Celtic Woman -- October 17Events

Adler Theatre

September through November

 

"Mademoiselles, messieurs: It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure, that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up some chairs, as the Adler Theatre proudly presents - your autumn!" Okay, so that may not be the official greeting at the Davenport venue these days. But the Adler could do worse than steal from the candlestick Lumiere's "Be Our Guest" intro, considering how many fall events the theatre will be proudly presenting - among them the touring production of the Tony-winning fairytale musical Beauty & the Beast (November 3).

 

Following the Disney enchantment of Belle, Beast, and their singing and dancing friends, more showtunes will grace the stage in the area debut of Girls Night: The Musical (November 14), in which five female pals enjoy an outrageous karaoke night laughing, drinking, and crooning to "I Will Survive," "It's Raining Men," and other favorites. Another girls night - or rather, Woman's night - arrives via the Adler's engagement with the gifted Irish chanteuses of Celtic Woman (October 17) on their 10th Anniversary World Tour, and in the spirit of fairness, the guys get a night of their own with the Southern folk-rockers of The Avett Brothers (November 10).

A chart-topping Nashville musician lands in Davenport when country artist Lee Brice (October 24) performs in support of his new album I Don't Dance, while "I don't believe it!" will be the more common refrain two weeks earlier, when the Adler presents two performances with the legendary prestidigitators of The Illusionists: Live from Broadway (October 12). Additional stage wonders will be on hand in the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's annual Holiday Pops (November 20 and 21), which, this year, will find the talented musicians accompanying the masterful acrobats, aerial artists, contortionists, jugglers, and dancers of Cirque de la Symphonie. But the orchestra's 2015-16 season actually begins two months prior, and after September 12's annual Riverfront Pops in LeClaire Park, the musicians' first two Masterworks concerts of the year will thrill Adler Theatre crowds with thoroughly exciting repertoires.

The first, Masterworks I: The Re-Creation (October 3 at the Adler, October 4 at Augustana College's Centennial Hall), will actually be a familiar repertoire ... if you were around 101 years ago when the orchestra first performed it. Featuring pieces by Tchaikovsky, Schubert, and others, the event will mark a re-creation of the QCSO's very first concert, and the season-starter will be followed by Masterworks II: Bach, Brahms, & Shostakovich (November 7 at the Adler, November 8 at Augie). Bach, of course, is one of the world's most legendary Baroque composers, and you know what Cogsworth says in Beauty & the Beast: "If it's not Baroque, don't fix it."

For more information on the Adler's fall season, visit AdlerTheatre.com.

 

 

 

Darius Rucker - November 14Events

i wireless Center

September through November

 

I don't want to start a panic in downtown Moline, but I do have some news: The animals, this fall, are taking over the i wireless Center. At least that's the impression I got after checking out the venue's lineup of autumn events, as more than half of the i wireless' Center's fall schedule is booked with feathered or four-legged creatures of one form or another.

In fairness, we'll also be treated to occasional humans - and some very inspiring humans, at that. Among the most inspiring will be the participants in the iAM Unity 9/11 Benefit Tribute Concert (September 11), a fundraiser for military families boasting performances by Larry Westbrook Jr., Ryan "iRoc" Allen, RushHour & the Kids Crew, and others, with proceeds benefiting the area not-for-profit Jason's Box. If you're in a holiday frame of mind (in mid-November), you're sure to be inspired by the dazzling multimedia experience of Mannheim Steamroller Christmas (November 13) in the 31st year of its yuletide tour, with direction by Grammy Award winner Chip Davis.

On that note, those of you who find personal inspiration in musicians who've won Grammys will thrill to the chart-toppers that the i wireless has booked this fall. On October 10, the Moline venue presents a night with contemporary Christian artist Chris Tomlin, who's also the recipient of three Billboard Music Awards and an incredible 21 Dove Awards. One week later, country-music superstar Miranda Lambert will light up the arena stage in an October 17 stop on the singer/songwriter's Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars Tour, appearing with opening sets by RaeLynn, Clare Dunn, and newcomer Courtney Cole. And November 14 will bring with it an evening with rock, R&B, and county performer Darius Rucker, the lead singer for Hootie & the Blowfish who earned a Grammy for 2013's country smash Wagon Wheel.

