Lauded by the L.A. Times as “stunning” and by the Chicago Tribune as “fabulous entertainment for the entire family” Branson, Missouri's wildly popular illusionist Rick Thomas brings his touring spectacle Mansion of Dreams to Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 24, the event delivering, up close and personal, some of most intriguing, innovative, and mind-blowing grand illusions in the world.

With the event co-presented by the Midwest Writing Center, the Quad Cities' longest-running reading series SPECTRA returns to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on April 24 for its public event of the 2024-25 season, the evening showcasing a pair of lauded poets who will read from their latest collections; The Dead and the Living and the Bridge, written by MC Hyland, and None of It Belongs to Me, authored by Elizabeth Clark Wessel.

With the event co-presented by the Midwest Writing Center, the Quad Cities' longest-running reading series SPECTRA returns to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on April 10, with Elizabeth Willis reading from her latest book Liontaming in America, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in poetry, Iowa Student Poet Ambassador Tanya Rastogi, and Sophia Best, whose first chapbook PINK BATHWATER won the Iowa Chapbook Prize.

A glorious stage fairytale boasting a legendary score and a reimagined script by Douglas Carter Beane, the Tony-winning Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella will be presented at Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 19, this beloved classic and Breath of Encouragement production an entertainment, according to the Associated Press, that "crackles with sweetness and freshness, combining a little Monty Python's Spamalot with some Les Misérables."

Deemed "an excellent and compelling play" by the New York Post and "brilliant, powerful, and cinematic" by the Associated Press, Tony Award winner John Logan's dramatic thriller Never the Sinner enjoys an April 24 through 27 staging by the theatre talents at Scott Community College, this tale of the infamous Leopold & Loeb killing hailed by the New Yorker as a work that "sweeps the audience into the boys' friendship without losing sight of the brutal murder."

Lauded by Vulture as "a brisk, disconcerting brainteaser" that "gives you the satisfying rush of a good mystery," playwriting triumvirate Jeremy Kareken's, David Murrell's, and Gordon Farrell's The Lifespan of a Fact serves as the mainstage season closer for Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, its April 18 through May 4 run sure to demonstrate why Variety praised the work for its "terrifically funny dialogue," and for how the piece ultimately "transcends comedy and demands serious attention."

An Academy Award-winning musical romance that also earned the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, writer/director John Carney's modern classic Once enjoys a special April 24 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, the laurels for this critical smash and audience favorite including being ranked third on Entertainment Weekly's 2008 list of the "25 Best Romantic Movies of the Past 25 Years."

An engaging, animated PowerPoint presentation boasting archival photographs and video segments, Randy Lengeling's Grant Wood: Artistic Rags to Riches – an American Success Story will be presented at the LeClaire Community Library on April 9, the event allowing participants to enjoy an evening of art history and state pride in Iowan accomplishments.

With its gifted ensemble composed of members of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's performing wait staff the Bootleggers, castmates from the current Elvis Presley bio-musical Heartbreak Hotel, and a special star, the Rock Island venue will stage a one-night-only performance of the original revue Shake, Rattle, Rock & Roll, an April 17 concert event saluting iconic hits from yesteryear’s rock-and-roll era.

Dawes, April 16

Currently traveling the country on their "Oh Brother" tour in support of their new album of that title, the indie-rock and -folk artists of Dawes headline an April 16 concert at Davenport's Capitol Theatre, the outfit lauded by NPR for songs that are “bright, approachable, outward-facing throwbacks to the best in classic countrified rock” while also “a canvas for serious, sometimes enormously ambitious ruminations on the meaning of life."

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