Music Theater Works' Escape to Margaritaville at the North Shore Center For The Performing Arts
Photo by Brett Beiner, Courtesy of Music Theater Works
Kate McQuillan plays Rachel in Music Theater Works' Escape to Margaritaville. Her previous credits in the Chicago area include Diana: The Musical and The Wedding Singer.
To watch the interview with Kayla Kate McQuillan, click the play button below (or click here to open the video player in a new tab/window).
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Performances of Music Theater Works' Escape to Margaritaville run from October 8 through November 1, 2026 at at the North Shore Center For The Performing Arts in Skokie, Ill.
More information about the show and tickets can be found on the Music Theater Works website.
Mike Reflects
If you've never seen the movie version of School of Rock, there's a scene near the end where everyone starts chanting the name of the band: "School of Rock! School of Rock!"
When I saw the touring production of the musical, and it came time for that scene, I, as a member of the audience, took part in that chant. I don't know if I was supposed to, but I did.
Don't worry—I didn't get confused as to which musical I'm meant to be talking about. If you stick with me, it'll all make sense.
The day I saw that touring production of School of Rock, I went to a matinee.
That evening, I saw the Chicago engagement of the pre-Broadway Escape to Margaritaville. And I didn't particularly care for the experience.
From the earliest parts of the show, the audience was singing and dancing along with the cast on-stage in a manner that I found quite distracting. It was, after all, a stage musical, not a Jimmy Buffett concert.
Since my distaste for the production arose from the behaviors of the audience, rather than any part of the show (since I couldn't really focus on the show over the audience), I've long wanted to see a production with a crowd that better understood theatre etiquette.
With Music Theater Works doing the Chicago regional premiere, I jumped at the chance.
The audience was the exact opposite of the audience at the Chicago pre-Broadway engagement. And, yet, it was distracting.
It took me a bit of thinking to figure out how it was possible for 2 very different audiences to be so markedly dissimilar in all the ways that matter, yet leave me with the same sense that their behavior killed the show.
But it turns out it's quite simple: there's a time and place for it.
Just as at School of Rock, there are times when the audience feels like a character in the show meant to give something to move it forward, and there are times when the audience is meant to be a silent observer of another world that looks and feels just like our own.
But rather than ride that line, the 2 audiences went to separate extremes and stayed there.
The pre-Broadway audience chimed in from the get-go, stepping on otherwise-poignant moments, as well as moments that were meant to be only between characters on that stage.
The audience I saw this show with were the exact opposite. While I finally got to experience those moments the first audience stepped on, they provided nothing for the parts where they were implicitly (and even explicitly) requested to take on a character role by the actors on stage.
For the bulk of the show, the audience are meant to be beach-goers at a resort.
When there's nobody at the beach (or simply, no beach), the audience, from my perspective, should sit, watch, listen, and feel.
When the beach-goers are meant to be partying, the audience should take the hint.
There's a fair bit of nuance there; perhaps a bit too much for any audience to get their role right without a script.
But that is, I think, the key to this being a great show and a great time.