With the New York Times stating that "the shining achievement of the musical is its winsome country and bluegrass score," and USA Today lauding the book "that's as forthright as it is smart, funny and charming," collaborators Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Tony-nominated Bright Star continues the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's summer season, its July 17 through 27 run treating patrons to a musical treat that Stage & Cinema called "full of unforced goodness and rewarded risk-taking."

With the exhibition made possible through generous funding from Art Bridges Foundation, and with KLJB FOX 18 serving as media sponsor, the fascinating collaborative exhibit CHAIN RE·AC·TION will be celebrated at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on July 17, with community partners, mural artists. and the public joining together in conjunction with the art experience's continuous cycle of inspiration, reflection, and response.

I now know how the Grinch felt when his heart grew three sizes, because I surprisingly, actually, thoroughly enjoyed the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre's and director/choreographer Jenna Schoppe’s production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Which will be a shock to anyone who knows me, because they also know how much I hate(d) Joseph. But Clinton’s latest has made me a believer.

Even without benefit of a plot synopsis, you may think you know the chief inspiration for Alexander Richardson's new Barely There Theatre stage comedy To Leer at Lear. It's Shakespeare's timeless tragedy King Lear, right? Well, yes. But also no. Because as Richardson states during our recent interview, “The inspiration that's actually been in the back of my head as I was writing it, and that's apparent as we're rehearsing it now, is A Muppet Christmas Carol.”

Multi-platinum-selling artists with three chart-topping albums to their credit, the country and Southern-rock sensations of the Zac Brown Band play a July 6 engagement in the 2025 John Deere Classic's "Concerts on the Course" series, treating fans to a repertoire that has thus far resulted in nine Grammy Award nominations, three wins, and more than a dozen number-one hits on the Billboard charts.

Praised by American Blues Scene for delivering "a full-throttle dose of rhythm & blues" with "introspection and grace," the touring artists of Jackson & the Janks headline a 4th of July concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Holler Country Music adding, "With their New Orleans-inspired take on the protogenic power of rhythm & blues, the band uses early rock & roll as a loose template and turns it on its head."

Headlining a July 10 evening at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the Heligoats – what NPR called “a strange name for a guy strumming a guitar, but oddly befitting someone who stuffs his songs with so many sideways ideas and observations” – delivers acoustic indie rock courtesy of singer/songwriter Chris Otepka, whom NPR declared “writes songs that are brainy in the best way: clever without straining for cuteness, wry but never smug.”

Boasting warmth, humor, magic, and unforgettable songs including "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "Let's Go Fly a Kite," "Step in Time," and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," an Oscar-winning family classic becomes a Tony-winning stage spectacular in the theatrical version of Mary Poppins, which will enjoy its long-awaited debut presentation at Rock Island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse July 9 through September 6.

Nominated for five 2011 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and based on the beloved comedy starring Whoopi Goldberg, the tuneful and riotous Sister Act opens the Countryside Community Theatre summer season, the show's July 5 through 13 run at Eldridge's North Scott High School Fine Arts Auditorium demonstrating why the Associated Press deemed it “frothy, giggly, and yet often poignant,” as well as “a musical that hits all the right spots, achieving something close to Broadway grace.”