Steve TouVelle, Laila Haley, John Donald O'Shea, Ali Girsch, Gina Cox, Payton Wilson, Corey Delathower, Jane Driscoll, and Yvonne Siddique in Willy WonkaThe requisite imagination present in Quad City Music Guild's production of Willy Wonka is provided in great part by Bill Marsoun's scenic design. He's come up with some clever visuals to tell the tale of Charlie Bucket - portrayed as female here by Laila Haley - finding a golden ticket and joining four lucky, and bratty, children on a tour of Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

Miranda Jane, Tamarin K. Lawler, Rachelle Walljasper, and Lora Adams in Always a BridesmaidOne of the cleverest things about the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Always a Bridesmaid is its title, and the way it fits its group of women who, because of a promise made at their senior prom, continue to be bridesmaids in each other's weddings well into their 50s. That, however, is as clever as playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten get, as their show's humor is amusing, at best, but never hilarious. The plot and comedy play out more like that of a television sitcom than a theatrical comedy - which might be expected given Wooten's work as a writer and producer on The Golden Girls.

The Whipping ManIf I were to detail the plot of playwright Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man, it would sound like the outline of a soap opera, given that the twists seem so melodramatically shocking. However, the story doesn't play out that way, both because Lopez handles the revelations so well, and because New Ground Theatre presents this story of a Confederate soldier and two of his family's freed slaves with respect and sincerity.

Emma Terronez and Bill Peiffer in The Secret GardenThe Playcrafters Barn Theatre's The Secret Garden seems, to me, to be the quintessential type of production to grace its stage: a classic story told with community-theatre charm, which director Donna Weeks' staging has in spades. Through the show's almost perfect casting and a less-is-more approach in her set design, Weeks manages to create some magic.

Tom Vaccaro and Bret Churchill in A New BrainBeautiful vocalizations, rich harmonies, nuanced performances, and a fun, interesting set aside, what I enjoyed most about Saturday's performance of the District Theatre's A New Brain was that the musical felt both familiar and original; it's a fresh take on musical theatre, yet doesn't suggest any unnecessary effort made to reinvent the wheel. With its songs by William Finn and book by Finn and James Lapine, the piece manages to be odd, joyful, irreverent, and silly all at once, but also delivers an overarching sense of hope without being pandering or sugary.

Jonathan Iglesias and Kateri Demartino in Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & MarriageWednesday evening's audience clearly had a lot of fun watching and interacting with the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage. In truth, the performance would not have been quite as much fun if there were more watching and less interacting.  While there are plenty of laughs to be had as the titular character in this PG-13-style comedy offers advice on flirting, relationships, and sex, there are also a few missteps made along the way.

Patrick Green and Jill Schwartz in Ballet Quad Cities' CarmenAfter two years of Love Stories for its Valentine's Day production, Ballet Quad Cities changed things up this year by presenting Carmen, the story of a commanding woman who does what she pleases with men she fleetingly fancies. As with Love Stories, though, there was more than one piece performed this past weekend, with choreographer Margaret Huling's "Black Coffee" - a jaunty, jazzy number also featured in last year's Love Stories: Love on the Run - making up the first portion of the evening's entertainment.

ensemble members in Davenport Junior Theatre's 20,000 Leagues Under the SeaFans of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - either the novel or 1954's live-action Disney movie - should be excited to attend Davenport Junior Theatre's debuting stage version of the adventure classic, running February 15 through 23. Just as long, says playwright Aaron Randolph III, as those 20,000 Leagues fans aren't also 20,000 Leagues purists.

David Turley and Creighton D. Olsen in Next FallA year-and-a-half after enjoying his performance in New Ground Theatre's The Beauty Queen of Leenane, I am glad to see David Turley on a Quad Cities stage again in the company's Next Fall. It was Turley's portrayals of John Hinckley in the Green Room Theatre's 2008 Assassins and William Barfee in the Harrison Hilltop Theatre's 2010 The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee that initially endeared me to his comedic deliveries. And I'm grateful to see him employ his skills as this new play's 40-year-old gay atheist Adam, a character performed with more subtlety than those aforementioned roles, but one that still employs Turley's amusing brand of dry, sarcastic, slightly dark humor.

Shelley Walljasper in Our TownDirector Bryan Tank's production of Our Town fits the District Theatre's stage like a glove. Or rather, I should say Tank uses the stage so well - especially in his placement of actors and set pieces - that this play seems a perfect fit for the space. With its beautiful employment of backlighting (particularly when we first see the characters grouped together) and set designer/co-star Chris Causer's large, white pieces of fabric stretched over and draped across the back wall of the stage - and covering set pieces until they're being used - this production, aesthetically speaking, is breathtaking in its simplicity.

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