Based on the beloved Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson book Growing Up Lutheran and an ever-popular stage entertainment for nearly 20 years, Church Basement Ladies makes an eagerly awaited return to Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, its September 8 through 17 run sure to demonstrate why Broadway World called the experience “a completely fun evening” that's “really, really funny.”

Praised by The Guardian as “perfectly crafted” and “beautifully scripted,” the wildly entertaining Agatha Christie mystery Witness for the Prosecution enjoys a September 1 through 4 staging at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre following the forced delay of its originally scheduled run this past March.

On Thursday, I made my third trek in three weeks to the Timber Lake Playhouse – this time to see Jersey Boys, which is about Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons' fascinating rise to fame. The show, boasting music by these early rock-and-roll legends, ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2017, winning four Tonys. I haven't seen the 2014 movie, but even if you have, see this. Seriously.

The Mockingbird on Main keeps on keeping on with its newest production Big Rock Candy Mountain, now playing at the Black Box Theatre. Having been iterated around the Quad Cities several times over the last almost-decade, this production is the most recent of its renditions by writer/director Tristan Tapscott. It’s a quick and fun musical that gets the job done, as well as a pleasant trip to a time long past.