A two-evening celebration of the Swedish tradition based on the legend of Saint Lucia, Queen of Light, the 2024 Lucia Nights Festival in Bishop Hill will, on December 13 and 14, deliver a seasonal treat featuring live music, a barn dance, a chili supper, a tree-lighting ceremony, carriage rides, and more.
On December 14 and 15, one of the Quad Cities' most adored holiday traditions returns to Davenport's Adler Theatre when the professional talents of Ballet Quad Cities perform Tchaikovsky's holiday dance classic The Nutcracker. This eagerly awaited family experience boasts original choreography by Artistic Director Courtney Lyon, live musical accompaniment by Orchestra Iowa, a cast of 60, and the return of popular guest artist Domingo Rubio, the longtime portrayer of the company's dancing Dracula.
On December 17, a legendary comedian and one of his most iconic entertainments will be celebrated at Davenport's Adler Theatre in the touring sensation A Live Conversation with Chevy Chase, with the famed comedy star of Saturday Night Live, Community, and Fletch sharing stories and taking part in a Q&A session alongside a 35th-anniversary screening of his beloved holiday film National lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
A group of dedicated student dancers will bring their talents to Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre on December 19 and 20 when Monmouth, Illinois' Dancer's Studio presents two performances of The Nutcracker, the timeless holiday ballet by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Lauded by Broadway World as an adults-only entertainment that sends "audience members off with a warm smile and probably exhausted from laughter," author Matthew Lombardo's one-woman comedy sensation Who's Holiday enjoys a six-show run at Rock Island's Circa '21 Speakeasy, this spiky December 5 through 20 treat also hailed by the New York Times as "a raunchy riff on a yuletide tale that dirties up Christmas while ultimately reveling in its spirit."
Whenever someone assures you that another person you’re both dealing with “understands” the “quid pro quo,” you’d be wise to run away as fast as you can and never look back. But that’s exactly how then-Alderman Daniel Solis assured then-House Speaker Michael Madigan in late June of 2017 that their mark – the developers of a West Loop apartment complex – would eventually be convinced to retain Madigan’s property tax appeals law firm.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s national victory and his losing margin dropping to 11 points in Illinois from 17 in two prior races, state legislative Democrats here have different views on how their party should proceed.
Just about nothing happened in the first week of veto session in the House and the Senate. The Democratic legislative leaders are still trying to figure out what their members want to do in the wake of Republican President-Elect Donald Trump’s victory and whether that can be done. Whether that action starts in the second and final week of veto session, or in the lame-duck January session or in the regular spring session, is still up in the air as I write this.
Local artist and friend John Bald reached out to me several months ago and said, “Todd, we have to do something about what they are spraying us with in the skies! Have you seen this?” Of course I have seen it, I told John.
Back in 2018, about midway through President Donald Trump’s first term, the Illinois Senate passed a bill that was designed to prevent “the weakening of Illinois environmental and labor regulations in response to a weakening of federal regulations,” according to an Illinois Environmental Council press release.
Lauded by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as "a beautiful present for theater-goers" and by The Daily Beast as "a brilliant show that you should see immediately," a historical a cappella musical drama All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 returns to Moline's Black Box Theatre December 13 through 22, this landmark show also praised by the New York Times as "a beautiful musical recounting of a World War I cease-fire of gifts, poetry, and melody."
Kitty: I love this musical. The 1982 movie adaptation was a favorite of mine growing up. But I had forgotten that this show takes place at Christmas! So it’s a nice little holiday treat, as well.
Mischa: True, though you'll most likely leave the theater humming “Tomorrow” or “Hard Knock Life,” not “A New Deal for Christmas.”
Both the year and the theatrical season are winding down for a long winter’s nap, and the Timber Lake Playhouse’s final production of 2024 could not offer a more pleasant nightcap. Directed and choreographed by Marquez Stewart, and featuring some surprisingly effective audience participation, Winter Wonderettes is a wonderful dose of theatre to fully get you in the spirit of the season.
A well-known seasonal tale gets an inventive theatrical makeover when Iowa City's Riverside Theatre presents playwright Joe Landry's It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, which finds Frank Capra's holiday classic – and the entire town of Bedford Falls – re-enacted by a cast of five in this delightful November 29 through December 15 stage presentation.
A 2017 Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner, as well as a work by the masterful composing team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, Broadway's Anastasia enjoys a City Circle Theatre Company presentation at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts staging from December 6 through 15, the musical lauded by Time Out New York as "a sweeping adventure, romance, and historical epic whose fine craftsmanship will satisfy musical-theatre fans beyond the show's ideal audience of teenage girls."
