Whether you are shy about trying Shakespeare or are a Bard aficionado, has Genesius Guild got a show for you! The first production of their shortened season, Measure for Measure (abridged), is very funny, well acted, deftly staged, easy to follow, and – so important for an outdoor venue in summer – short.

The song “Corner of the Sky” has always been one of my favorite Broadway tunes. I love the lyrics, especially, because they touch areas deep inside my heart with their nuances of looking for meaning in life and trying to find a place where you fit in. The words: “Rivers belong where they can ramble / Eagles belong where they can fly / I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free / Got to find my corner of the sky” really ring true in my own experiences. And this song is the centerpiece for the season opener – the musical Pippin – now playing at the Timber Lake Playhouse.

I feel confident in giving Red two thumbs up, but should you attend for yourself and disagree with me … . Well, I think that’s exactly the point of director Cait Bodenbender’s production: You can choose for yourself as long as you do so from a place of honesty.

Two powerhouse vocal legends will be celebrated by one supremely gifted Augustana College professor from June 24 through 27 when the Mississippi Bend Players present Mary & Ethel: How I Learned to Sing, with area stage performer, director, and instructor Shelley Cooper showcasing the musical talents of her musical idols Mary Martin and Ethel Merman in an exuberant one-woman show.

Described by Jazz Times as an artist who “cooks up a brilliant marriage of blues, jazz, gospel, and soul,” New York Blues Hall of Fame inductee Bruce Katz and his Bruce Katz Band play a June 20 concert sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, showcasing the talents that led the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to declare, “This tight ensemble hits all the marks with deadly aim.”

A celebration of the individuals and organizations that best represent the spirit of true river action in regard to our mighty Mississippi, River Action's Fish & Fire Friendraiser enters its 19th year with a June 25 event at Davenport's Modern Woodmen Park and the presentation of the 2020 and 2021 Eddy Awards – recognition for those who “go against the current” to provide outstanding, well-designed, and environmentally responsible riverfront activity and development.

Touring in support of the band's 2020 release Blood & Stone, an album that New Noise magazine raved “starts off strong and grows stronger with each track,” the Grammy-nominated alternative-metal artists of Sevendust play the East Moline venue The Rust Belt on June 29, performing from a repertoire that includes 13 studio albums, one live album, and 36 singles.

One of the most expansive exhibitions in the Davenport venue's recent history, with the works on display numbering well over 100, POP Power from Warhol to Koons will enjoy an engagement at the Figge Art Museum through September 19, treating patrons to explosions of color, unforgettable imagery, and specific artistic visions that have continued to capture the public imagination for more than 50 years.

The winner of five Tony Awards for its 1973 debut and four Tonys for its 2013 revival, composer Stephen Schwartz's musical-comedy smash Pippin returns Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse to the presentation of live theatre for the first time since 2019, kick-starting the theatre's 60th-anniversary season with a spectacle-driven extravaganza that ran on Broadway for a staggering 1,944 performances and was deemed “a thrilling piece of eye-popping razzle dazzle” by the New York Post.