A finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama that also received five 2015 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the critically lauded Broadway hit Fun Home makes its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre May 30 through June 14, this triumph for composer Jeanine Tesori and book writer and lyricist Lisa Kron hailed by the New York Daily News as an "achingly beautiful" musical that "speaks to one family and all families torn by secrets and lies."

With Broadway World calling the show “a fast and fun night of musical theatre” that's “brimming with so many 'wow' moments,” the disco sensation Saturday Night Fever opens the 2024-2025 mainstage season at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, this exhilarating musical – running May 30 through June 15 – adapted from the Oscar-nominated 1977 smash that catapulted the Bee Gees to international fame and made a household name of star John Travolta.

From May 29 through June 8, one of the most endearing and enduring of all dramatic comedies enjoys a run at Geneseo's Richmond Barn Theatre with the venue's presentation of Steel Magnolias, playwright Robert Harling's charming, riotous, and moving tale of mothers, daughters, and best friends that inspired the 1989 movie classic and led Drama-Logue to call it "a skillfully crafted, lovingly evoked picture of eccentricity in the small-town South."

Conceived by the revered artistic team of Craig Lucas and Norman René, and boasting nearly two dozen songs by the composing legend that is Stephen Sondheim, the two-character musical Marry Me a Little makes its Quad Cities debut at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, its May 23 through June 1 sure to demonstrate why The Guardian hailed the show as "a carousel of regrets and rapture."

Given that the new Pope hails from Chicago, it’s likely you’ve heard an uptick of talk of that town in the last week or so. But let me tell you: There’s another Chicago you ought to be talking about, because the current production running at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, directed and choreographed by Ashley Becher, is a visual spectacular and features, I wager, some of the best dancing I’ve ever seen on that stage.

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Updated: Monday, May 12

Reviews by Rochelle Arnold, Jeff Ashcraft, Patricia Baugh-Riechers, Audra Beals, Pamela Briggs, Dee Canfield, Madeline Dudziak, Kim Eastland, Emily Heninger, Heather Herkelman, Mischa Hooker, Kitty Israel, Paula Jolly, Victoria Navarro, Roger Pavey Jr., Alexander Richardson, Mark Ruebling, Mike Schulz, Joy Thompson, Oz Torres, Brent Tubbs, Jill Pearson Walsh, and Thom White.

The final production of Augustana College's 2024-25 season is David Auburn's Proof, directed by Jennifer Popple, the college's assistant professor of theatre arts, and this professional-caliber production both impressed and moved me. It's sometimes disturbing, sometimes funny, and although heartbreaking, still left me hopeful.

To my joy, Girls' Weekend, now making its area debut at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre, is delightful. I laughed more than I have in a year of theatre.

With its script written by Mo Willems, the creator of the New York Times number-one-best-selling and Caldecott Honor Award-winning Pigeon picture books, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!: The Musical opens the 2025 theatrical season at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse, this presentation by the venue's Magic Owl Children's Theatre sure to entertain kids of all ages during its May 6 through 10 run.

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