Kitty: For me, Fun Home is what would happen if Tennessee Williams made a musical.

Mischa: Okay, intriguing … could you spell that out more specifically?

With the stage hit lauded by Broadway World as "entirely entertaining and enjoyable," the spooky, kooky, ooky musical-comedy version of The Addams Family serves as the opening presentation in the Clinton Area Showboat's 2025 summer season, its June 12 through 22 run treating audiences to a Tony Award-nominated delight inspired by the beloved TV comedy and the iconic cartoon strip by series originator Charles Addams.

Given that the new Pope hails from Chicago, it’s likely you’ve heard an uptick of talk of that town in the last week or so. But let me tell you: There’s another Chicago you ought to be talking about, because the current production running at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, directed and choreographed by Ashley Becher, is a visual spectacular and features, I wager, some of the best dancing I’ve ever seen on that stage.

Local Theatre Auditions/Calls for Entry

Updated:Wednesday, June 11

Reviews by Rochelle Arnold, Jeff Ashcraft, Patricia Baugh-Riechers, Audra Beals, Pamela Briggs, Dee Canfield, Madeline Dudziak, Kim Eastland, Emily Heninger, Heather Herkelman, Mischa Hooker, Kitty Israel, Paula Jolly, Victoria Navarro, Roger Pavey Jr., Alexander Richardson, Mark Ruebling, Mike Schulz, Joy Thompson, Oz Torres, Brent Tubbs, Jill Pearson Walsh, and Thom White.

In Steel Magnolias, first-time director and backstage veteran Megan McConville has assembled an able cast and crew, and created an eye-pleasing, engaging experience with fine production values.

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.

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