Jul
31
to Aug 5

Chicago

Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse
Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Script adaptation by David Thompson
Directed by Randy Forster

Devilish and delightful, Chicago first appeared in 1975 and was made into an award winning movie in 2002. This Broadway landmark brings on one great showstopper after the next and stands chin-deep in dirty deeds with plenty of razzle dazzle!

Set in the legendary city during the roaring “jazz hot” 20s, Chicago tells the story of two rival vaudevillian murderesses locked up in Cook County Jail. Nightclub star Velma’s serving time for killing her husband and sister after finding the two in bed together. Driven chorus girl Roxie’s been tossed in the joint for bumping off the lover she’s been cheating on her husband with. Not one to rest on her laurels, Velma enlists the help of prison matron Mama Morton and slickster lawyer Billy Flynn, who turn Velma’s incarceration into a murder-of-the-week media frenzy, thus preparing the world for a splashy showbiz comeback. But Roxie’s got some of her own tricks up her sleeve…

Performances July 31, August 1, 2, 3, 4 at 7:00 pm and August 5 at 2:00 pm

Ticket Prices
$18 adult
$10 student

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Jul
11
to Jul 15

Leaving Iowa

By Tim Clue and Spike Manton
Directed by Jake Gustine

The spark behind Leaving Iowa comes from being children of parents from the now dubbed "greatest generation." The story is a toast to their idealism and character and a little roast of their undying dedication to the classic family road trip. More specifically, it is the story of Don Browning, a middle-aged writer, who returns home and decides to finally take his father's ashes to his childhood home, as requested. But when Don discovers Grandma's house is now a grocery store, he begins traveling across Iowa searching for a proper resting place for his father. This father-and-son road trip shifts smoothly from the present to Don's memories of the annual, torturous vacations of his childhood. Don's existential journey leads him to reconcile his past and present at the center of the United States.  Leaving Iowa is a postcard to anyone who has ever found himself or herself driving alone on a road, revisiting fond memories of his or her youth.

Performances July 11, 12, 13, 14 at 7:00 pm and July 15 at 2:00 pm

Ticket Prices
$15 adults
$10 students

 

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Jun
13
to Jun 17

The Musical of Musicals, the Musical!

Music by Eric Rockwell
Lyrics by Joanne Bogart
Book by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart
Directed by Carrie Braaten

In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form.

The basic plot: June is an ingénue who can't pay the rent and is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to the rescue?

The variations are: a Rodgers & Hammerstein version, set in Kansas in August, complete with a dream ballet; a Sondheim version, featuring the landlord as a tortured artistic genius who slashes the throats of his tenants in revenge for not appreciating his work; a Jerry Herman version, as a splashy star vehicle; an Andrew Lloyd Webber version, a rock musical with themes borrowed from Puccini; and a Kander & Ebb version, set in a speakeasy in Chicago.

Performances June 13, 14, 15, 16  at 7:00 pm and 17 at 2:00 pm

Ticket Prices
$18 adult
$10 student
 

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Jul
28
to Aug 5

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

  • Riverland Community College (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Based on the play of the same name by Christopher Bond

Directed by Randy Forster

An infamous tale, Sweeney Todd, an unjustly exiled barber, returns to nineteenth century London, seeking vengeance against the lecherous judge who framed him and ravaged his young wife. The road to revenge leads Todd to Mrs. Lovett, a resourceful proprietress of a failing pie shop, above which, he opens a new barber practice. Mrs. Lovett's luck sharply shifts when Todd's thirst for blood inspires the integration of an ingredient into her meat pies that has the people of London lining up... and the carnage has only just begun!

Featuring some of the most chilling music ever written for the stage, this masterpiece was awarded eight Tony Awards in 1979 - including Best Musical. Sweeney Todd has become a success that has thrilled, shocked, awed and delighted audiences across the world.

Performances July 28, 29, August 2, 3, 4, 5 at 7:00 pm; July 30 at 2:00 pm

Ticket prices
$18 adult
$10 children ages 12 and under

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This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

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On Golden Pond
Jul
5
to Jul 9

On Golden Pond

  • Riverland Community College (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

by Ernest Thompson
Directed by John Deyo

This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpitations and a failing memory. She is ten years younger, and the perfect foil for Norman and delights in all the small things that have enriched and continue to enrich their long life together. They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist fiancé, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer. The boy quickly becomes the "grandchild" the elderly couple have longed for, and as Norman revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness—and slang—in return. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits them.

Performances July 5, 6, 7, 8 at 7:00 pm; July 8 & 9 at 2:00 pm

Ticket prices
$15 adult
$10 children ages 12 and under

Purchase tickets now!

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

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Peter and the Starcatcher
Jun
14
to Jun 18

Peter and the Starcatcher

  • Riverland Community College (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

by Rick Elice
Directed by Lindsey Duoos Williams

Featuring a dozen actors portraying more than 100 unforgettable characters, Peter and the Starcatcher upends the century-old story of how a miserable orphan becomes Peter Pan - the boy who would never grow up.

A young orphan and his mates are shipped off from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain’s cabin, which contains a precious, otherworldly cargo. At sea, the boys are discovered by a precocious young girl named Molly, a Starcatcher-in-training who realizes that the trunk’s precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful that it must never fall into the wrong hands. When the ship is taken over by pirates - led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and its treasure for his own - the journey quickly becomes a thrilling adventure exploring the depths of greed and despair along with the bonds of friendship, duty and love.

Performances June 14, 15, 16, 17 at 7:00 pm; June 18 at 2:00 pm

Ticket prices
$15 adult
$10 children ages 12 and under

Purchase tickets now

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

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