Following the success of its 2015 family comedy Fancy Nancy: The Musical, Circa '21 presents another stage adventure with author Jane O'Connor's famed children's-book character in Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas, a holiday-themed musical that inspired praise from the New York Times: “What makes Splendiferous Christmas winning is that it dares to be a little naughty as well as nice.”

Arriving at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre a mere two years after its world premiere, the comedy Doublewide, Texas is the latest Southern farce by the popular playwriting team of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, whose numerous stage hits – all recently produced in the area – include The Dixie Swim Club, Mama Won't Fly, Always a Bridesmaid, and The Red Velvet Cake War.

Winner of seven 1977 Tony Awards and one of the 25 longest-running musicals in Broadway history, the iconic comic-strip adaptation Annie will be brought to life by Quad City Music Guild November 29 through December 3, its pre-opening sales so strong that a rare matinée performance has been added for Saturday, December 2.

Written by Thomas Meehan and based on the 2003 film comedy, Elf: The Musical is filled with lively music by Matthew Sklar and lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and director/choreographer Ann Nieman made great use of an exceptionally talented cast that didn't have a weak link in the bunch.

As I sat in the audience for the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's opening-night performance of Miracle on 34th Street, I had to constantly remind myself that I was watching a Christmas show. Not because the production wasn’t festive, but because I couldn’t believe the holiday season is already here!

Each of the collective 11 scenes lasts mere minutes and usually employs no more than two actors on-stage at a time, with no more than three actors in any given scene. But the beauty of the script is its poignant, witty, heartbreaking, and hopeful look at the one thing that bonds these characters under the Northern Lights on a bitter Maine night: love.

A well-known seasonal tale gets an inventive stage makeover when Moline's Black Box Theatre presents It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, which finds Frank Capra's holiday classic – and the entire town of Bedford Falls – re-enacted by a cast of seven.

Written and performed by its leading character's real-life grandson, the acclaimed touring production The Accidental Hero finds creator/star Patrick Dewane sharing his grandfather's incredible World War II tale in a one-man multi-media experience at Augustana College.

A finalist for the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, A.R. Gurney's two-character romance Love Letters plays the Black Box Theatre in a special two-night run, its cast composed of award-winning Chicago actor Gene Weygandt and the venue's co-founder and artistic director Lora Adams.

A Miracle on 34th Street will soon be transformed into a stage entertainment on 35th Avenue, as the Playcrafters Barn Theatre presents the theatrical version of 1947's beloved holiday movie – a play based on a novella based on a story that inspired the film's Oscar-winning script.

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