A true-life tale involving social reformer Frederick Douglass, iconic author Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the United States' first public discussions about abolition, the historical drama Sons & Daughters of Thunder will enjoy its world-premiere presentations at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center on March 16 and 17, with the locally produced film boasting the talents of filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle and more than two dozen familiar area performers.

The worlds of literature and music will blend in unique fashion on March 16 when Chamber Music Quad Cities hosts its Trinity Episcopal Cathedral presentation “An Evening with Nathan Hill,” with some of the ensemble's premiere talents performing thematically related compositions while Hill reads passages from his debut novel The Nix, a work cited by Entertainment Weekly as the best book of 2016.

March 17 would mark the 100th birthday of the late, great jazz legend Nat King Cole, and in recognition of this historic date in music history, Polyrhythms' Third Sunday Jazz Series will present a thrilling salute to the artist in the Redstone Room's “A Tribute to Nat King Cole,” a March 17 celebration of the artist's output led by the area jazz greats of the Tony Sconyers Quintet.

Rozz Tox links up Cave Light and Harakiri, a pair of Minnesotan indie/psych-rock bands, with Quad Cities-based openers Condor & Jaybird and Bold Little Airwave on March 20.

It was mentioned – more than once – at its opening-night performance that the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse’s production of Diamonds & Divas: A Murderous Fiasco was the comedy's United States professional premiere. If we were supposed to be impressed by that fact, it really isn't saying much, as author Robin Hawdon's script would feel right at home with a group of American middle-schoolers. However, the cast, composed of many familiar Circa '21 favorites, injects talent amidst the chaos of this melodramatic escapade, almost fully redeeming an otherwise ridiculous affair.

A lobbyist who works for a business-related organization asked me a question the other day that I've been hearing a lot lately: "Who's going to be the stopper now?"

What he meant was: Who in the legislative process can be counted on these days to help derail bills which are deemed hostile to business interests?

Nominated for more than a dozen Grammy Awards and winner of three Country Music Association (CMA) Awards, singing/songwriting superstar and Grand Ole Opry member Dierks Bentley brings his “Burning Man Tour” to Moline's TaxSlayer Center on March 7, performing mere months after landing a chart-topping album in The Mountain and chart-topping singles in “Women, Amen” and “Burning Man.”

After nearly a half-century of live performances and 2014 induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the legendary rockers of KISS finally reach their figurative end of the road in their fittingly named “End of the Road World Tour,” which makes its long-awaited stop at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on March 10.

One of America's most powerful and iconic works by one of the world's preeminent playwrights, Arthur Miller's Tony-winning drama The Crucible will enjoy a March 8 through 17 staging at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, with the New York Times stating that Miller's wrenching, timeless tale “insists that we identify with not only the victims of persecution but also with those who would judge them.”