Author Jonathan Turner (a December, 1963 Jersey City native) as the fifth Jersey Boy at Circa '21.

2024 was a tumultuous year for the country (myself included), and it’s a gift to be able to look back at arts and culture highlights I was able to witness, while looking forward to some 2025 events that are sure to be on my calendar.

We are truly blessed in the Quad Cities to have a cornucopia of culture here – across live music, theatre, dance, film, and visual arts.

Among the outstanding performances I saw in 2024:

Pianist Emanuel Ax with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, April 27, 2024 (photo by Evan Sammons).

* April: Pianist Emanuel Ax with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (Adler Theatre, Davenport IA). I’ve had the privilege of attending the buzzy, extraordinary QCSO gala concerts of not only violinist Joshua Bell in 2018, but cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2015 and violinist Midori in 2011, and there was similar electricity in the air at this past spring’s full Adler audience for the justifiably world-renowned (yet blissfully humble) pianist Emanuel Ax.

It had been 43 years since the 74-year-old keyboard icon performed in the QC, and Ax certainly brought his “A” game, with two of the most famous piano concerti in the repertory: Beethoven’s No. 5 (the “Emperor”) and Mozart’s No. 20, K. 466. Despite the fact that Ax must have played these works many times over his long career, nothing about the QCSO performance seemed rote or routine. Instead, the soloist and orchestra were thrillingly alive and present, making the jaw-dropping demands of the music seem effortless.

* April: Anastasia, (Spotlight Theatre, Moline IL). It was obvious when the Spotlight Theatre opened with its first full production, 2018's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, that multi-talented owners Sara and Brent Tubbs had no small ambitions. Taking over Moline's former Scottish Rite Cathedral, the married couple has consistently offered consistently strong, prodigiously entertaining musical theatre, and their gorgeous, spectacular Anastasia was no exception.

The Spotlight Theatre's "Anastasia" featured Chris Tracy, Claire Sattler and Caleb Swinney.

From the start of this epic, fantastic, fancy feast for the senses, you could easily get swept up in history, romance, and adventure in the big musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. This visually and sonically stunning show adapts the legend of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who was rumored to have escaped and survived the execution of the Russian Imperial family. The excellent Spotlight cast was headed by Claire Sattler, Caleb Swinney, and Chris Tracy.

* May: Jersey Boys (Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Rock Island IL). Over 47 years, Circa ’21 has justly earned a reputation for first-class entertainment and customer service. Perhaps its best show this past season was the Broadway smash Jersey Boys, which tells the true, cathartic story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons from his intro to the boy band when he was a teenager through the iconic quartet’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 at the musical’s electrifying climax.

Packed with grit, heart, and drama (and, crucially, 35 songs), this production was simply mesmerizing, As performed with laser focus, emotional intensity, and an unreal, powerful falsetto (the voice of an angel soaring to the heavens), Bear Manescalchi, in his fifth time in the role, was a perfect Valli.

The smooth, strong Circa '21 veteran Bobby Becher, meanwhile, admirably embodied Bob Gaudio, who was a Boy Scout next to his three hot-headed, tough, rough-and-tumble cohorts. His entrance to the group via “Cry For Me” was pure magic, as the other three guys seamlessly added their harmonies seemingly off the cuff.

Playcrafters' "House of Blue Leaves" featured leads Leslie Day, Eric Teeter and Ashley Hoskins.

* May: The House of Blue Leaves (Playcrafters Barn Theatre, Moline IL). A towering 20th-century American tragicomedy was given a spot-on, heartbreaking rendition on the beloved thrust stage of Playcrafters.

With Blue Leaves set in Sunnyside, Queens, New York, in 1965, a colorful cast playing yearning misfits nailed the dreams and nightmares of this motley crew. There’s an aching sense of melancholy and foreboding that permeates John Guare's entire play. The downtrodden, frustrated protagonist Artie (Eric Teeter) desperately wants to escape his lower-middle-class existence and become a popular singer and songwriter, but his life is complicated by an ambitious mistress, a crazy wife, and a bomb-making son. The profoundly moving cast included Ashley Hoskins and Leslie Day.

* June and August: A Little Night Music and Fiddler on the Roof (Quad City Music Guild, Moline IL). Two of my favorite musicals were mounted this past summer at Prospect Park, with enviable polish, passion and professionalism.

