29 Jul 2019

Fleet of Foot: The Mississippi Bend Players' “Dames at Sea,” at Augustana College through August 4

By Pamela Briggs

I was in Friday's opening-night audience for the Mississippi Bend Players' Dames at Sea. George Haimsohn and Robin Miller wrote the 1966 piece's book and lyrics, with music by Jim Wise, and as Augustana College's Brunner Theatre lobby display notes, it's a spoof of the films Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, and 42nd Street. The old show-biz tropes it sends up are easy targets, and the tunes are imitative (naturally), but vastly enjoyable. As for the script, it's just one giant, cheerful wink in which continuity and plausibility are irrelevant. Show people playing show people putting on a show is a sea of fun to begin with, and the plot merely dips a toe in the water now and then, leaving the singing and dancing to make the big splash – which, here, they do.

29 Jul 2019

A Cut Above: "Shear Madness," at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse through September 7

By Madeline Dudziak

Madness. It was madness how much fun I had at the July 25 preview performance of the interactive mystery comedy Shear Madness at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse.

23 Jul 2019

“The Best of the Bootleggers,” August 1 through 29

By Reader Staff

Though they traditionally deliver pre-show entertainment for the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's mainstage productions, the theatre's wait staff of Bootleggers will be “the main course” on the five Thursdays in August when the singing and dancing servers present The Best of the Bootleggers, an August 1 through 29 revue of some of the gifted performers' most memorable pre-show performances from Circa '21's 42 seasons.

23 Jul 2019

“Matilda: The Musical,” August 2 through 11

By Reader Staff

Winner of five 2013 Tony Awards and the record-holder for the most Olivier Awards – the United Kingdom's equivalent of the Tony – ever won by a musical, the Broadway smash Matilda: The Musical makes its long-awaited area debut at Moline's Spotlight Theatre August 2 through 11, treating family audiences to a delightful entertainment for all ages, and a work the New York Times called “an exhilarating tale of empowerment” told with “astonishing slyness and grace.”

21 Jul 2019

Dancing Queens: Countryside Community Theatre's “Mamma Mia!”, at the North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium through July 28

By Rochelle Arnold

Although it was sweltering outside on Friday night, it was cool and comfortable inside the North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium. Nonetheless, a heat wave of talented artists stormed the stage as Countryside Community Theatre and Lancer Productions put on a sizzling opening-night performance of the jukebox musical Mamma Mia!

21 Jul 2019

Super Troupers: “Mamma Mia!”, at the Timber Lake Playhouse through August 4

By Pamela Briggs

You know ABBA, right? The 1970s pop group, beloved worldwide, wrote and recorded the catchiest tunes this side of Lennon and McCartney? The Swedish foursome were all over the airwaves, and still are, and their body of work was the springboard that launched the musical Mamma Mia! The Timber Lake Playhouse is running its spectacular production of the show now. Grab a seat before they're gone.

17 Jul 2019

Genesius Guild's “Ecclesiazusae,” July 27 through August 4

By Reader Staff

One of the most political of ancient-Greek comedies – and, in adapter Don Wooten's hands, one of the most nuttily satisfying – serves as Genesius Guild's traditional season-ending slapstick when the company presents Ecclesiazusae from July 27 through August 4, Aristophanes' one-act farce delivering laughs, commentary, and a madcap, Mack Sennett chase around Rock Island's Lincoln Park stage.

17 Jul 2019

The Mississippi Bend Players' “Dames at Sea,” July 26 through August 4

By Reader Staff

Named “Best Musical of the Year” by Time magazine, Newsweek, and the Outer Critics Circle Awards, the tuneful, tap-dancing entertainment Dames at Sea serves as the season-ending production for the Mississippi Bend Players at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, the show's July 26 through August 4 run demonstrating why the New York Times called it “a gem of a musical” and United Press International deemed it “an instant hit.”

15 Jul 2019

Marry Which Man Today? : “Missing Link,” at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre through July 21

By Rochelle Arnold

Whenever I visit Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, I'm reminded of how wholesome, welcoming, and beautiful this location in the Midwest is, and how this unique venue is truly a lovely place to take in a show. The players’ latest production, author Jack Sharkey's Missing Link, is a marital comedy full of all kinds of twists and turns, mistaken identities, and romantic conundrums, and it gives patrons a lighthearted look at the things we do for love.

15 Jul 2019

The Wonderful World of Absolutely, Definitely Not Disney: “Something Intangible,” at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre through July 21

By Pamela Briggs

I won't be coy: The Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Something Intangible, by Bruce Graham, is an imagining of the relationship between brothers Walt and Roy Disney, but with the names changed. They co-founded the Disney Bros. Studios, with Walt the visionary and Roy the money man.

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