While the script is completely beyond Circa '21's control, what the We Will Rock You actors and designers pulled off – as led by book and music directors Amy McCleary and Ron May – was visually and audibly impressive. This musical's artists were the champions, my friends.

A gripping drama spun from the ancient grudge between two families, and a timeless tale of star-crossed lovers who follow their passions to the ultimate end, William Shakespeare's romantic-tragedy classic Romeo & Juliet will be given a fresh interpretation at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on February 7, when members of the New York-based The Acting Company deliver a stirring touring production proving the Bard's story as relevant to modern society as it was four centuries ago.

From January 27 through 29, the Center for Living Arts, the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities, and Augustana College's theatre department will team up to help turn kids into stage stars for the eagerly awaited family-musical presentation Disney's High School Musical Jr. – a production based on the stage and TV sensation that boasts a cast composed of talented youths with special needs.

Lauded by the New York Times as a "fresh, winning, and deliriously tuneful" musical that's "as sweet as a show can be without promoting tooth decay," the Tony-winning Broadway sensational Hairspray makes a national-tour stop at Davenport's Adler Theatre on January 31, this stage sensational also praised by Variety magazine as a "sweet, infinitely spirited, bubblegum-flavored confection" that "more than lives up to its promise."