30 Jul 2018

You've Got to Get a Ticket or Two: “Oliver!”, at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre through August 5

By Rochelle Arnold

W.C. Fields was famously quoted as saying, “Never work with children or animals,” probably because they're scene-stealing and completely unpredictable. And they certainly were, in the best way, when Thursday's opening-night performance of composer Lionel Bart's Oliver! played to a sold-out crowd at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre. At the show's start, dozens of exceptionally talented children, playing half-starved orphans, stormed the stage with empty bowls in their hands singing “Food, Glorious Food,” and this classic tale of struggle and hardship was immediately delivered with skilled, scene-stealing, completely unpredictable song-and-dance performances.

30 Jul 2018

Whines, Women, and Songs: Genesius Guild’s “Thesmophoriazusae,” at Lincoln Park through August 5

By Madeline Dudziak

Saturday night's performance of Thesmophoriazusae was a bit like the talent show at the end of summer camp. Featuring a lot of inside jokes, jabs at society as a whole, and many familiar faces, director Bob Hanske’s production serves as the wacky capstone to Genesius Guild’s summer of entertainment in Lincoln Park.

24 Jul 2018

Quad City Music Guild's “Shrek: The Musical,” August 3 through 12

By Reader Staff

An intimidating green ogre, a feisty princess, a wisecracking donkey, a diminutive tyrant, an ambulatory gingerbread man, and other fantastical figures take over Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium when Quad City Music Guild presents its August 3 through 12 run of Shrek: The Musical, the Tony Award-winning fairytale slapstick based on the Oscar-winning animated smash, and a show USA Today called “a triumph of comic imagination with a heart as big and warm as Santa's.”

24 Jul 2018

The Mississippi Bend Players' “Beginner's Luck,” August 3 through 12

By Reader Staff

Concluding their 2018 season with a world premiere at Augustana College, the Mississippi Bend Players will, from August 3 through 12, stage a collaboration between an Emmy-nominated writer/producer and a Broadway-veteran director: the pitfalls-of-show-business comedy Beginner's Luck, written by noted sitcom scribe P.J. Lasker (The Golden Girls, Barney Miller) and directed by the Great White Way's Philip Wm. McKinley (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Boy from Oz).

23 Jul 2018

Hound Dogged: “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” at the Timber Lake Playhouse through July 28

By Rochelle Arnold

Does a wild hellhound prowl the moors of Devonshire? Leave it to the brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes (Alex Rudd) and his distinguished assistant Dr. Watson (Max Bahneman) to solve this legendary case of an alleged curse in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery at the Timber Lake Playhouse. In a totally marvelous theatrical display of talent and special effects, Saturday’s matinée performance was one of the best non-musical productions I’ve seen in a long time.

23 Jul 2018

ABBAcadabra! : “Mamma Mia!”, at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse through September 15

By Madeline Dudziak

I grew up listening to ABBA's Gold: Greatest Hits (thanks, Mom!), so I felt right at home at Friday’s opening-night performance of Mamma Mia! at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse. But loving the iconic ABBA is not a prerequisite to enjoying director/choreographer Michael Matthew Ferrell’s fun-filled production.

17 Jul 2018

Genesius Guild's “Thesmophoriazusae,” July 28 through August 5

By Reader Staff

Verbal comedy, physical slapstick, madcap chases, and a bunch of pop-culture and area-culture references will close 2018's theatrical season in Lincoln Park when Genesius Guild stages its revival of Thesmophoriazusae July 28 through August 5, Aristophanes' Greek-comedy classic getting a significant makeover with a new script, and new jokes, by Guild founder Don Wooten.

17 Jul 2018

“A Number,” July 27 and 28

By Reader Staff

The winner of England's Evening Standard Award for Best Play and a work described as “stunning” by the New York Times, playwright Caryl Churchill's provocative cloning drama A Number will be staged locally July 27 and 28, this latest production in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Barn Owl Series described by the Daily Telegraph as “moving, thought-provoking, and thrilling.”

17 Jul 2018

Loan Survivors: Genesius Guild’s “The Merchant of Venice,” at Lincoln Park through July 22

By Madeline Dudziak

A real-life confession: I typically spend Sunday evenings at home watching Netflix, so spending it in Lincoln Park with Genesius Guild's production of The Merchant of Venice was a refreshing change. While it is known as one of William Shakespeare’s “problem plays,” and I would agree with that assessment, this performance was still a great way to forget thinking about Monday.

16 Jul 2018

Gone Body Gone: “Busybody,” at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre through July 22

By Rochelle Arnold

A disappearing body, missing evidence, blood on a chair, and a pursuing investigation – so goes the spirited comedy BusyBody, written by Jack Popplewell and directed by Joe DePauw. Sunday’s matinée performance at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre was rife with lively slapstick and subtle humor, taking us into the world of Mrs. Piper (Jackie Skiles), a spunky office cleaning lady who has stumbled her way into a murder mystery.

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