On August 26, theatre, film, and television scribe Neil Simon, at age 91, passed away after a legendary career that found him the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, four Tony Awards, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and more combined Tony and Oscar nominations than any other writer in history. And from October 5 through 7, St. Ambrose University will celebrate the man's extraordinary career with its staging of Rumors, Simon's Tony-winning slapstick farce that the New York Post deemed “light, frothy, and fun.”

Nominated for the 1994 Tony Award for Best Musical and boasting a cast of nearly two dozen musical talents, the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night for Singing will be presented October 6 and 7 as a special fundraiser for Quad City Music Guild and the Prospect Park Pavilion, treating patrons to a song-and-dance showcase in which, according to the New York Times, “the songs flow together in a sequence that treats them as lighthearted extensions of one another.”

Theatre fans who actively seek out new and original works can, on October 6, find four of them at the Village of East Davenport's Village Theatre, where New Ground Theatre will house the venue's latest evening of Sudden Theatre – a 7 p.m. presentation of short plays that literally didn't exist one day prior.

One of the most eagerly anticipated exhibitions in the Figge Art Museum's history will be on display from October 9 through January 6, as the Davenport venue hosts the touring French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950, an exhibit featuring 59 works drawn from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum that chronicles one of the most dynamic and beloved eras in the history of art.

Presented in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's eagerly awaited exhibition French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra opens its 2018-19 season of Masterworks concerts with a program fittingly titled French Moderns – an evening of glorious compositions by Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Ravel boasting a challenging and gorgeous solo played by renowned flutist John McMurtery.

Lauded by the New York Times for her “hale and limber voice” and her “mining of emotional subtleties within a song,” Americana singer/songwriter Amy Helm plays Davenport's Redstone Room on October 7 in support of her September 21 release This Too Shall Light, an album American Songwriter praised for its “subtle, organic, but vibrant spirituality that aims straight at your heart” and for Helm's “restrained yet obvious passion.”

Performing in support of their latest album that Rolling Stone calls “a crisp display of precision” in which “everyone plays with fire and purpose,” the musicians of Sarah Shook & the Disarmers serve as Moeller Nights headliners on October 9, their rock-infused country stylings on Years described by NoDepression.com as “real, raw, mean-and-evil, bad-and-nasty bidness that makes an ass-kickin' sound mighty fine.”

A widely acclaimed work in which, according to Variety magazine, “conflicts explode in consistently intriguing ways,” the comedic drama Speech & Debate serves as the final production in the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's 2018 Barn Owl Series, its September 27 through 29 run demonstrating why the Washington Post deemed it a “suspenseful tale that fuses keen-eyed civic critique with riotous and even campy humor.”

Deemed “a beautiful memorial” by Nebraska's The Reader and “an incredible achievement” by Vada magazine, the lauded collection of monologues and show tunes Elegies for Angels, Punks, & Raging Queens enjoys a one-weekend Augustana College staging September 27 through 30 – a deeply moving work that TheatrePizzazz.com called “an unforgettable evening of material real and raw, touching and joyous, and ultimately, celebratory.”

Fencing battles, sword fights, wandering minstrels, and all manner of Medieval fun will be on hand at the third-annual Quad Cities Renaissance Faire, the September 29 and 30 festival at Davenport's Credit Island Park that sets up camp in Iowa after two successive years in Illinois, and promises multiple stages of live entertainment, unique merchandise in the village marketplace, and food, drinks, and snacks galore.

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