One of the most successful and adored film comedies of the 1980s will be given new musical-comedy stage life at the Spotlight Theatre April 5 through 14 when the Moline venue presents the area debut of Big: The Musical, a Tony-nominated charmer by the composing team of David Shire and Richard Maltby Jr. that DC Theatre Scene said “is filled with zany moments along with memorable musical numbers.”

Continuing the company's plan of producing all of William Shakespeare's plays by 2023, area verse-theatre troupe the Prenzie Players delivers one of the Bard's freshest and funniest titles in its April 5 through 13 QC Theatre Workshop staging of The Comedy of Errors – a work that esteemed literary critic Harold Bloom said “reveals Shakespeare's magnificence at the art of comedy” and demonstrated “mastery in action, incipient character, and stagecraft.”

A two-character musical that Time Out New York deemed “heavenly” while adding “You don't have to be religious to know when you're in the presence of glory,” author George Brant's Marie & Rosetta serves as the latest production in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's Barn Owl Series, its August 12 through 14 run at the Moline venue introducing – or re-introducing – audiences to the electrifying music pioneer that was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

A half-dozen wickedly funny and proudly confrontational comedies by one of America's most revered playwrights will enjoy Scott Community College stagings from April 12 through 20, with Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You & Other Short Plays showcasing the sardonic wit and sharp intelligence of author Christopher Durang, a Tony Award winner for his 2012 smash Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike.