STAGE

Dear Evan Hansen—the 2017 Tony winner for Best Musical and easily the most buzzed-about Broadway show post-Hamilton—follows the titular socially anxious kid, who fabricates a relationship with a dead classmate to bond with the deceased’s family. It’s a modern take on grief, mental illness, Internet lives, and suicide. You know, typical light Broadway fare! SETH SOMMERFELD The Paramount. Runs Jan. 23–Feb. 2; see stgpresents.org for exact schedule. Sold out—but see luckyseat.com/dearevanhansen for info on entering a seat lottery.

Vietnam’s lingering traumatization of those who fought is the subject of Steven Dietz’s drama, Last of the Boys. GAVIN BORCHERT Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle Center, seattlerep.org. $17 and up. 7:30 p.m. (plus som matinees), Tues.–Sun. Jan. 23–Feb. 10.

Githa Sowerby’s hard-hitting look at business and patriarchy, Rutherford and Son,premiered to acclaim in 1912, but has since been neglected. GB Jones Playhouse (UW), drama.uw.edu. $8–$20. 7:30 p.m. Wed.–Sun.; 2 p.m. Sun. Jan. 23–Feb. 3.

Well, if you’re very sexually inexperienced… and you sleep together very rarely… and you keep the lights off… and your “wife” keeps her business well-tucked… and you reeeeeeally want it to be true… it is conceivable (so to speak) that you could be someone’s lover for 20 years and never realize “she” is actually a man—oui, avec une verge. It actually happened to a French diplomat who fell for a female-presenting Beijing opera singer—and the story’s even more complex than that: The singer was a spy who wangled (sorry) intel from him. David Henry Hwang turned the story into a play, M. Butterfly, the title alluding to the Puccini opera also about a tragic East/West romance. GB ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery, artswest.org. $20–$42. 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat.; 3 p.m. Sun. Jan. 24–Feb. 17.

Joseph Kesselring’s classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace features the stage’s most charming murderers. GB Taproot Theatre, taproottheatre.org. $27–$50. Previews Jan. 23–24. Wed.–Sat. Jan. 25–March 2.

COMEDY

Alberta-born stand-up and host of NPR’s Ask Me Another Ophira Eisenberg brings the laughs to the hottest comedy club in town: the Jewish community center! SS Stroum Jewish Community Center, sjcc.org. $20–$25. 8 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 24.

To crib a wonderfully sarcastic joke from Family Guy: “What’s the most consistently funny form of comedy in existence? Improv!” So the prospect of a two-man long-form improv show in front of a sold-out audience of 1,800 certainly seems like a big ask, to put it mildly. But if anyone can deliver, it’s the comic team of Thomas Middleditch (Silicon Valley) and Ben Schwartz (Parks & Recreation), who have been honing their lightning-quick repartee for years in tiny L.A. venues and shown their chops in the on-the-spot creation of silly nonsense on platforms like the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast. SS The Moore, stgpresents.org. Sold out. 8 p.m. Sun., Jan. 27.

CLASSICAL, ETC.

Ludovic Morlot conducts a Seattle Symphony and UW Symphony in a two-orchestra mashup in Bernstein and Beethoven. GB Benaroya Hall, seattlesymphony.org. Free. 7:30 p.m. Fri., Jan. 25.

At the ninth annual Mozart Birthday Toast, hear chamber music covering his whole career (from K. 19d to K. 502), curated by keyboardist Byron Schenkman, with Lee Peterson, Nathan Whittaker, and Rachell Ellen Wong. There’ll be champagne and chocolates, too, to salute his 263rd. GB Seattle First Baptist Church, townhallseattle.org. $10–$15. 7 p.m. Sun., Jan. 27.

VISUAL ARTS

Living the Dream, Dreaming the Life presents the work of 14 local artists based on actual documents and photos from the archive of Edwin T. Pratt: Seattle civil-rights pioneer (an architect of the desegregation of Seattle Public schools, among much else) and Shoreline homeowner in an otherwise white neighborhood. The opening artist reception, on the 50th anniversary to the day of Pratt’s still-unsolved assassination, includes readings by Saab Lofton and Kilam Tel Aviv. GB Shoreline City Hall, shorelinewa.gov/art. 6:30 p.m. Sat., Jan. 26. Exhibit ends April 26.

Frye Art Museum rolls out a triple feature of exhibits to kick off its 2019 slate. For Cherdonna Shinatra: DITCH, standout local dance artist Jody Kuehner and her titular drag persona combine installation and live performance to “grapple with the dismal state of the world by undertaking our greatest challenge yet: making every single person happy.” Oh, and the dance component will be performed at the Frye daily. Daily. An exhibition of Tschabalala Self’s multimedia (but largely fabric) works explore “the iconographic significance of the black female body in contemporary culture.” Rounding out the offerings is The Rain Doesn’t Know Friends From Foes, which collects theinstallations, paintings, and stop-motion animations of Dubai-based artists Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, and Hesam Rahmanian. GB Frye Art Museum, fryemuseum.org. Free. Jan. 26–Apr. 28.

MUSIC

On its new record Vitriola, Cursive turned back to a sound that made the post-hardcore band’s seminal 2003 album The Ugly Organ stand out from the pack: cello. The addition breathes some fresh air back into the band and should provide a more robust live experience when the group swings into town with the always-ripping Summer Cannibalsand Campdogzz. SS The Crocodile, thecrocodile.com. $20. 8 p.m. Fri., Jan. 25.

The cold months aren’t typically a hotbed for live music, but don’t tell that to the folks behind Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival. This year’s edition of the Leavenworth gathering includes Shannon and the Clams, Jenn Champion, Slang, and local standouts like Parisalexa, The True Loves, Monsterwatch, Tres Leches, and Spirit Award. SS Leavenworth Festhalle, winter.timbermusicfest.com. $85; single day $45. Jan 25 & 26.

Teen indie rock sensation Snail Mail (aka Lindsey Jordan) broke out in 2018 with Chastity Belt-esque tunes her Matador Records debut, Lush. If she can write more singles as infectious as “Heat Wave,” she’s going to be around a long, long time. SS The Neptune, stgpresents.org. Sold out. 8 p.m. Mon., Jan. 28.

Bushwick Book Club’s formula of making songs inspired by a particular book turns its attention to James Baldwin’s Another Country, with performances by Stephanie Anne Johnson, Reggie Garrett, Aaron Starkey, Sierra Golden, and others. GB Hugo House, townhallseattle.org. $5. 9:30 p.m. Sat., Jan. 26.

FILM

Think of Children’s Film Festival Seattle as SIFF For Kids. The Northwest Film Forum’s annual celebration of enriching films for young audiences boasts 146 films from 39 countries. SS Northwest Film Form, childrensfilmfestivalseattle.org. $9–14; festival pass $140–$180. Jan. 24–Feb. 9.

What if a country rewrote its constitution using ordinary citizens and social media? That’s just what happened in Iceland in 2012, and the doc Blueberry Soup: How Iceland Changed the Way We Think About Democracy shows us how. GB Nordic Museum, wilmaswishes.com. $5–$7. 7 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 24.

BOOKS

Here’s Hank is next in the series of “Hank Zipzer” childrens books by author Henry Winkler (yes, that Henry Winkler) and illustrator Lin Oliver. GB University Temple United Methodist Church, ubookstore.com. 6 p.m. Sun., Jan. 27.