With the country-pop singer/songwriters lauded by American Songwriter as an artist who "should be one of the biggest names in music ... and she will be with that voice, passion and talent," Caitlyn Smith headlines an April 28 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel in support of her April 14 release High & Low, which Atwood magazine called "an incredibly eclectic record" in which its creator "embraces life's messy darkness and euphoric highs."

Touring in support of his 2023 album BIG TALK, a work that, according to PopMatters, "points the way to a better world over a country-rock soundtrack," acclaimed recording artist Jarrod Dickenson headlines a May 1 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the musician's latest release also lauded by Rock & Blues Muse as "a smooth, defiant roar."

Fans and friends of the Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley are invited to party with a purpose on May when East Moline venue The Rust Belt hosts the Niabi Zoo's 60th Birthday Bash, with renowned show band Maggie Speaks serving as entertainment headliners and funds raised from the event supporting the zoo's animal care, education, and conservation programs.

Recounting the experiences of one of the Civil War's most successful Union generals and the 18th President of the United States, the Rock Island Public Library's Downtown Branch presentation Unconditional Surrender: The Life of U. S. Grant will, on April 25, find re-enactor Pete Grady portraying Grant in a program that the Civil War Heritage Foundation's Greg Wolk deemed "a riveting performance" that's "well scripted and perfectly delivered."

With Stage & Cinema describing Riverside Theatre's 2022-23 season-ender as "pure joie de vivre meets industrial-strength sang-froid," the twisty comedy The Roommate enjoys an April 28 through May 14 run at Riverside Theatre, this work by lauded author and University of Iowa Playwrights Workshop graduate Jen Silverman lauded by Splash magazine as "crafted with wit and an eye for nuance."

“Nicolas Cage is Dracula” is such a tremendous hook, and “Renfield wants to escape his toxic work relationship” such a fantastic premise, that it's truly unfortunate that director Chris McKay's and screenwriter Ryan Ridley's comedy thriller isn't more entertaining than it is.

Admittedly, Oliver! is one of those musicals that instantly takes me back to my formative years, as I fondly remember watching the 1968 film version at school and at home. It would have taken a total disaster for the Spotlight Theatre to leave me disappointed. Luckily for everyone, though, director Sara Tubbs’s production is a sensory delight: it looked and sounded terrific. Sure, the “unwashed” youth of this production went a little extreme with the makeup's dirt smudges. But if given the chance, who wouldn’t overly grime up, right?

For the professional talents at Ballet Quad Cities, this spring is all rite. Despite my proclivity for typos, that actually isn't one, as the Rock Island-based company – for the first time since 2014 – will stage Igor Stravinsky's 35-minute balletic masterwork The Rite of Spring, which will enjoy two performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 22. But that opening sentence is also inaccurate, because Ballet Quad Cities' 2022-23 season-ender isn't entirely all Rite. A quartet of additional, shorter pieces in Act I will precede the Act II presentation of Stravinsky's work, with the entirely of the performance fittingly titled The Rite of Spring, Bolero, & More. As the dance company's Artistic Director Courtney Lyon says of the presentation as a whole, “We're bringing out some pieces that either haven't been seen since before COVID or that played to smaller audiences during COVID, and now we're able to bring them back on a full stage.”

Lauded by CurtainUp as "a masterful study of the human soul," Sholem Asch's acclaimed and incendiary 1906 drama God of Vengeance enjoys a student-produced run at Augustana College from April 27 through 30, this Jewish masterwork described by Broadway World as "full of complex characters whose motives invite debate."