Praised by the Orlando Sentinel as “full of upbeat tunes” and a “winning addition to the holiday canon that manages to also touch the heart,” the stage adaptation The Best Chistmas Pageant Ever: The Musical serves as the final presentation in Quad City Music Guild's 2020 season, its December 5 through 8 run sure to demonstrate why the Charlotte Observer's Lawrence Toppman called it “the first play written for kids that would inspire me to buy the original cast album.”

A hilarious, cheeky, and thoughtful one-woman show making its Quad Cities debut, Iowa City playwright/actor Janet Story Schlapkohl's Invisible but Dangerous enjoys a special limited run at Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop December 6 and 7, treating audience to fraught, funny tales of everything from Midwestern politeness to mansplaining to those containers of spices that stay in your kitchen, unused, for decades.

A celebrated seasonal event described by DC Metro Theater Arts as “an exhilarating must-see” and “a pulse-pounding pageant full of talent and praise,” Langston Hughes' iconic Black Nativity enjoys a December 6 through 8 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, its presentation by Breath of Encouragement Productions sure to prove why the Maryland Theatre Guide deemed it “a celebration of life and spirit that is at once essential and timely.”

Daniel Rairdin-Hale directs The Little Prince at St. Ambrose University -- December 7.

After its successful run at Davenport's QC Theatre Workshop this past spring, author Aaron Randolph III's new adaptation of the literary classic The Little Prince lands at St. Ambrose University for two performances on December 7 in a presentation boasting an expanded cast, plus direction and original puppet creations by the original production's “Little Prince” himself, SAU's theatre-department associate professor and chair Daniel Rairdin-Hale.

Seasonal activities, song and dance performances, Christmas displays, and much more can be found at the Family Museum on December 8 when the venue hosts its annual celebration Winterfest, with this year's event-filled afternoon treating guests to displays, photos, and even visits from Santa, Mrs. Claus, and a real live reindeer.

Performing under the direction of Curtis Fischer-Oelschlaeger and accompanied by pianist Marcia Renaud, two dozen of the area's premier vocalists will blend their skills in December 6 and 7 Christmas with the Quad City Singers concerts at Colona's Lavender Crest Winery, with the seasonal repertoire boasting classic and contemporary arrangements for soloists, specific vocal groupings, and the ensemble as a whole.

Performing in support of their most recent album Odd Boat, a release that Sound Renaissance called “a gem of our time” for its “infusion of melodic punk and anthemic rock n’ roll,” the Chicago-based musicians of Flatfoot 56 return to the Redstone Room on December 7, their last engagement sure to fill the Davenport venue with what IndieVisionMusic.com called “their rambunctious style that their fans have come to love.”

With the third concert events in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's 2019-20 Masterworks season, audiences at the respective December 7 and 8 presentations at the Adler Theatre and Augustana College will be among the first Americans to view director Peter Mumford's celebrated multimedia production of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre, the first act of which will serve as the full program for Masterworks III: Passion.

Lauded by Blues Revue as a “world-champion piano player” and “a world-class entertainer and vocalist,” the multiple Blues Music Award winner Victor Wainwright brings his significant skills and gifted ensemble to Davenport's Redstone Room on December 11, demonstrating why American Blues Scene said of the artist, “Wainwright's playing is simply beautiful madness.”

“Mr. Scrooge! A Musical Christmas Carol" at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse -- November 29 through December 28.

Praised by Columbus Theatre Scene as “a sweet, family-friendly show that tells its story succinctly and with charm,” the stage adaptation Mr. Scrooge! A Musical Christmas Carol makes its area debut with a November 29 through December 28 run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, the show boasting all of your favorite characters in a song-filled treat by the gifted creative team behind the family smash How I Became a Pirate.

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