Under the music direction of Rachel Young (who also conducts and plays keys in the superb five-person orchestra), and with the performers' individual vocal prowess unmistakable, the Showboat's acting ensemble sounds tremendous – easily matching, and occasionally bettering, the vocals of the Broadway cast.

Background characters essayed by day players. Casts of thousands. Movies are crawlin’ with ’em. Nobody much cared about the usually unnamed souls who were rarely part of the plot, and they still don’t. But Puffs, a boy-wizard spoof subtitled Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic, shines a spotlight on them (without casting “lumos,” because that’s a proprietary spell).

Lauded by the New York Daily News as "consistently entertaining" and by Newsday as "a major treat," Steve Martin's hit comedy Picasso at the Lapin Agile enjoys an August 20 through 30 run at Geneseo's Richmond Hill Barn Theatre, the New York Post adding to the praise by calling the show "highly credible" and "very funny" with "giggles in plenty [and] moments of enlightenment."

Praised by Metro as "hilariously heartfelt" and by the New York Times as "a fast-paced romp" that "exudes a jovial, winking fondness for all things Harry," author Matt Cox's stage comedy Puffs enjoys an August 6 through 15 run at Moline's Black Box Theatre, this riotous and touching tale about the hangers-on of a certain boy wizard a show that, according to Nerdist, "never goes more than a minute without a laugh."