All the stars aligned in a blindingly brilliant production of Stephen Sondheim's treasured classic Night Music, a work bewitchingly composed in nearly all variations of waltz time. The smiles of this summer night shone with phenomenal, gorgeous singing, a sensitive orchestra, beautiful set and costumes, with a healthy dollop of snarky humor.

In its last summer show, Guild resurrected another musical masterpiece, Fiddler, which still carries painful, relevant lessons 60 years after its premiere. Like Night Music, this more serious tale is also set around the turn of the 20th century, and confronts the fate of Jews forced to leave their Russian village for the U.S. The openhearted, relatable story of Fiddler, beautifully told in Moline, shows a father’s struggle to face the modern choices of his daughters and their pursuit of happiness, even if it differs from family tradition.

* July: Songs for a New World (Black Box Theatre, Moline IL). It’s both a blessing and curse that the top-quality Black Box Theatre in downtown Moline is an intimate 60-seat storefront venue. Since opening in January of 2017, it has immeasurably and consistently enriched the QC cultural scene by offering often contemporary plays and musicals – ones that no other area theatre is doing – with performances of tremendous heart, intelligence, and persuasive, professional-level power.

That was perfectly exemplified with its July production, the sprawling, soaring song cycle Songs for a New World, by three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown. The standing ovation that greeted the close of the matinee I attended (from the packed crowd) was completely deserved. What an all-star cast, and the curse was that only 60 lucky patrons could see the show at once.

Keira Bowman, Sydney Greer and Wrigley Mancha in Music Guild's "Fiddler on the Roof" in August 2024.

* September and November: Gershwin Birthday Celebration and ATLYS string quartet (Sound Conservatory, Moline IL). A new “Carnegie Hall” is flourishing close to the Black Box, in the former 1903 Carnegie Library now occupied by Sound Conservatory. Two amazing programs lit up the elegant performance space this past fall.

The first, honoring one of my favorite composers of all time, was one of two George Gershwin celebrations. This joyful, jazzy, breathtaking concert featured pianists Alex Gilson and Andrzej Kozlowski (the latter of whom owns the music school and store), the Corey Kendrick Trio, and bassoonist Kian Hyatt. A clear highlight was Kozlowski paying tribute to the centennial of the immortal, youthful, and romantic mashup “Rhapsody in Blue,” taking on the titanic heights of the score with his own two talented hands.

The venue's second unforgettable concert featured ATLYS, and celebrated the female foursome’s new recording Sonnenberg Suite. Not only did the event highlight excerpts from Ari Fisher’s music – inspired by the beautiful Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua, New York – it revealed the wide-ranging, accessible scope of ATLYS’ formidable repertoire, including imaginative arrangements of pop and video-game music. The friendly, fiendishly impressive quartet is composed of QCSO violinist Sabrina Tabby, her sister Genevieve on cello, violinist Jinty McTavish, and a new Los Angeles-based violist, Kayla Cabrera. Their last QC concert had been in October of 2023 at Davenport's St. Ambrose University, and this one was just days before the full Sonnenberg Suite premiere (with chamber orchestra) in Evanston, Illinois.

* December: Ballet Quad Cities’ The Nutcracker (Adler Theatre). Partly to celebrate my birthday, I took my wife to see her first Nutcracker at the Adler, after I was honored to have seen a number of Ballet Quad Cities' school-only performances in the plush venue. It had to coincide with an ice storm that day, which we managed to get through, but unfortunately prevented Orchestra Iowa from making its trip from Cedar Rapids to provide live performance of the iconic, dreamlike Tchaikovsky score.

Fortunately, it was warm and inviting inside the Adler, and this delightful holiday gift never fails to disappoint. No matter how many times you see this tremendous, intoxicating 1892 ballet, it feels fresh and exciting, and elicits a spine-tingling chill. Through the shimmering, gloriously athletic and artistic feats of these professional dancers, we can always appreciate the timeless treasure of The Nutcracker, as through the wide eyes of a child on Christmas morning. The Act 1 closer, “Dance of the Snowflakes,” is a perennial highlight, and the graceful, light-as-air BQC dancers – combined with the gorgeous music and thousands of delicately drifting pieces of paper floating down to create snow – were simply magical.

A rendering of the Figge Art Museum's nighttime lighting, "Evanescent Field," by light artist Leo Villareal.