So, sure - lots of humans at the i wireless this fall. But also - so many animals! We expect elephants, tigers, bears, and such in the venue's annual, Labor-Day-weekend engagements with "The Greatest Show on Earth," this year's being Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents: Legends (September 3 through 7). And we also expect autumnal aquatic guests, because once again, the i wireless Center's schedule is overrun with mallards - specifically the localized, capitalized Quad City Mallards, who are set to play on the ice nine times before Thanksgiving.

Yet who knew there'd also be Disney animals? Disney Live Presents: Three Classic Fairy Tales (October 16) will include, not surprisingly, Cinderella, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, and Beauty & the Beast. But apparently these classic tales will also be presented by classic mice (Mickey and Minnie), classic ducks (Donald and Daisy), and classic whatever-Goofy-is. And don't get met started on the fearsome, if apparently musical, jungle cat attacking the i wireless on October 7. That is what a Def Leppard is, right?

For more on the i wireless Center's fall events, visit iwirelessCenter.com.

 

 

 

Edward S. Curtis' Kutenai Duck Hunter, 1910 -- Photogravure courtesy of Christopher Cardozo Fine Art -- exhibit opens October 10Exhibits

Figge Art Museum

September through November

 

Five currently running Figge Art Museum exhibitions are scheduled to close this autumn. So before the inevitable snowfall - by which I mean winter's snowfall, knock wood - make plans to catch each of these terrific exhibits: Exploring the Demimonde: Sin & Temptation at the Fin-de-Siècle (closing October 18); Corn Zone (closing October 11); A Gift for the Quad Cities: The Figge Art Museum 10th Anniversary Exhibition (closing October 4); and The Model Museum and American Moderns on Paper: Masterworks from the Wadsworth Antheneum Museum of Art (both closing September 20). But cheer up, Figge fans! You know what they say in the art-museum biz: "Out with the old, in with the nudes!"

Fine, they don't really say that. And there are no nudes on the Figge's fall-exhibit docket anyway. There will, however, be dozens upon dozens of fascinating pieces on view, starting with those in Day of the Dead: Art, Culture, Spirit (September 26 through November 7), an exhibit held in tandem with the Mexican holiday celebration Dia de los Muertos, and boasting handmade folk art and interactive displays. Traveling north of the border, the Midwest is celebrated through the works of a DeWitt native in Ellen Wagener: Horizon Lines (October 3 through January 24), a collection of colorful and gorgeous pastels that create vivid evocations of flatland-based times of day and weather patterns. (Some scarier than others, as you'll see in Wagener's pastel F5 Tornado.)

Photographs by a late, Seattle-based artist will be on display in Edward S. Curtis: 100 Masterworks (October 10 through January 17), and that title isn't an exaggeration. Curtis initiated a massive, years-long project in which he photographed Native Americans throughout the United States - one that resulted in a 20-volume, 20-portfolio set of handmade books titled The North American Indian - and the Figge's exhibit will showcase 100 of these stunning photos whose images range from portraits to depictions of traditional ceremonies. Additional, frequently cheeky photographs will be highlighted in Wit & Whimsy: Photographs by Kenneth Josephson (October 17 through February 7), an exhibit celebrating, according to the Figge's Web site, "the illusory nature of photography" and "the photographer's role as the manipulator of information." (I thought that was my job!)

And more contemporary assessments of Native American life will be on view in the fall installation Wendy Red Star (October 10 through January 17). Boasting mixed-media works that explore the differences between the worlds of Native Americans past and present, Star's exhibit will be highlighted by her 2014 achievement Peelatchiwaaxpáash/Medicine Crow (Raven) & the 1880 Crow Peace. I saved that information for last because, as expected, it caused my spell-check to self-destruct.

