Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island, has been treating audiences to the dining and professional stage entertainment for the past 48 years, a news release says.
For the venue’s 49th season beginning this November, the theater has announced six main stage productions in a new season.
Circa ’21’s main-stage productions are performed on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. (with doors opening at 5:45 p.m. and dinner served from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m.), Sundays at 5:30 p.m. (3:45 p.m. doors, 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. dinner) and Wednesday matinées at 1:15 p.m. (11:45 a.m. doors, lunch from 11:45 to 12:30).
Each performance is also preceded by a 15-minute stage entertainment with the Circa ’21 Bootleggers, one of only two performing waitstaffs in the country. Tickets for the Friday through Sunday evening performances are $70 and tickets for the Wednesday performances (afternoon and evening) are $63. The theater also offers reduced prices available for students 18 and younger, seniors 60 and older and groups of 12 or more.
Season subscriptions for the 2025-26 season also are on sale now, with a variety of packages you learn about here. For tickets to any and all Circa ’21 productions, contact the theater at 1828 Third Ave., Rock Island, call 309-786-7733, extension 2; or make reservations here.
The season opens with “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas,” Nov. 5 – Dec. 28. Two World War II veterans, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, have become partners in a song-and-dance act after the war. Looking for love, they follow a duo of beautiful singing and dancing sisters to a gig a lodge in Vermont, only to discover that the nearly bankrupt venue is owned by their former commanding general. Berlin’s holiday musical is brought to life onstage, filled with inventive choreography, laughter and some of the greatest songs ever written.
With the new year comes the area premiere of a laugh-out-loud comedic murder-mystery musical “Lucky Stiff” Jan. 21-March 7l British shoe salesman Harry Witherspoon will receive $6 million from his uncle, but only if he takes him on a vacation to Monte Carlo. The catch? His uncle is dead and embalmed! Harry must now navigate mistaken identities, disguises and a cast of eccentric characters to prove his uncle is alive and receive the inheritance in this madcap, hilarious musical romp.
“Honky Tonk Angels” will play March 11 – April 25. When three gutsy gals from different backgrounds take charge of their lives, they decide to follow their honky-tonk dreams all the way to the city of Nashville. Combining 30 classic country tunes including “Stand by Your Man,” “9 to 5,” “Harper Valley PTA” and more, this is a foot-stomping great time for audiences of all ages.
Running from late spring through early summer, one of the most enduring and enthralling musicals of all time returns to Circa ’21 in the lavish production of “Fiddler on the Roof” from April 29–June 27. In the little village of Anatevka,Tevye with the help of his colorful and tight-knit Jewish community tries to protect his daughters and instill in them traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia. One of the greatest works in American theater, the show boasts unforgettable songs such as “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Tradition.”
Coming next, audiences will be guided down the yellow brick road in the return of family favorite “The Wizard of Oz” playing July 8-Sept. 5. In this classic movie-come-to-stage-life musical adventure, Dorothy and her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion trot delightfully and tunefully toward the Emerald City in search of the mysterious and all-powerful Wizard, all the while facing the dangers of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Wrapping up the Rock Island playhouse’s 49th-anniversary season is the venue premiere of the Tony Award-nominated smash “Rock of Ages” playing Sept. 16-Nov. 7. This rollicking show takes audiences back to the time of ’80s rock bands with big egos playing big guitar solos and sporting even bigger hair. The sweet, romantic, hysterical story unfolds against the backdrop of a legendary bar threatened with demolition and the musical features a score of classic ’80s rock anthems from Night Ranger, Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and more.
Every offering on the 2025-26 season will showcase professional talents both on and off stage.