Treating audiences to the deep bass-baritone voice, mannerisms, pompadour, and charming persona that made him one of history's greatest entertainers, award-winning tribute artist Jonathan Lyons takes audiences back in time with his polished tribute to "The Man In Black" in Cry! Cry! Cry! A Musical Tribute to Johnny Cash, the exhilarating stage show landing at Mt. Carroll's Timber Lake Playhouse on May 3.

Lauded by the Los Angeles Times as “a new breed of comic who's making magic cool again for grown-ups,” and by Time Out as an act that “must be seen to be disbelieved,” comedian, TV personality, and famed prestidigitator Justin Willman brings his “Illusionati Tour” to Davenport's Adler Theatre on May 2, Decider adding that the artist will “amaze, delight, and shock you in a way that's sure to have your face sore from smiling.”

An online May 3 program presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, the Virtual Illinois Libraries Present offering Art & Adventures with Author/Illustrator Dan Santat will treat viewers to the intelligence, creativity, and humor of the New York Times bestselling author, joined in this special conversation about books and art with friend and collaborator Minh Lê.

One of few musicals in history to win Tonys, a Grammy, and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the legendary Chicago makes its long-awaited debut at Rock island's Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse with its May 7 through July 5 run, this second-longest-running show in Broadway history a smash with both audiences and critics, the New York Times stating, "It has theatrical muscle, the characters are vivid, and its issues are ongoing in our public discourse."

Hailed by Variety as a “wonderfully funny” and “ambitiously constructed work,” and by the New York Observer as “unshowily fresh and humane,” playwright David Auburn's Proof closes the 2024-25 theatre season at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, this Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner also lauded by the New York Daily News as a “smart and compassionate play of ideas.”

Based on an unfinished Charles Dickens novel and the winner of five 1985 Tony Awards including Best Musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood enjoys a City Circle Theatre Company presentation at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts May 2 through 11, the critically lauded smash famed for being the first Broadway musical to be presented with multiple endings, the finales for each performance determined by audience vote.

There's no point in burying the lede on this. Even though it's only April, I can't imagine seeing a more dazzling, thrilling, thunderously satisfying 2025 release than Ryan Coogler's Sinners.

One of the most ticklish and tuneful operettas in theatrical history enjoys an April 25 through May 24 run at Davenport's St. Ambrose University with the theatre department's staging of The Pirates of Penzance, the beloved Gilbert & Sullivan masterpiece whose 1981 Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Revival and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical.

With their album EXTC! released April 4, the recording inspiring Medium to rave that "the clarity of the vocals, upon the addicting and ever-changing thrum of the beat, is a marvel in the production of modern music," EXTC: XTC’s Terry Chambers & Friends headlines an April 30 Redstone Room concert co-presented by Ragged Records and sponsored by Planet 93.9, bringing Chambers, Steve Hampton, and Terry Lines to Davenport on the band's "North American Cushty Tour 2025."