For more on the Figge Art Museum's fall offerings, visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.

 

 

 

WindSync - November 14Music and Theatre

Quad City Arts Visiting Artists

September through November

 

In January of 2007, Los Angeles-based actor/playwright Tom Dugan served as a Quad City Arts Visiting Artist, and performed in the self-written, one-character theatre piece Robert E. Lee: Shades of Gray. In September of 2009, Dugan returned to the area as a Visiting Artist, and performed in the self-written, one-character theatre piece Simon Wiesenthal: Nazi Hunter. Now, Dugan is the season-opening guest for Quad City Arts' 2015-16 Visiting Artist series, and on September 18, he'll perform at Moline's Butterworth Center in the self-written, one-character theatre piece The Ghost of Mary Lincoln.

Stop giggling. Dugan is not, in fact, playing Mary Lincoln. Rather, he's playing Mary's and Honest Abe's grown child Robert Todd - the Lincolns' only son to survive to adulthood - and Dugan's latest one-man show promises a real-life tale that's stranger than fiction, boasting grave robbers, séances, and a fateful trip to the theatre.

Following Dugan's residency, Quad City Arts will host all manner of string players with the area return of the Portland Cello Project, whose public concert will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Davenport on October 24. Back in February, the musicians performed at Davenport's Redstone Room, and if you think that's an usual venue for a string ensemble, evidently you're not familiar with this particular string ensemble. Let's just say that listed on the group's discography are such releases as 2009's "The Justin Timberlake Covers" and "The Kanye West & Rihanna Covers," and that the group's combined repertoire of classical, jazz, pop, and hip hop received the rave review "It doesn't get more genre-crossing than this" ... from MTV.com.

Finally, the autumn lineup for Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist series wraps up with the area residency of WindSync, whose November 14 public performance will also be at Davenport's First Presbyterian Church. Described by the Houston Chronicle as "revolutionary chamber musicians," WindSync, which debuted in 2009, is composed of five young talents: Anni Hochhalter on horn, Garrett Hudson on flute, Tracy Jacobson on bassoon, Jack Marquardt on clarinet, and Emily Tsai on oboe. All renowned artists in their own rights, WindSync's collective mission, as stated on the group's Web site, is "to enrich the lives of children, families, and all members of the community through innovative, interactive chamber-music concerts and educational programming." So expect the musicians to take their jobs as entertainers and educators very seriously. I mean, come on: Check out the accompanying photo. Don't they just scream "serious"?!

For more on the guests in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist series, visit QuadCityArts.com.

 

 

 

Joe Robinson - November 20Music

The Redstone Room

September through November

 

Rum. Ash. That 1 Guy. Thieves. 4onthefloor. Is this the Redstone Room's fall lineup, or one of my college parties? Hey-oh!

Actually, it looks like the Davenport venue is going to be hosting a party for everyone this season, given the incredibly diverse array of artists scheduled to perform. Our autumnal fun starts with the Americana-folk singer/songwriter Andrew Landers (September 4), and continues with the British guitar rockers of Wishbone Ash (September 9), whose legendary musical career began in the fall of 1969. Joyous Cajun and roots stylings will be in the air with the Grammy-winning Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience (September 10), and driving, relentless rock courtesy of recent Codfish Hollow headliners 4onthefloor (September 17).

The following night brings with it Windy City - or Windy-City-adjacent - folk-rock with September 18 performances by The Giving Tree Band based in Yorkville, Illinois, and Chicago Farmer based in ... well, you know. Rock blended with sweet and supple blues arrives via chanteuse Shemekia Copeland (September 23), and for those who love their Americana with a dash of northern-California coolness, fall seems an ideal time for some Hot Buttered Rum (September 27). The Redstone Room's September schedule wraps up with country, power pop, bluegrass, rock, and a mandolin-playing frontman via The Jeff Austin Band (September 30), and the venue's October lineup begins with one of Iowa's most acclaimed and beloved alt-county and rock outfits: The Nadas (October 2).

