A multi-instrumentalist and award-winning vocalist who hosts her own TV series, polka sensation Mollie B, her ensemble Squeezebox, and fellow instrumentalist Ted Lange play a special May 6 concert event at Maquoketa's Ohnward Fine Arts Center, the headliner a veteran of more than 40 recordings who has thus far performed in more than 30 states and nearly a dozen countries worldwide.

With the venue presenting its first exhibition of visual art since 2020, Rock Island's Rozz-Tox houses a collection of colorful and evocative new and small paintings in Leslie Bell: Little Theaters, an exhibit (on display through May 29) boasting the talents of the beloved, retired professor of art at Davenport's St. Ambrose University.

For those seeking a change from the traditional landscape of the Quad Cities, Bettendorf's Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy will, through June 30, house a representational exhibition of water, sky, volcanic rock, and white structures in It's All Greek to Me: Island Impressions by Robert Zeidler, a collection of never-before-seen works inspired by the artist's recent travels to Greece and the Aegean Sea.

With gifted vocalist and ensemble leader Donovan Tea currently celebrating his astonishing 38th year with the group, the beloved pop vocalists of the Lettermen make their long-awaited return to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse on May 9, their ever-popular springtime engagements overflowing with timeless hits such as “When I Fall in Love,” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” “Hurt So Bad,” and “Shangri-La.”

Playing the Maquoketa venue in support of their latest EP Four Songs and most recent album OHBAHOY – a collection described by Maximum Volume Music as “such a staggeringly diverse 11 songs that you can only marvel at it” – the Rockford, Illinois-based talents of Miles Nielsen & the Rusted Hearts headline a May 7 concert event at the Codfish Hollow Barn, the band sure to deliver what Americana-UK calls “smooth, well-written, and well-produced power-pop packages.”

After an unanticipated year-long hiatus, an eagerly anticipated evening of traditional Scottish pageantry and heritage returns to the Quad Cities in the Scottish American Heritage Center's 44th Robert Burns Celebration and Dinner, a May 7 event at Bettendorf's Isle Casino Hotel boasting live music, country dances, and a tribute to the 262nd birthday of Celtic legend Robert Burns.

Lauded by Broadway World as a production that “will delight fans of Christie's mysteries” and “keeps the audiences guessing as to who the murderer is right up until the very end,” author Leslie Darbon's Agatha Christie A Murder Is Announced enjoys a May 6 through 15 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, this tale of twists and turns, mistaken identities, and purposeful deceptions featuring one of Christie's most beloved characters in the figure of amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple.

A bona fide musical-theatre classic serves as the final stage production in Augustana College's 2021-22 season at the Brunner Theatre Center, with Shelley Cooper directing and choreographing the May 5 through 8 run of The Threepenny Opera, a work revered for its score that boasts the unforgettable “The Ballad of Mack the Knife” and its legendary collaboration between author Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill.

With Chicago Theatre Review praising its "beautiful, heartfelt score" and "gentle reminder of how it's still important to be loving, kind, and supportive of one another," the musical version of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel Little Women serves as the final stage production in St. Ambrose University's 2021-22 theatre season, the show's April 29 through May 1 also the final presentation to be directed by the university's beloved, retiring professor Corinne Johnson.

For the first time in years, local audiences will again be treated to one of the most awe-inspiring compositions in music history when the Augustana College Department of Music presents its May 1 concert event Handel's Messiah, with the legendary classical piece performed in Centennial Hall by the Augustana Oratorio Society and featured soloists Joseph Barron, Jesse Darden, Kelly Hill, and Emily Truckenbrod.

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