29 Jul 2019

Fleet of Foot: The Mississippi Bend Players' “Dames at Sea,” at Augustana College through August 4

By Pamela Briggs

I was in Friday's opening-night audience for the Mississippi Bend Players' Dames at Sea. George Haimsohn and Robin Miller wrote the 1966 piece's book and lyrics, with music by Jim Wise, and as Augustana College's Brunner Theatre lobby display notes, it's a spoof of the films Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, and 42nd Street. The old show-biz tropes it sends up are easy targets, and the tunes are imitative (naturally), but vastly enjoyable. As for the script, it's just one giant, cheerful wink in which continuity and plausibility are irrelevant. Show people playing show people putting on a show is a sea of fun to begin with, and the plot merely dips a toe in the water now and then, leaving the singing and dancing to make the big splash – which, here, they do.

21 Jul 2019

Super Troupers: “Mamma Mia!”, at the Timber Lake Playhouse through August 4

By Pamela Briggs

You know ABBA, right? The 1970s pop group, beloved worldwide, wrote and recorded the catchiest tunes this side of Lennon and McCartney? The Swedish foursome were all over the airwaves, and still are, and their body of work was the springboard that launched the musical Mamma Mia! The Timber Lake Playhouse is running its spectacular production of the show now. Grab a seat before they're gone.

15 Jul 2019

Tap-tastic: Quad City Music Guild's “42nd Street,” at the Prospect Park Auditorium through July 21

By Pamela Briggs

It's magical to enter the theatre at Prospect Park and take in the huge, overarching proscenium studded with large round bulbs and that dark-red velvety curtain. Before Thursday's preview performance, I took a deep, happy breath as I absorbed this classic-American-theatre ambiance and anticipated a dazzling musical spectacle – and Quad City Music Guild gave me what I wanted.

15 Jul 2019

The Wonderful World of Absolutely, Definitely Not Disney: “Something Intangible,” at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre through July 21

By Pamela Briggs

I won't be coy: The Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Something Intangible, by Bruce Graham, is an imagining of the relationship between brothers Walt and Roy Disney, but with the names changed. They co-founded the Disney Bros. Studios, with Walt the visionary and Roy the money man.

08 Jul 2019

The Robe Warrior: “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre through July 21

By Pamela Briggs

If you know Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, you know it's a fun show. If you've seen the current troupe at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre, you know how deep-down wonderful they are. And when this company took on this classic musical, I expected to be dazzled. I was, as was the capacity crowd for Saturday's opening matinée performance.

24 Jun 2019

Ghostess with the Mostess: “Blithe Spirit,” at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre through June 29

By Pamela Briggs

Noël Coward's 1941 comedy Blithe Spirit was adapted for film in 1945, as well as for television and radio and as a musical. It's been offered by multitudes of theatres, now including the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre – which proved, on Friday, that their production can stand with the best of them.

23 Jun 2019

Girls, Interrupted: “Little Women: The Musical,” at the Black Box Theatre through June 30

By Pamela Briggs

The opening-night, sell-out crowd filling the Black Box Theatre appeared engaged by, and mostly appreciative of, Little Women: The Musical. The talented cast performed with gusto, intelligence, and tenderness, as required. Unfortunately, however, the adaptation itself of the late-19th-century Louisa May Alcott classic left me disappointed overall.

13 Jun 2019

All Ways a Bridesmaid: “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress,” at the Playcrafers Barn Theatre through June 16

By Pamela Briggs

I knew nothing about Five Women Wearing the Same Dress when I walked into the Playcrafters Barn Theatre on Tuesday evening. But it makes the experience even more satisfying when a show goes beyond my expectations. This one did.

10 Jun 2019

My Love(s), There's Only You (Both) in My Life … : “A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder,” at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre through June 16

By Pamela Briggs

The Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder is likely the most purely entertaining show I've ever seen. Everything exists to delight, laugh at, or marvel over – as long as you can accept murder as entertainment, which humanity has been doing for at least 2,500 years of recorded history.

13 May 2019

Sesame Treat: “Avenue Q,” at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre through May 19

By Pamela Briggs

Though it expresses both the highs and lows of life, the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Avenue Q – the three-time Tony winner with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty – is an uplifting treat overall, packed with superb performances.

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