Enchanting audiences of every age with dramatic storytelling using myths and fables from ancient and modern Japan, Kuniko Yamamoto enjoys a residency as the latest guests in the Quad City Arts Visiting Artist series, her area performances from April 29 through May 4 spiced with social revelations to educate and amuse.
Deemed "a side-splitting spectacular" by the Washington Blade, the touring celebration of a beloved and iconic TV sitcom comes to Davenport's Adler Theatre in Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue, an adult-themed comedy that, with its all-male cast, Play Off the Page described as "a wonderful blend of nostalgia and witty dialogue mixed with the sex appeal of drag."
An eagerly awaited springtime touring event rides, jumps, and spins into the Vibrant Arena at the MARK on May 4 as the Moline venue hosts Monster Jam 2024, the amphitheater event that brings a new level of high-flying, four-wheel excitement to the entire family with racing, two-wheel skills, donuts, and freestyle competitions.
Delivered in conjunction with the final day of the venue's Breaking Barriers: Walls Throughout History exhibition, Berlin: Before & After the Wall Fell will find Davenport's German American Heritage Center continuing its popular "Kaffee & Kuchen" series on May 5, with guests invited to view the departing first-floor exhibit either before or after presenter Russell Baldner's fascinating program.
Boasting objects of significance from its vast collection, as well as ancient Asian, Middle Eastern, and Roman artifacts on loan from the Putnam Museum, the German American Heritage Center will treat guests to a fascinating historical exploration in Breaking Barriers: Walls Throughout History, the new homegrown exhibition on display in the Davenport venue's first-floor gallery through May 5.
As 196 member countries prepare for the World Health Organization's (WHO) unveiling of its finalized proposed amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), much controversy and resistance is percolating.
I was born on August 13, 1961. This was the day that construction of the Berlin Wall began. It was a symbol of the Cold War. It cast a shadow upon the first 28 years of my life, as prime-time news images were burned into my memory of daring escapes, and of East German citizens tragically gunned down by East German soldiers.
As the dust settles from our most recent battle against the hazardous and unnecessary CO2 pipelines, I find myself weary, but nevertheless the war against the pipeline continues.
Just eight of 78 Illinois House Democrats openly sided last week with the once-indomitable Chicago Teachers Union. The CTU hotly opposed a bill to halt all public-school closures and prevent disproportionate budget cuts and changes to admissions criteria at Chicago’s selective-enrollment schools until a fully-elected Chicago school board is seated in 2027. The final roll call was a lopsided 92-8. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose popularity has plummeted along with his Statehouse influence, ought to take this as a warning not to follow the CTU’s example. And so should some other Chicago-based organizations.
Chicago-area news outlets have been so intent on amplifying every possible angle on the proposals for new publicly-financed sports stadiums that they’ve sometimes missed the bigger picture. Senate President Don Harmon last week tried to make it simple for everyone what that bigger picture is.
Lauded by Time Out New York for its “infectiously energetic 1960s tunes” and by The New Yorker for its “well-judged humor and elegant strokes of observation,” the Broadway-musical smash Jersey Boys enjoys a May 1 through July 6 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, this multiple Tony Award winner a show that, according to Broadway World, “rousingly recreates the catchy songs, convoluted lives, and roller-coaster careers of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.”
The winner of eight 2006 Tony Awards and a work that boasted what Entertainment Weekly deemed "the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade," Spring Awakening enjoys a May 3 through 12 engagement at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, this latest presentation by the City Circle Theatre Company treating audience to the iconic show that was also the recipient of four Laurence Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award for its original-cast album.
Praised by DC Theater Arts as "a genuine joy to watch," the family entertainment Junie B. Jones: The Musical opens the 2024 season at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse with a 10-performance run from May 7 through 11, the outlet adding that the characters in this Barbara Park adaptation "say the silliest things and die on the hills of the most meaningless opinions, and in doing so, bring genuine belly laughs to the adults in the room."
A six-time Tony Award nominee and recipient of the 1988 Laurence Olivier Award for Play of the Year, the lauded Broadway hit Our Country's Good enjoys an area-premiere staging at Rock Island's Augustana College from May 9 through 12, this theatrically adventurous drama adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel The Playmaker, and hailed by the New York Times for delivering “the redemptive power of theatrical make-believe."
