Starlight Theatre is located on the Rock Valley College campus at 3301 N. Mulford Road in Rockford. (Photo provided by Christopher Brady/Starlight Theatre)
By Chelsea Meyer
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Rewind back to 2020. It was a time of uncertainty as the COVID-19 pandemic loomed over all of our lives. Starlight Theatre had no choice but to take precautions and cancel its season.

Fast forward to this year, and Starlight is ready to showcase what got halted when the pandemic hit in 2020. They’re calling the 2022 run “The Season Worth Waiting For.”

What’s been in the works for two years is now going to feature a one-of-a-kind season with some big-name musicals.

On the campus of Rock Valley College, 3301 N. Mulford Road, this summer you can enjoy the productions of “The Little Mermaid,” “Disaster,” “Dream Girls,” “Hello Dolly,” and its Starlittle show, “How I Became A Pirate.”

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Kicking off next week, Starlight Theatre will open one show every week until August, starting with “The Little Mermaid” and ending with its kids’ show, “How I Became A Pirate.”

Starlight ran a limited production in 2021 with a small cast and some adjustments for safety as the coronavirus pandemic lingered. It showed “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder,” “Once Upon a Mattress and “Pink-alicious.”

“We weren’t sure where COVID was last year, so we’re like, ‘let’s get the shows done and out of the way.’ Basically, so let’s make sure we close a show before we try and come back to it,” Chris Brady, Starlight’s artistic director, said in an interview with the B103 Morning Routine.

“It turns out that’s two months of opening shows as opposed to right now we hustle all month long and try and open these shows but then – July – and then we’re going, ‘Oh yeah! We already opened these things. Perfect.’ And then we get to focus on our kids’ show, Starlittle show, ‘How I Became a Pirate.’”

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The story of how Ariel found her voice under the sea is a familiar one, but if you’re a fan of 70s music, parodies and films, you’re going to love the production of “Disaster.”

“It takes elements from all disaster films from the 70s, but it also incorporates 70s music and part of the fun of the entire show is the way they incorporate it. They actually were pretty wise on how they incorporated it. It’s hugely funny,” Brady told the Morning Routine.

Tickets for all productions are on sale now at rvcstarlight.com or you can call the box office at 815-670-9300.

Starlight Theatre show schedule

“The Little Mermaid”: June 8-11, July 13-17
“Disaster”: June 15 -18, July 20-24
“Dream Girls”: June 22-25, July 27-31
“Hello Dolly”: June 29-July 2, Aug. 3-7
Starlittle show: “How I Became A Pirate” Aug. 11-13

This article is by Chelsea Meyer. You can email her at chelsea@b103fm.com

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