Director Aaron Baker-Loo created a memorable musical production – though, admittedly, I found the whole saga more depressing than I remembered. Luckily for the Spotlight, their presentation is also an enchanting spectacle that is more than enough to keep even the youngest viewer interested.

Let it be known: I’m not a true crime kind of gal. As such, the opening night of Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story at the Black Box Theatre was perhaps the most unsettling theatrical experience I’ve had in recent memory. I couldn’t quite get past the fact this was a true story. While it has certainly been dramatized – and as a musical, for Pete’s sake! – I found this somber tale quite disturbing.

At Friday’s performance, the laughs were riotous ones, and while this might not be intellectual humor, funny is funny.

If you find yourself at odds with gloomy October weather, walking into Moline's Black Box Theatre and its production of Suddenly Last Summer will brighten your spirits, given that you can’t help but be immediately impressed by the onstage greenery.