As for 2025, these are a few QC arts events I'm most anticipating:

* Evanescent Field (dates TBD, Figge Art Museum, Davenport IA). In the works for 20 years, the downtown Davenport landmark will be entirely lit for the first time in this $4-million installation by renowned artist Leo Villareal. Timed to open for the 100th anniversary of Davenport’s first municipal art museum, the light sculpture will illuminate all four sides of the Figge, with software and more than 1,000 LED lights, and colors will constantly change.

Villareal is known for his site-specific light installations, including San Francisco’s Bay Bridge; The Bay Lights; Illuminated River, a public work of art that unites nine London bridges through one artwork; and Multiverse, a tunnel installation at the National Gallery of Art. The artist’s Interstellar exhibit is at the Figge through January 19, showcasing nine works from light sculptor Villareal’s Nebula series, inviting patrons into the realms of space, time, and perception through LEDs and custom software.

* Omar’s Journey, Quad City Symphony Orchestra (February 1 at the Adler Theatre, February 2 at Augustana College's Centennial Hall, Rock Island IL). This is a highly anticipated concert opera adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. It shares the powerful story of Omar Ibn Said from his freedom in West Africa to enslavement in South Carolina. Through a breathtaking fusion of West African musical traditions and classical opera, brought to life by a cast of world-class artists, Omar’s Journey promises an unforgettable exploration of resilience, faith, and the enduring human spirit.

* Groundhog Day: The Musical, Spotlight Theatre (February 7 through 16). The Spotlight will open its 2025 season with this QC premiere. Based on the classic 1993 film comedy of the same name (starring Bill Murray and Andie McDowell), Groundhog Day: The Musical boasts music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, who did the same for the popular Matlida: The Musical. Its silly, romantic story focuses on Phil Connors, an arrogant TV weatherman, who dreads dreading his trip to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to report on the annual Groundhog Day Ceremony. Appropriately, the new Spotlight production will open on February 7, five days after the actual Groundhog Day, when the latest Punxsutawney Phil will determine how many more weeks of winter we’ll have.

* Rhapsody in Blue, Quad City Symphony Orchestra (April 5 at the Adler Theatre, April 6 at Augustana College's Centennial Hall). Pianist Lorraine Min will solo with the QCSO in the Gershwin masterwork, served up in the middle of this delicious Masterworks sandwich. The program will open with Angel Lam’s new Please let there be a paradise… (commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with generous support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation), and close with Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5, op.100 in B-flat Major.

 "Omar's Journey" is a concert version of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

* Chicago (May 9 through July 5 at the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse). Many have long wanted Circa '21 to stage this classic Broadway showstopper by John Kander (music) and Fred Ebb (lyrics). Though its original 1975 run was shut out at the Tonys by A Chorus Line, the ’97 Broadway revival has had the last laugh, the still-playing production now the longest running American show in the Great White Way’s history. With six Tony Awards (and an Oscar-winning film version), Chicago is the universal tale of fame, fortune, and all that jazz, set in the Roaring '20s big city, with killer female characters and an infectious score to die for.

* Escape to Margaritaville and Gypsy, Quad City Music Guild (respectively, April 4 through 14, and August 8 through 17). I have a special reason to connect with Music Guild’s spring show, as I will be accompanist and assistant music director for the Jimmy Buffett jukebox musical, inspired by his 1977 hit “Margaritaville.” The late singer/songwriter, who passed in September of 2023, built his 2017 musical as a breezy, tropical, fun-loving getaway. Exuberantly entertaining, Margaritaville was performed at Circa '21 from July to September 2023, with the Buffett island-based songs attached to an original story about choices we make and the people we become, once we’ve had a change in “latitude.”

Guild's August show brings back Broadway warhorse Gypsy, currently being given another Broadway revival starring six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald. (Is lucky seven in the cards?) Originating in 1959 under the powerhouse trio of Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Jule Styne (music), and Arthur Laurents (book), Gypsy is named for stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, daughter of the domineering protagonist Mama Rose, often considered a Mt. Everest role for musical-theatre women. I cannot wait to take it all in.

Support the River Cities' Reader

Get 12 Reader issues mailed monthly for $48/year.

Old School Subscription for Your Support

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Old School Subscribe now.



Help Keep the Reader Alive and Free Since '93!

 

"We're the River Cities' Reader, and we've kept the Quad Cities' only independently owned newspaper alive and free since 1993.

So please help the Reader keep going with your one-time, monthly, or annual support. With your financial support the Reader can continue providing uncensored, non-scripted, and independent journalism alongside the Quad Cities' area's most comprehensive cultural coverage." - Todd McGreevy, Publisher