Based on the popular early-2000s Nickelodeon animated TV show, The SpongeBob Musical follows the title character, a sea sponge, as he, alongside his friends, stops a volcano from erupting and wiping out their town of Bikini Bottom. Helmed by Lara Tenckhoff, there is so much that's contemporary in the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre’s production.

Winner of five Tony Awards for its 1973 debut and four Tonys for its 2013 revival, composer Stephen Schwartz's musical-comedy smash Pippin enjoys an August 4 through 13 Quad City Music Guild presentation at Moline's Prospect Park Auditorium, this stage extravaganza's lavish praise including the New York Post deeming it “a thrilling piece of eye-popping razzle dazzle."

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 4 through 13 run at Moline's Spotlight 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."

With the program designed to introduce children to theatre and help them leave to communicate, the Timber Lake Playhouse's Magic Owl Children's Theatre series continues in Mt. Carroll this summer with the charming and funny return of Pig Tales, a one-hour, madcap adventure that will enjoy afternoon stagings between August 8 and 12.

A delicious stage treat praised by Broadway World as "goofy, loud, and imaginative - superlatively so," the one-act musical comedy Willy Wonka Jr. will enjoy August 5 and 6 performances at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center as the 10th performance by summer students in the venue's theatre camp, previous entertainments having included the Jr. versions of the musicals Annie, Seussical, Honk, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Beauty & the Beast, and Moana.

I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the Timber Lake Playhouse on Saturday evening. I’d never seen 9 to 5 before, be it movie or musical, and outside of “Jolene” and the show's titular song, I could not name you a single song by Dolly Parton. Yet none of this got in the way of me enjoying a perfectly fine night of theatre helmed by director Tommy Ranieri.

Entering the Playcrafters Barn Theatre for Friday’s opening night of Little Women, I had a certain number of expectations. Like most people, I’m familiar with Louisa May Alcott’s story, so I was prepared for some joys, some sorrows, and the four March sisters. I wasn’t, however, anticipating Reader reviewer Roger Pavey Jr.’s scenic design to blow me out of the water before the show even began.

I can't believe it's the end of July already. Part of the proof is Genesius Guild's production of The Wasps, now invading Lincoln Park, so prepare to be stung – by laughter! (Yes, I'm ashamed now.) The Wasps is one of the rewritten-for-modern-audiences Greek comedies that traditionally cap the Guild's summer schedule. And this year, as in last, the season-ender was adapted and directed by Calvin Vo and T Green, otherwise known as Haus of Ruckus.

Returning to the stage for the first time since 2019, and with their new production finally being staged after a forced delay this past March, the area's much-missed verse-theatre troupe the Prenzie Players is set to make a romantic-comedy splash at Davenport's Village Theatre with their August 3 through 6 presentation of Much Ado About Nothing.

Following last summer's delights of their Aristophanes adaptation The Frogs, area-comedy favorites T Green and Calvin Vo – founders of local theatre company Haus of Ruckus – will lend their formidable skills and wild invention to another Aristophanes work during the July 22 through 30 run of The Wasps, delivering another take on classical-Greek comedy sure to delight both fans of, and newcomers to, Genesius Guild's long history of season-ending slapsticks in Rock Island's Lincoln Park.

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