Curtains is potentially the only whodunit show I actually like. It certainly doesn't hurt that it's a Fred Ebb & John Kander musical, with catchy, singable songs. And it certainly helps that Quad City Music Guild's production is well-sung, well-acted, and maintains the show's oddball quality without taking it over the top.

(Author's note: I'm a proud ensemble member of the Curtainbox Theatre Company, and along with interviewee Lora Adams, am serving as co-associate producer on Wit.)

"When you hear that word - cancer - it's very surreal," says WQPT-TV Director of Marketing Lora Adams, regarding her 2008 diagnosis with the disease. "There's a moment when the reality of it not being a television show, or not happening to somebody else's family, has to sort of settle in. You have that moment of 'Holy crap.' And then once that happens, you move forward."

To paraphrase one of Big River's best-known lyrics, I've been waitin' for the men to shine on the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre stage all summer long. In my estimation, and with the exception of a few notable performances - Antwaun Holley in Rent, Michael Oberfield in Show Boat - the male actors haven't really held their own against the female actors this season. That is, until Big River; on Saturday night, every single male performer in Mark Twain's boy-centric tale of Huck Finn offered a noteworthy performance.

Jennifer Noble is in the wrong role in the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's production of Show Boat. That's to say, she's so good in the role of Julie that the part seems woefully small. It is, however, impossible for Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II to write more songs and dialogue for the character, so we must be content to enjoy what we can during Noble's time on stage. And enjoy it I did. Immensely.