For a while now, the book on Chris Kennedy has been that he may not be cut out for a career in politics, despite his famous last name and pedigree as the son of Bobby Kennedy and nephew of John F. Kennedy.

Even though many fans of The Sound of Music know this legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein musical by heart, audiences will be in for a thrilling treat on February 8 when the Adler Theatre's Broadway at the Adler series hosts the show in its nationally touring presentation directed by Jack O'Brien, the three-time Tony Award winner who directed Broadway's original production of Hairspray.

For the fourth performances of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra';s 2017-18 season, conductor Mark Russell Smith and his musicians take audiences on a figurative trek across the Atlantic in Postcards from Venice, a program of wit, charm, and musical mischief with a special performance by trumpet soloist Matthew Onstad.

Written by award-winning author Jennifer Haley, the stage cyber-thriller The Nether opens New Ground Theatre's 2018 season in a production running February 2 through 11, with Haley's acclaimed play earning this rave from the New York Times: “As a parable for where we’re headed on that big old highway in the digital sky, The Nether exerts a viselike grip while taking you down avenues of thought you probably haven’t traveled yet.”

A fast-paced world requires a calming influence, and that's what Rock Island's Quad City Arts Center will provide in its new exhibitions of lovely, serene paintings by Brad Bisbey and Holly Kimball and beautiful wood sculptures and furniture by Jay Stratton, on display from February 2 through March 23.

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You wouldn't think anyone could make a feel-good entertainment about the War in Afghanistan, still raging after nearly 17 years. But blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer isn't just anyone, and so we have 12 Strong, a demolition-heavy drama about the first Special Forces team sent to Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

A weekend celebration of glorious birds and piano expertise, the 24th Annual Eagles & Ivories Ragtime Festival, taking place January 26 through 28, will find numerous Muscatine locales flooded with music, along with movies, meals, and aerial views of majestic eagles.

Singer/songwriter John Paul Roney performs a January 26 Moeller Nights concert alongside Andrew Fraser and Aaron Simon in the musicians' experimental-folk outfit Boom Forest, a group whose recent album Post Knight Errant led MXDWN.com to write that Roney's “career should no doubt be watched with great interest,” adding, “No matter which direction Roney chooses to bring the listener, it’s impossible to be disappointed.”