When Neil Simon’s name is on a production, you tend to expect sentimentality and humor, and the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's opening-night performance of Simon's little-known Proposals was certainly humorous.

Tony Knobbe is fast proving to be a questionable choice for Chair of the Scott County Board of Supervisors. As a former banker (an executive for Wells Fargo in Davenport), is it any surprise that he appears to be institutionally incapable of comprehending that transparency is the best practice for a publicly elected board?

Hosted by the Midwest Writing Center, the latest presentation in the Brown Bag Luncheon Discussion series finds area filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle of Fourth Wall Films speaking on “Writing for the Screen,” delivering a March 15 overview on writing for their documentary film projects and new narrative film Sons & Daughters of Thunder, based on a play by Earlene Hawley.

After years of presenting theatrical productions only in the summer months, Eldridge's Countryside Community Theatre opens its 2018 season with a show for spring, with Tony-nominated composer Stephen Schwartz's biblical-musical smash Godspell enjoying a March 16 through 25 run at Princeton's Boll's Community Center.

Two of the most successful and enduring acts in the history of rock will share a local stage on the evening of St. Patrick Day, as Moline's TaxSlayer Center hosts a March 17 concert featuring co-headliners REO Speedwagon and Styx – rock-'n'-roll legends who will be joined by guitarist Don Felder of the equally iconic band The Eagles.

One of the most significant forces in gospel, pop, and Christian rock takes the Adler Theatre stage on March 16 when Michael W. Smith appears locally in his “Surrounded by a Million Lights World Tour,” sharing the talents that have made the artist an international sensation and recipient of an incredible 45 Dove Awards.

An area jazz great and instructor at the University of Iowa will be the gifted headliner in the latest Polyrhythms Third Sunday Jazz Series concert at Davenport's Redstone Room – a March 18 evening with the Steve Grismore Trio featuring vocalist Grismore on guitar, Danny Oline on bass, Fabio Augustinis on drums, and standards and originals played in the styles of Keith Jarrett, Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, and George Benson.

Because of last year's historic foul-up in the telecast's final minutes, anyone committed to watching Sunday night's 90th Annual Academy Awards really had to commit, agreeing to sit through 230 frequently interminable minutes – you could watch The Post twice in that time! – just to see if Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway would read from the correct envelope. They did. And the evening's climax still felt a little bungled.

Sources in both parties said last week that their tracking polls were showing a dip in support for Senator Daniel Biss and a trending increase for Chris Kennedy in the Democratic primary race for governor.