Little Shop of HorrorsThe Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's Little Shop of Horrors kicks off with the promise of a lot of fun. The opening, titular doo-wop number is full of spirit (aided by choreographer Brian Cowing's homage to '50s-era backup singers) and is well sung by the trio of street urchins - played by Monique Abry, Heather Botts, and Nyla Watson - who showcase impressive solo belt voices and tight harmonies. With my head bopping and my lips longing to sing along, I believed I was in for a raucous good time during Friday's performance. However, the Showboat's production wilts as the carnivorous plant at the center of the action grows.

Cari Downing, Lauren Vickers, and Jackie Madunic in Anton in Show BusinessThank the theatre gods for Denise Yoder, as her presence livens up New Ground Theatre's production of Anton in Show Business every moment she's on stage. Portraying a handful of characters, Yoder really gets to showcase her range; whether she's playing a somewhat ditzy stage manager, or a race-conscious black woman directing a play-within-a-play, or a self-assured, bad-joke-telling, male underwriter, Yoder's sense of pace and comic timing are flawless. (Her director is a particular hoot, and her aggressively annoyed attitude as the stage manager T-Anne - who grows more and more impatient throughout the piece - is hysterical from beginning to end.)

Marquetta Senters in the Old Creamery Theatre's BusybodyAt last count, there were 74 plays and musicals set to open at area venues this summer. Although one of the productions is technically two separate productions. And four of them are technically one. And two of the plays are really readings of plays.

You know what? Let's just say 70-ish plays and musicals. That's still impressive, right?

Tom Swenson and Daniel Ferguson Haughey in The Chronicles of Lincoln and GrantThe District Theatre's The Chronicles of Lincoln & Grant is an historical account of the Civil War from the perspectives of two of the country's leaders: President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant. However, instead of discussing events from the actual war (though they occasionally do), the characters in this two-person play mostly share stories of their personal experiences leading up to, during, and following the war.

Ballet Quad Cities' The Sleeping BeautyWhat struck me most about Ballet Quad Cities' Saturday-night performance of The Sleeping Beauty was how easy it was to follow the storyline even though it was told entirely in dance (set to Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's score), and featured absolutely no dialogue.

Director Paul Workman deserves high praise for making the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Titanic Aftermath at all watchable, particularly as the boat is sinking in the second act. Throughout Friday's performance, I kept thinking that playwright Michael Wehrli's script was a fantastic historical account, but also kept wondering, "Why is it a stage play?" With so much action described, and so little played out visually, especially during the first act, this piece might as well be a radio drama, or the script for a documentary on the Titanic. As a theatrical production, however, Wehrli's work is ... well, rather boring.

Gage McCalester, Adam Mohr, and Lilo Foster in The GuardianI was willing to give the Internet Players' The Guardian a lot of leeway, accepting playwright Kevin Straus' presentation for what it is: A morality tale of environmental responsibility. While watching Thursday's performance, I could forgive Straus his plot holes and unnatural dialogue because the author managed to discuss responsible green living with no detectable attitudes of intellectual and moral superiority. And Straus had me ... until the interpretive dance in the middle of the second act.

Titanic Aftermath ensemble membersAs Oregon-based playwright Michael Wehrli is the author of Titanic Aftermath - the historical drama being staged at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre May 11 through 20 - I initially presume that he's seen James Cameron's Oscar-winning movie. In our April 25 phone interview, he tells me he has, and that it was even the inspiration for his play.

That's not exactly the compliment it might seem, though, considering he calls Cameron's Titanic "visually stunning and incredibly, maddeningly frustrating because of the fictional characters.

"I mean, they took up half the story," says Wehrli of the young lovers played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, "and it was the actual survivors' stories, to me, that were ... interesting. That, and the corporate-negligence side to the tragedy, which is hardly ever addressed in dramatic form.

"So I thought, 'All right, well, I'm just going to write a play about all this.'" Wehrli laughs. "'How the hell do I do that?'"

Jason Platt, Dexter Brigham, and Matt Mercer in The PillowmanOn Thursday, the District Theatre debuted a most admirable, impressive production of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman, a play boasting numerous surprises both major and minor. Yet if the reactions of a few of the evening's audience members are to be trusted, it might be necessary to spoil a few right off the bat.

Lilli Pickens, Samantha Kammerman, and Bill Cahill in Bat Boy: The MusicalA musical based on the Weekly World News' tabloid-famous Bat Boy screams "camp." Augustana College's production of Bat Boy: The Musical, however, is not campy enough, as a couple of the leading actors played their parts too seriously or sincerely during Friday's performance, softening the effect of this musical's craziness.

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