Davenport will be a groovier and funkier place with the arrival of the groove and funk masters of 10 of Soul (October 16), and the city gets a little jazzier the Great Sounds Promotions' 20th-Anniversary Celebration (October 23), boasting noted jazz guitarist Nick Colionne and saxophonist Richard Elliot. A trio of acoustic bluegrass, folk, and roots musicians plan to steal listeners' hearts in the October 25 performance with The Ballroom Thieves, with the one-man funk band that is Mike Silverman the answer to the question "Who's That 1 Guy?" (He'll play the Redstone Room on October 29.)

An alt-folk and electronica artist teams with Grammy winners Rodney Holmes and Rob Wasserman for the Keller Williams Trio (November 5), while the chart-topping blues musician Anthony Gomes makes his Davenport return on November 6. Fewer than 24 hours later - 23, actually - numerous bands and RME friends will gather for the fall fundraiser for the Karli Rose Kell Music Scholarship: Moondance 2015 (November 7). Venue favorite Martin Sexton (November 14) returns to thrill crowds with what Rolling Stone calls his "soul-marinated voice."

And the Redstone Room's autumn concludes with November 20's engagement with Australian guitarist Joe Robinson, appearing in support of his 2015 release Gemini, which is also the artist's birth sign. It's mine, too. That's why I feel like Robinson could be my twin ... if he'd stayed in the womb 288 months longer than I did ... .

For more information on these and other Redstone Room concerts this fall, visit RiverMusicExperience.org.

 

 

 

The Tossers - September 17Music

Rock Island Brewing Company

September and October

 

As I've mentioned before, my dad, being old-school, tends to bristle whenever I use salty language in these pages, even though I continually remind him that sometimes, quite simply, it's not my fault. Looking over the major concert events set for the Rock Island Brewing Company this fall, it looks like that excuse may apply here. But don't worry, Dad: I'll warn you when it's time to skip to another article.

Let's start with September 4, which is when RIBCO will pulse with the furious Southern-rock and heavy-metal beats of Valient Thorr, as well as the Georgia-based psychobilly and cowpunk musicians of Nashville Pussy. Oh, crud. Apologies for that, Pop - that one slipped by me. Let's move on to September 11, and the venue's engagement with the artists of 7 Sins Sideshow. No crude language there! But there will be plenty of on-stage amazements by this popular touring troupe, courtesy of the guy who acts as a human pincushion, the gal who walks on broken glass and beds of nails, the human blockhead, the fire-swallower ... . Damn. Whoops. My bad. Let's move on to the end of October, shall we?

On October 29, there'll be a concert with Urge Overkill, the alternative-rock outfit from Chicago whose founders met at Northwestern University, and whose cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" was famously heard in Pulp Fiction. You love Neil Diamond, Dad! And Urge Overkill isn't the only band on RIBCO's October 29 docket, as there'll also be a set with the self-described "hobo-core" and "gypsy-punk" artists of The Goddamn Gallows. Aw, man ... .

What about Kool Keith, who performs in Rock Island on September 25? A totally profanity-free moniker! Based in the Bronx, he's an influential rap and hip-hop artist who released his solo debut in 1996, whose 1999 album Black Elvis/Lost in Space hit the top 10 of Billboard's Heatseekers chart, and whose Time? Astonishing! - a collaboration with hip-hop producer L'Orange - was released a mere six weeks ago. Among Kool Keith's best-known tracks are "Earth People," "Varoom," "Can't F--- Wit This" ... . Okay, moving right along ... .

Here we go, Pop! There's nothing objectionable about RIBCO's September 17 artists! They're Celtic musicians based in Chicago. They've been touring for 22 years. They perform on bass, drums, banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and even tin whistle. And yes, the artists' sound has been described as "Celtic punk," but their repertoire boasts boisterous jigs and energetic dance tunes, and PopMatters.com called their 2013 release The Emerald City "a vibrant album, full of warmth and emotion." They even have a family-friendly band name: The Tossers! As in, "tossing the ball around"! Glad I could end on a positive note, Dad! Feel free to skip to the next write-up!

