A Tony Award nominee for Best Play and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Lee Blessing's two-man classic A Walk in the Woods opens the 2023 lineup at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, this witty and fascinating dramatic comedy lauded by LA Smash as "a memorable and thought-provoking evening in the theatre."

Exploring themes of social justice, activism, technology and empowered youth within a riveting and entertaining stage production, TheatreWorks USA's touring presentation of Warriors Don't Cry lands at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on January 23, the work described by Broadway World as "a universal story of faith and redemption," as well as "good triumphing over the forces of evil."

Delivering what the British Theatre Guide deemed "lashings of energy" and "spectacle worthy of a rock video," the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse will treat patrons to an audience with the Queen – or rather, simply Queen – in the imaginative musical revue We Will Rock You, a January 18 through March 11 celebration of the legendary rock and pop band boasting two dozen timeless hits including “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Are the Champions,” “Somebody to Love,” and the iconic title tune.

Although the long-running stage sensation will close in New York on January 8 after more than 28 years and 11,472 performances, the gifted percussionists of STOMP are taking their thunderous stage success on the road, with the show's January 19 appearance at Davenport's Adler Theatre to demonstrate why the Boston Globe raved, "If you haven’t seen STOMP, go! If you have seen it, take someone and share the pleasure!”

Because seven is a lucky number and we've run out of things to write about this year … welcome, friends, to the announcement of the Seventh Annual Reader Tony Awards!

As a special year-end gift for the Quad Cities theatre community in general and fans in particular, the Haus of Ruckus duo of T Green and Calvin Vo will deliver one final 2022 evening with their comedic counterparts Johnny and Fungus in A Very Ruckus Holiday Special, which will be staged at Davenport's Mockingbird on Main on December 30 in tandem with a live-streaming option. And if you thought the team responsible for the nutty adventures “Pants” Labyrinth in the spring and Random Access Morons in the summer was done for the year after their November presentation Spooky Pete, you're not alone, because as Vo admits, “We also thought we were done for the year.”

A soulful musical drama about the Magi and their quest to find the one prophesied about for centuries, Gold, Frankincense, & Myrrh will fill Davenport's Adler Theatre with seasonal riches during the show's engagement on December 17, with its producing company Breath of Encouragement founded by Karen Roebuck, a native of Dayton, Ohio, and longtime resident of Davenport.

Writer Peter Rothstein conceived All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 as a radio piece, and first presented it as a concert with nine singers and three actors in a church auditorium in 2007. Rothstein used the soldiers' own words, and Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach arranged the 30-or-so songs, including traditional carols, popular tunes of the day, and songs which had emerged from the war itself. The show takes only an hour, but there is much to absorb and appreciate.

When I first got to the Mockingbird on Main on Friday, I immediately noticed that the theatre itself smelled wonderful … and Christmas-y. My sentiment was shared by a fellow patron, whom I overheard sharing her comment to associate director and producer Douglas Kutzli. I also overheard Kutzli say that most of his job working on the production involved saying “No, Tristan, that’s not funny” to the show's director Tristan Tapscott. But here’s the thing: I wish Kutzli had said that so much more. Because while there was nothing about this A Christmas Carol that was bad, gosh darn it, despute valiant efforts, it just wasn’t all that funny.

While watching the Spotlight Theatre’s joyous opening-night performance of A Christmas Story: The Musical, I could feel the nostalgia and love for the material coming from much of the audience. The 1983 film is an iconic holiday flick, and it was fun to witness this production’s viewers follow along already knowing the story.

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