Opening its 2025 season with one of the most dynamic and unforgettable Greek tragedies ever written, Genesius Guild's outdoor presentation of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex enjoys a June 7 through 15 run in Rock Island's Lincoln Park, this tale of hubris and much, much worse serving as the theatre company's annual presentation largely performed in traditional Greek masks.

With the News Observer praising the show as a "high-energy stage spectacle" and the Charlotte Observer raving about its "witty dialogue, zingily clever songs, and inventive visuals," Bring It On: The Musical makes its area debut in a June 6 through 15 run at Moline's Spotlight Theatre, this Tony nominee for Best Musical based on the beloved 2000 Kirsten Dunst film comedy and inspiring the Huffington Post to state, "It's been a long time since [we] enjoyed a new musical quite as much."

A beloved biblical musical boasting seven Tony Award nominations and a chart-topping U.K. single in “Any Dream Will Do,” the Broadway smash Joseph & the Amazing Technical Dreamcoat, from June 6 through 15, serves as the summertime opener for the talents at Quad City Music Guild, this theatrical classic the first-ever publicly staged work by the legendary stage team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

Featuring only two actors, Marry Me a Little involves The Boy (Thayne Lamb) and The Girl (Sydney Crumbleholme) – upstairs/downstairs apartment neighbors in New York City – and this piece, with no spoken dialogue, is told only through numbers boasting music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Yet even with the songs, the show felt disjointed, and I never truly understood what creators Craig Lucas and Norman René wanted us to take from this collection.

Hailed by Broadway World as a "topnotch" entertainment boasting "fun, spirited musical numbers," the family-friendly stage entertainment Arthur & Friends Make a Musical! makes its Quad Cities debut at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, the show's June 3 through 21 run treating kids of all ages to beloved figures from the Arthur PBS series and author/illustrator Marc Brown's books.

A finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama that also received five 2015 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the critically lauded Broadway hit Fun Home makes its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre May 30 through June 14, this triumph for composer Jeanine Tesori and book writer and lyricist Lisa Kron hailed by the New York Daily News as an "achingly beautiful" musical that "speaks to one family and all families torn by secrets and lies."

With Broadway World calling the show “a fast and fun night of musical theatre” that's “brimming with so many 'wow' moments,” the disco sensation Saturday Night Fever opens the 2024-2025 mainstage season at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, this exhilarating musical – running May 30 through June 15 – adapted from the Oscar-nominated 1977 smash that catapulted the Bee Gees to international fame and made a household name of star John Travolta.

From May 29 through June 8, one of the most endearing and enduring of all dramatic comedies enjoys a run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre with the venue's presentation of Steel Magnolias, playwright Robert Harling's charming, riotous, and moving tale of mothers, daughters, and best friends that inspired the 1989 movie classic and led Drama-Logue to call it "a skillfully crafted, lovingly evoked picture of eccentricity in the small-town South."

Conceived by the revered artistic team of Craig Lucas and Norman René, and boasting nearly two dozen songs by the composing legend that is Stephen Sondheim, the two-character musical Marry Me a Little makes its Quad Cities debut at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, its May 23 through June 1 sure to demonstrate why The Guardian hailed the show as "a carousel of regrets and rapture."

The final production of Augustana College's 2024-25 season is David Auburn's Proof, directed by Jennifer Popple, the college's assistant professor of theatre arts, and this professional-caliber production both impressed and moved me. It's sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny, and although heartbreaking, still left me hopeful.

Pages