Victor Angelo and Joe LoGiudice in The Fantasticks

The Fantasticks, the 1960 musical with a score by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics and book by Tom Jones, is a love story with a twist, and the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre production that I saw on August 11 offered some sweet moments propped against a score I did not particularly care for. Its central idea and story, however, I loved.

Bruce Carmen and John VanDeWoestyne in Greater TunaBased on the reputation of the Tuna plays and remembering how heartily I laughed during a recent production of A Tuna Christmas, I expected the original piece in the series, Greater Tuna, to be, well, funnier. That's not to say that the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's production of this comedy isn't without laughs - they're just not side-splitting ones. Still, thanks to the two actors who impressively handle 20 roles between them, director James Fairchild's staging of authors' Jaston Williams', Joe Sears', and Ed Howard's play is adequately diverting, and good for an evening's entertainment.

J. Adam Lounsberry, Tracy Pelzer-Timm, Jenny Winn, and Nathan Bates in Guys & DollsWith its whopping cast size and an equally daunting song list, Guys & Dolls doesn't seem like the best choice for a rookie director. But that didn't stop local actor Jason Platt from taking the helm of Quad City Music Guild's first summer offering, and making a darned good run of it. To be sure, the Thursday-night preview show either needed a few major cuts to shave off at least 20 minutes of the two-hours-and-50-minute (including intermission) run time, or a quicker musical pace set by music director Charles DCamp. However, the lead vocal performances were phenomenal, the female dance numbers were great fun to watch, and the set design and high-quality costumes effectively represented New York City, circa 1940.

Narrowing down 2009's sensational stage portrayals into a list of 12 "favorites" is a hopeless task, really, so don't take this as any kind of last word on the subject; you'll find mention of amazing stage work all throughout my year-end coverage. Still, here's hoping you were able to catch at least a few of the following performances, which helped underline just how crazy with theatrical talent our area actually is.

Erika Thomas, Nathan Bates, and Bruce Carmen in The ProducersI'm sure there are those of you who don't think Mel Brooks' musical comedy The Producers is all that enjoyable, especially if your only acquaintance with the show is 2005's film version. But even if you felt burned by that woebegone adaptation, I urge you to check out Quad City Music Guild's current take on Brooks' modern classic, so you can see just how sublimely hysterical this material can actually be; I'm guessing that the only audiences who could possibly leave director Kevin Pieper's glorious show-biz satire in a bad mood are the easily offended and the abjectly humorless. (And you know who you are, because upon reading that, you instinctively presumed I was referring to you.)