For the theatre’s holiday 2021 production in its spectacular 44th season of live entertainment,  Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse is treating family audiences to a special holiday gift: the yuletide musical revue WINTER WONDERLAND. This charmingly festive stage delight will charm audiences with its magical blend of laughs, sentiment and beloved songs from the past, and it’s being brought to life by a marvelous team of professional talents. WINTER WONDERAND will be presented at Circa ’21 through December 29, with performances on Wednesday, Friday and Saturdays evenings at 7:45 p.m.,... Read More

Circa ’21’s “Winter Wonderland” gave me everything I would want in a holiday special — it was lighthearted, cute, funny and full of snowflake fluffy holiday cheer. It’s what you want in a Christmas special, and I wholeheartedly recommend it as a perfect family gift for the holiday season. Expertly produced, director/choreographer Sean McCall, musical director Ron May, scenic designer Susan Holgersson, costume designer Greg Hiatt and lighting designer Heather Hauskins have created a winter wonderland of their own on the stage, a beautiful and cozy setting for... Read More

Greatly anticipating Quad City Music Guild’s first, long-awaited entry into online entertainment (13 months into the Covid-19 pandemic), I both did and didn’t know what to expect from the new “On With the Show” cabaret. I knew it would be about an hour long; include several originally cast members of “The Secret Garden” (which has yet to be seen on the Guild stage); would be filmed from the Prospect Park theater, and include photos from past Guild productions. What I did not know that it would be so comprehensive (including so much detailed history about the beloved 72-year-old cultural... Read More

Mark McGinn’s love of the theater is literally in his blood. His father Jack (who died in 2000) started performing at Quad City Music Guild in Moline within two years of its founding in 1949, and was in dozens of shows. Mark, a 67-year-old Bettendorf resident, started with Guild at Prospect Park in 1972, playing clarinet for “Fiddler on the Roof,” and his first stage role was in 1976’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” (as one of the apostles). McGinn has since been involved in more than 70 other shows (including last summer as John Wilkes Booth in Black Box’s “Assassins” in Moline), mostly... Read More

The audience is in on the action. Did Miss Scarlet do it in the kitchen with a wrench? The audience decides in The Black Box Theatre’s newest offering – “Clue: The Musical.” Based on the board game, the action follows six characters who may or may not be the murderer of host Mr. Boddy. The audience receives forms to help them deduce the solution from clues given throughout the fun-filled evening. Three audience members choose from cards representing the potential murderers, weapons and rooms; there are 216 possible solutions! Only one hard-nosed detective is qualified to unravel the merry... Read More