Arts Features

Theatre in the Park at New Salem announced a change to its summer lineup. Due to the production of Hands on a Hard Body being postponed until 2027, three new performances have been scheduled.  Popular impersonator Rick Dunham brought Elvis Himselvis to the park on July 11 for an evening of rock and rolls hits […]

The Springfield Area Arts Council is facilitating the return of Shakespeare in the Park on Friday, July 24, from 6-8 p.m. at Enos Park, 1000 N. Seventh St., in Springfield. Now in its third year, Shakespeare in the Park will take a different approach than previous seasons. This year’s event will showcase Illinois playwright Kevin […]

Entertainment offerings in the 217 just got an injection of original sketch comedy. A new, local ensemble called the Capital City Comix debuted its show “Friday Night Live” on July 10 to a sold-out crowd. It’s billed as “SNL, but local, louder, and way weirder,” and while it might not be as groundbreaking as SNL, […]

Adapted from the beloved 1998 DreamWorks animated film of the same name, The Prince of Egypt follows the story of Moses from his infancy through his quest to free the Hebrew people from the Pharaoh of Egypt. Rooted in the biblical themes of sacrifice, trauma and justice— with music by Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz— this […]

Most modern-day audiences are not familiar with this delightfully punny musical comedy, but Me and My Girl originally opened as a smash hit in London in 1937 and enjoyed a long run. It is one of those breezy, timeless musicals that any theater-goer can appreciate. The Legacy Theatre provides the ideal backdrop, as its classic […]

When talking with All Shook Up director Kelly Robertson, she cleverly offers, “If you bring the wine and crackers, we’ll bring the cheese.” The show, a jukebox musical packed with Elvis songs and loosely based on Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, indeed stands as a high-energy, crowd pleaser with lots of corny jokes and a campy storyline. […]

“These last few weeks working with this group of beautiful Black women and this amazing staff has healed me in ways I can’t even put into words! We don’t usually get opportunities like this. This is so much more than a show. It’s poetry, it’s art, it’s truth, it’s life!” –  excerpt from Brianna Gude-Price’s […]

The Springfield Area Arts Council is celebrating a successful start to the 2026 Artist in the Park at Food Truck Fridays season after welcoming nearly 200 attendees to the kickoff event on May 29. The organization invites the community to join them for the remaining nine weeks of free live entertainment in downtown Springfield. Held […]

Since its world premiere in 1999, Mamma Mia! has been a continuous fixture of the theatrical landscape, drawing crowds with its timeless 70s soundtrack. Co-directors Morgan Kaplan and Andrew Maynerich are on their second go-round of this iconic, disco fever show after having directed it previously at Sacred-Heart Griffin High School. “We wanted to take […]

Jesus Christ Superstar is the 1971 Andrew Lloyd Webber Biblical rock-musical that narrates the last seven days of Jesus’s life in a flashy, pop-filled 90-minute package. There is no intermission, so audiences make it back home for their bedtime prayers, hallelujah! A talent-studded odyssey of love, power and protest, Springfield Theatre Centre’s gender-bending production, co-directed […]

The 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee or Putnam, as it’s lovingly referred to by theater connoisseurs on a time crunch, is a sweetly funny but sincere musical about a small-town spelling bee and the cast of fiercely competitive children (all played by adults) who are vying for first place. It is essentially a comedic A […]