Praised by the Bristol Evening Post as “a real winner” that earns “four stars out of four,” and by The Guardian for being a “slick, swashbuckling romp that cleverly updates the Dumas novel,” the literary classic The Three Musketeers enjoys a thrilling new stage presentation at Augustana College January 25 through February 3, with Tony Award nominee Ken Ludwig's 2007 adaptation delivering, according to The California Aggie, “two hours of pure awesomeness.”

As verse-theatre troupe the Prenzie Players continues with its plan to produce all of William Shakespeare's plays by 2023, one of the Bard's most famous tragedies enjoys a new staging at Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop January 18 through 26, with the legendary revenge thriller Macbeth presented by the Prenzies for the first time since the group tackled the masterwork in 2005.

The first show of the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's 2019 season, running January 11 through 20, is writer/director Alexander Richardson's (a work in progress) – a backstage/front-of-stage comedy Richardson originally wrote in 2015 and drastically re-wrote for its area debut. And the play serves as a fitting introduction to what may be the venerable venue's most ambitious season yet, with 11 wildly varied productions scheduled for the next 11 months. One might call it (an experiment in progress).

“God bless us, everyone!” is the heartwarming wish from the cast of writer/director Tristan Tapscott's and Countryside Community Theatre's A Christmas Carol musical, now playing at Princeton's charming Boll's Community Center along the banks of the Mississippi River. This delightful production is a pure and humble presentation of the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge (Doug Kutzli) and his struggle to find purpose and love in his life, and Saturday’s show was full of both joy and sadness. But most of all it felt cozy. From the scrumptious desserts by Susan Burda, carefully displayed in a small booth at the rear of the theatre, to members of the cast greeting patrons before the show in full character and costume, the atmosphere was exceptionally festive.