Just a few performances in and I think it’s safe to say that the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse has a hit on its hands.
Touring in support of her most recent album Psychopath, a top-10 Billboard hit that No Depression said "highlights her broadening range and skillful integrations of country, rock, and pop elements," rising country star Morgan Wade headlines an April 30 concert at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the singer/songwriter also lauded by Red Guitar Music as "an artist who deserves to make some serious waves."
Praised by Bainbridge Island Review as a singer/songwriter whose "voice is beautiful and distinctive" and whose lyrics are "stark yet lush over gritty electrified guitar," Marty O'Reilly headlines a May 1 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist also lauded by Glide magazine for crafting "music you’ve never heard before, music you can’t compare to anything, music that is its own genre that has only been defined, in sound, by those who play it."
Having risen to international stardom in 1987, when their version of "La Bamba" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, the California-based, Mexican-American rockers of Los Lobos headline a May 3 concert event at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, their accomplishments including four Grammy Awards and 2018 induction into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame.
A celebration of one of the most popular and influential recording artists of all time coinciding with the artist's record-breaking "Eras" tour, Burning Red: A Tribute to Taylor Swift will return to East Moline venue The Rust Belt on May 3, this exhilarating event "by Swifties and for Swifties" taking fans on a journey through all of Swift's own eras from her pop hits to folk, country, dance, and back again.
There are a number of fine performances scheduled at Rozz-Tox as detailed on their Web site, but the arrival of the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet on May 4 is unique even by the standards of that most eclectic of QC venues.
What is a marketing team to do when the element guaranteed to get butts in seats – in truth, the film's entire reason for being – is the one element that shouldn't be spoiled in advance?
Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.
Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.
Thursday, April 25: Discussion of Abigail, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and Sasquatch Sunset, and previews of Challengers, Boy Kills World, Unsung Hero, and the re-release of Alien. On its 45th-anniversary tour. 'Cause we weren't already feeling old.
Unbiased journlalists may seem hard to find these days. But as Alex Garland's film reminds us, they're still out there, and they're not the problems – they're the messengers. And you don't shoot the messengers. Except that here, other Americans very much do.
An Oscar-winning smash that Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus says "delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi," and presented by Filmosofia and the Socratic Society, Denis Villeneuve's acclaimed 2016 film Arrival enjoys a special May 2 at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, its raves including The Telegraph deeming the work an "introspective, philosophical, and existentially inclined" work that "unfolds in an unwavering tenor of chest-tightening excitement."
With their artistic creations elevating “those who have come before” whether in their subject matter, their artform’s technique, or even the way in which they speak about their work, a trio of gifted talents join forces for the latest exhibition at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center, the venue's Brown, Murtha, & Vogel exhibition, on display from May 3 through June 21, treating patrons to paintings by Julie Brown, quilts by Diane Murtha, and fiber art by Jeane Vogel.
On May 9, area art lovers are invited to celebrate the Figge Art Museum's popular 43rd Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition through a series of quickfire presentations from a selection of featured regional artists, the exhibit boasting 62 works - paintings, sculptures, installations, and more - by 42 artists living within a 200-mile radius of the Quad Cities.
Always an eagerly awaited series at the Figge Art Museum, the latest incarnation of Young Artists at the Figge will be on display through May 12, with the Davenport venue again celebrating the accomplishments of budding creative talents of local elementary art students whose works will be showcased in a continuing series of individual exhibitions.
An eagerly awaited tradition featuring dozens of recent and debuting works in a variety of artistic mediums, the 43rd edition of the Rock Island Art Guild Fine Arts Exhibition will be on display at the Figge Art Museum through June 2, with the Davenport venue housing 62 works - paintings, sculptures, installations, and more - by 42 artists living within a 200-mile radius of the Quad Cities.
With the exhibit's artist known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials, and technique, as well as for being one of the most famous of the "Mexican muralists," Revolutionary Artist: The Prison Fantasies of David Alfaro Siqueiros will be on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through April 9, this lithograph series on loan from the Deere & Company collection for an intimate exhibition on view in the Lewis Gallery.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
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