParamountAurora.com or follow @paramountaurora on Facebook and Instagram, and Paramount Theatre on LinkedIn.
