With gags and asides to the audience, An All-American Riot has a vaudevillian vibe, often fast-paced and engaging, which unfortunately makes the slower scenes drag by contrast.

If we don't see what happened, we must depend on what others say is the truth. But the truth isn't always visible. Does "the truth" depend on how many witnesses? Their reliability; their knowledge; their agenda?

Ten miles from the Mississippi River, the peaceful, corn-stippled town of Eldridge escaped the floods. Yet it is currently awash by the undersea explosion of music, color, joy, laughter, and drama that is Disney's The Little Mermaid, which is being produced by Countryside Community Theatre at the North Scott High School Auditorium.

Aristophanes wrote Plutus more than 2,400 years ago, and we're still griping that people wealthier than we are haven't necessarily earned it, whether through hard work or by reason of virtue.

The Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's current production is The Bikinis, which is subtitled A New Musical Beach Party, and I attended Thursday's preview night. The musical part is enjoyable; the four singers and four-member band perform admirably. However, I'd personally subtitle the rest of the show When Bad Scripts Happen to Good People.

I was overdue for captivating theatre, and on Friday, the Black Box Theatre delivered.

Keeping an eye on forecasts for days in advance, I was sure that severe thunderstorms were going to wash out Genesius Guild's opening-night performance of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. But they didn't, and with my umbrella, I went, I watched, I liked it.

Director Courtney Crouse and music director Sabin Fisher, along with their cast, crew, and production staff, have crafted an extraordinarily entertaining production bursting with high-level musicianship, engaging acting, and visual verve, telling of a legendary studio session involving Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Care to enjoy some frolicking, singing gorillas (and people) without leaving the QC? I suggest visiting the Spotlight Theatre for Tarzan: The Musical, an adaptation of the 1999 Disney animated film.

It took time for some of the performers in director John Donald O'Shea's production at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre to fully inhabit their roles; consequently, I was slow to warm up to the show. But I did. The compelling mystery aspects enter the script late, too, but are ultimately engrossing.

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