A celebrated R&B and funk based band that originated in Oakland, California and has been performing for more than 55 years running, Tower of Power and its co-founders Emilio Castillo and Stephen "Doc" Kupka brings their "Holidays & Hits Tour" to Davenport's Capitol Theatre on December 13, the group's smashes on the Billboard Hot 100 chart including "You're Still a Young Man," "So Very Hard to Go," "What Is Hip?", and "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)."
Currently touring in support of their fifth LP No Fun in the Chrysalis, a forthcoming February release produced, engineered, and mixed by Grammy Award winner Brian Joseph, the Midwestern artists of Them Coulee Boys enjoy a headlining engagement at Davenport's Raccoon Motel on December 13, the group inspiring Jam & Toast to rave, "With a unique blend of Americana, folk-rock, bluegrass, and punk influences, they have cultivated a sound that is both familiar and refreshingly original."
An annually beloved holiday-music tradition returns to the area as the professional vocal ensemble the Nova Singers presents its latest pair of A Nova Christmas concerts, with exciting and moving arrangements of favorite carols, traditional melodies, glorious ballads, and fascinating songs from around the world performed on December 13 at Davenport's St. Paul Lutheran Church and December 14 at Galesburg's First Lutheran Church.
Capturing the simple soul of the artist's music through guitar, fiddle, and upright bass arrangements, tribute artist Layne Yost's John Denver Christmas celebrates the holiday season at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on December 13, with Yost, Carol McDowall, and Jon Shimoda providing stories woven within the music that give insight into Denver's remarkable life and legacy.
Performing an eagerly anticipated concert return at East Moline venue The Rust Belt, the Midwestern pop-rockers of the Pork Tornadoes will deliver an eclectic assortment of hits on December 18, their energetic repertoire ranging from Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce all the way to Lizzo, Morgan Wallen, NSYNC, and Phil Collins.
Not that the material demanded or invited it, but I think I now know why Ralph Fiennes was never seen out of his clerical robe in Conclave. Because if we ever saw him shirtless, or even got a gander at his bare arms, that entire papal drama would've collapsed through one simple question: “How did a cloistered, late-middle-aged cardinal get so freakin' jacked?!”
Appearing in a special Silvis Public Library program on December 14, Emmy Award-winning area filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle will host screenings of the entire short-film collection in their beloved Hero Street documentary series, the Celebrating History: Hero Street Documentary Film Series Centennial Event celebrating the eight young men from Silvis' block-and-a-half-long Second Street in Silvis collectively lost to World War II and the Korean War.
It's the exact same Moana people adored eight years ago, only with vaguer threat and weaker songs.
It goes without saying that the long-awaited arrival of a Wicked movie is being met with feverish anticipation by many sects of the musical's fan base. The best news about director Jon M. Chu's film version is that it matches devotees' collective excitement with unmissable, infectious excitement of its own.
Now playing at area theaters.
An evocative combination of two art exhibits will be on display in the Joan Mulgrew Gallery of Dubuque's Voices Studio from December 6 through January 31, with Tim Olson & Lisa Olson inviting guests to experience the unique perspectives of two artists whose journeys are rooted in deep personal reflection, family, and a dedication to their creativity.
Roughly 40 photographs showcasing the exhilarating and dangerous world of motorsport will be on display at the University of Dubuque's Bisignano Art Gallery, with the exhibition Freezing Speed – Ian Brightman offering evocative, arresting images through December 31.
A trio of Iowa-based artists working in a trio of artistic mediums will have pieces showcased at the Quad City Arts International Airport through January 5, with the gallery, in Brown Swanson, Hassig, & Shahrivar, hosting arresting examples of fused glass by Des Moines' Tilda Brown Swanson, collages by Cedar Rapids' Michael Hassig, and oil landscape paintings by Iowa Falls' Naser D. Shahrivar.
With the Figge Art Museum hosting an intimate exhibition on loan from the Deere & Company collection, Revolutionary Artist: The Prison Fantasies of David Alfaro Siqueiros, on display in the Davenport venue through January 5, will treat patrons to evocative works by the artist (1896-1974) who founded the modern school of Mexican mural painting alongside his contemporaries Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco.
Featuring 200 layers, including clips of mugs breaking, splashing paint, unfurling tablecloths, and his dog and cat strolling through the frame, video artist Dave Greber's Stilllives II: Vignette is on display at Davenport's Figge Art Museum through January 12, this work inspired by the act of setting a dinner table projected on the floor as though you are looking down at a table that's being continuously reset.
You'll get both the current official narrative challenge and What's Happenin' in the Quad Cities.
(Did you know we publish a new Amy Alkon Advice Goddess, Real Astrology, Red Meat cartoon and RCR Crossword every week?)
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