98°, May 11

Widely adored for such hit singles as “Because of You,” “The Hardest Thing,” and their chart-topper “Thank God I Found You,” the pop and R&B sensations of 98° take the stage at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on May 11, reuniting almost exactly 20 years after the Billboard Music Award nominees won their Teen Choice Award in the “Breakout Artist” category.

With singer and group co-founder Tony Butala currently celebrating his astonishing 61st year with the trio, the beloved pop vocalists of The Lettermen will return to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse on May 13, their annual concert engagements overflowing with timeless hits such as “When I Fall in Love,” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” “Hurt So Bad,” and “Shangri-La.”

Appearing locally in a special partnership between the Davenport Public Library and Rock Island Public Library, National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds – the award-winning author of works including 2017's Marvel Comics novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man – will read from and deliver presentations on his literary output in a trio of special area engagements at the Davenport Main Library on May 2 and Rock Island High School on May 3.

Praised by the Chicago Tribune for its “warmhearted wit leavened with wistful regret” and “inner light of emotional honesty,” playwright Lauren Gunderson's astronomical drama Silent Sky enjoys its area premiere at Moline's Black Box Theatre May 2 through 12 – a work that, according to the Tribune, “shines with the luminous joy of re-centering women whose achievements have been too long overlooked by the telescope of history.”

With Variety magazine praising its “imaginative flair” and the Huffington Post calling the show “beautiful and wondrous” and “pure bliss,” the new stage musical Finding Neverland brings the joys of J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan to Davenport's Adler Theatre on May 7 – a touring production in the Broadway at the Adler series that Time magazine deemed “a spirited, tuneful, nimbly staged delight.”

Drawing inspiration from works of the surrealist and abstract-expressionist movements, particularly those that explore the subconscious, Davenport-based artist Nathaniel Kraft presents an exhibition of his paintings at the MidCoast Centre Station Gallery from May 1 through June 30 – the results of an artistic process, the artist says, “driven by the desire to bring suppressed feelings, memories, and ideas to the surface through abstraction.”

Hand-crafted works by Midwestern artists from both sides of the Mississippi will be on display at Moline's Quad City International Airport Gallery from May 2 through July 1, with the airport showcasing sculpture, tapestries, mixed media, and more from artists Tim Kowalczyk of Minonk, Illinois, Jan Friedman of Iowa City, and Kelly Schrader of Davenport.

Tristen, May 3

A two-time winner of Nashville Scene's citation for “Best Local Album,” pop singer/songwriter Tristen showcases her talents as a Moeller Nights headliner on May 3, her most recent album Sneaker Waves described by NPR as a work that “abounds in toothsome melodies and glistening layers of guitar and synth” as the artist herself “bears quietly lacerating witness to vulnerability.”

Nominated for “Best New Artist Debut Album” and “The Sean Costello Rising Star Award” at the 2018 Blues Blast Music Awards, the powerful and passionate ensemble Orphan Jon & the Abandoned plays the Moline Viking Club in a concert co-presented by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, their May 5 engagement sure to demonstrate why Rock & Blues Muse calls the band “an important addition to the American roots- and blues-music tapestry.”

One of children's literature's most beloved tales enjoys a world-premiere QC Theatre Workshop presentation May 3 through 19, with the Davenport venue housing a debuting stage adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's literary classic The Little Prince – a family-themed presentation incorporating comedy, music, dance, and puppetry written by the company's Artistic Director Aaron Randolph III.

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