A bit of the holiday spirit still holds sway in the theater community, even as local stages start revving up for 2024-25 Part 2 of their regular seasons. “Sorry! Wrong Chimney!” at Desiderios’ Dinner Theatre, with seven more shows between now and the Jan. 19 matinee, has its share of Santas while also edging us toward Valentine’s Day with its comic take on mixed up love and marriage. 

The farcical romp by the prolific Jack Sharkey and Leo W. Sears also includes a burglar, the cops and a sack full of misunderstandings. 

Call 716-395-3207 for reservations; cost is $64 to $74, depending on entrée, and includes meal and show (drinks are extra). It all starts at 6 p.m. evenings and 1 p.m. for matinees at Bobby J’s Italian American Grille, 204 Como Park Boulevard, Cheektowaga. Entrance is off the parking lot behind the venue.

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Christmas hangs on for a brief appearance in the middle of “The Last Five Years,” opening Jan. 10 in the Cabaret at MusicalFare Theatre at Daemen University, 4380 Main St., Amherst. Real life couple Kelly Copps and Steve Copps (who first met at MusicalFare!) play Cathy and Jamie, telling the story of their relationship in song – separately and from opposite directions. Cathy sings from their marriage’s end to its beginning; Jamie starts with how they fell in love and goes forward. 

Written by Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown (“Parade,” “The Bridges of Madison County”), this 90-minute musical has received accolades for its dynamic score (and is being presented on Broadway this spring with Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren). Cabaret shows are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m., through Jan. 26. Tickets are $45 at musicalfare.com.

Then it’s time to break out the silliness with the Western New York premiere on Jan. 16 of “Khan!!! The Musical! – A Trek-tacular Parody.” O’Connell & Company has been exploring the final frontiers of parody for several years now, with the Harry Potter spoof “Puffs” and “Wicket, a “Star Wars” send-up. The shows work well in Shea’s Smith Theatre, 654 Main St., where the intimate setting helps everyone be in on the jokes with a wink-wink nudge-nudge. (You don’t have to be a Trekkie to get it!)

The musical, by Brent Black and co-conceived by Alina Roth, is set in 2366, inspired, if that’s the right word, by the film “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.” Expect to see Holodeck versions of Khan and Kirk, plus McCoy and Spock, Sulu and Scotty, and Uhura and Chekov, and many more in a show-within-a-show mashup.

“Khan!!!” runs Jan. 16 through Jan. 26 with performances Thursdays – Saturdays and Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sundays and Saturday, Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are about $45; $35 for students, at sheas.org or 716-847-0850. 

First Look Buffalo Theatre Company keeps the New Year’s vibe going with the darkly comic adventure “The Day I Learned to Fly,” by Wendy-Marie Martin, opening Jan. 17. Martin has a knack for layering elements of sci-fi or fantasy over stories otherwise grounded in day-to-day experience, making them appealing to teens and adults. This new play is like that. The action begins on a New Year’s Eve, when 15-year-old Hattie is struck by lightning — and survives. 

Much like being bitten by a radioactive spider, the experience turns her into SuperHattie, with a host of unusual powers.  The story of how Hattie learns to use her gifts could be described as … electric!

Playing Jan. 17 through Feb. 9 at the Canterbury Woods Performing Arts Center, 705 Renaissance Drive, Williamsville, with showtimes Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30; $20 student/senior, at www.FirstLookBuffalo.com or at the door. 

Buffalo playwright Donna Hoke will see her “Brilliant Works of Art” on stage beginning Jan. 30 in Alleyway’s Cabaret Theater, 1 Curtain Up Alley. The three-actor relationship drama is being presented by Bellissima Productions. At its center is Abby Gates, a law student with a “sugar daddy” and an artist in her life that she loves. Zoe Gonez plays the young woman trying to reconcile the directions her life is going, with Johnny Barden (recently in “Witch” at Road Less Traveled) and Greg Howze (another RLTP regular) as the men on either side.

 “Brilliant Works” will run Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 7:30 p.m., Jan. 30 through Feb. 15. Tickets are $30; $20 for students; note that Saturday evenings are “Pay What You Can.” Go to bellissimaproductions.com.

Nothing warms up winter like a cozy, surprise-filled murderous mystery, and that’s what is coming Jan. 31 at Lancaster Opera House.  “Accomplice,” billed as a “comedy thriller,” is set in Dartmoor, England, the kind of countryside favored in shows like “Midsommer Murders.” Playwright Rupert Holmes, also known as the pop music composer the earworm “Escape (The Pina Colada Song),” piles on the twists and laughs one after another. Just as in his famous song, you’re always guessing about who is going after – and keeping secrets from — whom.

“Accomplice” plays Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m., Jan. 31 through Feb. 16 in the Lancaster Opera House Theater, upstairs at 21 Central Ave., Lancaster. Tickets are $35; $33 for seniors, $20 for students, at lancasteropera.org.

Enjoy, and then rest up. There are a least 10 more local productions opening in February!