Soaring, swooning music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra will fill the air in three Davenport venues on April 27 and 28, and the gifted professional musicians of the QCSO lend their talents to a trio of events: the family concert Gershwin's Magic Key on April 27, and the annual Side-by-Side and Community-Wide Side-by-Side concerts on April 28, the latter featuring a musical tribute to West Side Story.

Performing in support of his 2019 release Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3 – an album that Rolling Stone says “draws a line from Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theatre through MTV, Fox News and The Apprentice, dissecting the talking blues trope along the way – the iconic, genre-hopping singer/songwriter Todd Snider visits Davenport's Redstone Room on April 28, demonstrating why Rolling Stone raved, “His lyrics are razor sharp, unsparing, hilarious, and surprisingly tender.”

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On February 7, U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released the text of a joint resolution calling for a “Green New Deal.”

Don’t let the title of the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's Grumpy Old Men: The Musical fool you. I was expecting much yelling at young-'uns and kvetching over chessboards. It’s actually a colorful, fast-paced feast containing no young-'uns (but, yes, one chessboard).

Senator Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) spent more than a year holding hearings and overseeing negotiations which eventually produced SB1829 – a massive omnibus bill on sexual harassment.

Instead of a sweet, 13-year-old white boy waking to find himself in his 30-something body, writer/director Tina Gordon's lighthearted take on Big gives us a rude, 30-something black woman waking to find herself reverted to her gawky 13-year-old frame. In other words, Little is about as familiar-yet-slightly-different as high-concept Hollywood offerings get. With its leads portrayed by Regina Hall, Issa Rae, and the remarkable Marsai Martin, it's also about as enjoyable as they get – though you can't help wishing there were even more here to enjoy.

I had the pleasure of attending Wednesday night's rehearsal of Marie & Rosetta at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, and it was so refreshing to experience a true gospel music production.

With DC Theatre Scene calling the show “a wonderfully fun production” that's “clever enough to charm all ages,” Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse opens its 2019 season of high-spirited family musicals with Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook, an adaptation of Barbara Park's beloved children's book that the Maryland Theatre Guide described as “almost too much fun to be as heartfelt as it is.”

Described by TheBroadwayBlog.com as a “groundbreaking combination of storytelling, music, and technology” and Theaterlife as “an electrifying visual delight,” the dance-fusion ensemble iLuminate will light up the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center on April 19 and 20, demonstrating why, in 2011, this singular sensation became a national obsession during its run on TV's America's Got Talent.

Works by dozens of the area's most gifted young artists are currently on display at Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center Gallery, with the 42nd Annual High School Art Invitational, through May 2, showcasing an assemblage of paintings, drawings, sculpture, metals, ceramics, photography, and film from newly award-winning student talents.

Screening locally through a special partnership between Fathom Events and distribution company GKIDS, the new anime entertainment Okko's Inn will enjoy April 22 and 23 presentations at Rave Cinemas Davenport 53rd 18 + IMAX, the latest work by lauded director Kitarô Kôsaka praised by Pittsburgh magazine for its “easy and very watchable charm,” and by the Pittsburgh City Paper for its “fantastical elemets” and “heartfelt lessons on family and acceptance.”

Praised by Rolling Stone for their “gutbucket rock & roll and soulful boogie” and by NPR Music for being “fresh, original, and truly pledged to rock and roll,” the Philadelphia-based musicians of Low Cut Connie headline a Moeller Nights concert on April 18, revealing why the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Their ferocious live show … is unmatched in all of rock right now.”

Lauded by AllMusic.com for his “emotionally charged voice and rich, melodic songwriting style,” British-born, New York-based singer/songwriter Bobby Long showcases his rock, folk, and Americana gifts as a Moeller Nights headliner on April 18, his latest album Sultan praised by The Hype magazine as a work that “pays homage to Sgt. Pepper’s-era Beatles in a wonderful way.”

Appearing together for the first time in their national “Surrounded & United Tour,” the contemporary-Christian artists of Newsboys United and singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith take the stage at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on April 19, sharing the talents that have resulted in chart-topping success and a collective 18 Grammy Award nominations.

This year, Easter weekend at the Redstone Room will showcase a thrillingly wide range of musicians and genres, as the Davenport venue hosts headlining sets with the folk-pop quartet Darlingside on April 19, the Quad Cities-based reggae talents of Rude Punch on April 20, and an Easter-Sunday concert with the Songbird Jazz Quartet performing as April 21 guests in Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series.

Delivering what the Associated Press calls “the next best thing to seeing the Beatles” and what the Toronto Star deems “a fun-filled family crowd-pleaser,” the gifted musicians and iconic impersonators of Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles bring their touring production to Moline's TaxSlayer Center on April 24, intoxicating crowds with their newest stage spectacular The Best of Abbey Road Live!

Touring in support of the band's sophomore album Lightning Roundan August release in which, according to Rolling Stone, its musicians “refine and polish the blend of indie-pop, folk, and rock that they introduced on their 2015 debut” – the Minnesota-based Bad Bad Hats play a Moeller Nights concert on April 24, demonstrating the talents that NPR described as “programmed to fire all neural pathways associated with carefree indie-rock fun.”

The difficulty of our times is not that we are locked up; we aren’t. The difficulty is that far too many of us are manipulated into choosing a prison cell over freedom.

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