(Note to everyone else: Ple-e-ease don't tell my dad the slang definition of "tosser.")

For more on the Rock Island Brewing Company's autumn, visit RIBCO.com.

 

 

 

Playcrafters' Harvey - opens September 11Theatre

Dramas and Comedies

September through November

 

Ah, the lighthearted fun we had during the summer-theatre season! Mary Poppins! Seussical! The Addams Family! Well, guess what. We're in fall-theatre mode now, so wipe that goofy grin off your face. It's time for adultery, divorce, mental instability, ghosts, torture, stabbings, hangings, death in the wilderness, death by strangulation, death by electric chair, and a witch getting shoved in an oven!

But fear not: The season won't be relentlessly grim ... though there will be Grimm, courtesy of Davenport Junior Theatre's fall presentation Hansel & Gretel (October 17 through 25), director Aaron Randolph III's student-acted take on the fairytale classic. Another, more haunting tale will be told when Quad City Arts Visiting Artist Tom Dugan delivers the public performance of his one-man memory play The Ghost of Mary Lincoln (September 18), while the perils of storytelling are explored by QC Theatre Workshop director Tyson Danner in The Pillowman (October 30 through November 15), Martin McDonagh's Tony-winning, pitch-black comedy-thriller. (Full and happy disclosure: I'm in the show alongside castmates James Fairchild, Cole McFarren, and Thomas Alan Taylor.)

Our area barn theatres - Playcrafters' and Richmond Hill's - will be staging comedy mysteries this autumn, the former's Cindy Ramos helming Ken Ludwig's Sherlock Holmes whodunit The Game's Afoot (November 13 through 22), and the latter's Eugenia Giebel directing Fred Carmichael's Murder on the Rerun (October 2 through 12), in which a deceased Hollywood screenwriter is responsible for solving her own murder. ('Cause Hollywood screenwriters aren't mistreated enough.) But both barns will also be housing less maniacal outings this fall ... even if director Dana Skiles' slapstick Bingo! (November 6 through 16), for Richmond Hill, finds a man unjustly accused of extramarital relations, and director James Fairchild's Harvey (September 11 through 20), for Playcrafters, concerns a man institutionalized for befriending a six-foot-three-and-a-half-inch-tall invisible rabbit.

Divorce is the main entrée in Scott Community College's The Dinner Party (November 7 through 15), but as director Kevin Babbitt's production is by Neil Simon, you can expect the subject to go down with a healthy helping of humor. The Prenzie Players open their 14th season with Jake Walker helming Timon of Athens (September 18 through 26), with Matt Moody starring in William Shakespeare's tragic, and infrequently staged, tale of misanthropic corruption. And Augustana College takes on an expressionistic classic with director Jennifer Popple's Machinal (October 16 through 27), author Sophie Treadwell's 1928 drama inspired by the real-life case of Ruth Snyder, a mild-mannered housewife and mother driven to adultery and murder.

Yet there's a ray of sunshine amidst all this fall-theatre sin: St. Ambrose University's and director Sam Jones' studio-theatre production of Jerry Finnegan's Sister, the hilarious, touching, cheerful tale of two young would-be lovers that features no executions whatsoever! It runs September 10 through 12, and ... . Wait. That's still technically summer, isn't it? That explains the cheer.

For more on the area's comedies and dramas, visit the Reader's Theatre calendar.

 

 

the Adler Theatre's Beauty & the Beast - November 3Theatre

Musicals and Dance

September through November

 

If you read the preceding article, you might've noticed that our area's autumnal comedies and dramas tend to share some downbeat themes: death, imprisonment, torture, etc. So let's shake it off with some good-old-fashioned musical and dance entertainment! Why, there's the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's tale of an attempted suicide, and an original Ballet Quad Cities piece featuring a murderer on the loose, and St. Ambrose University's saga of anti-Semitism and the re-emergence of the Ku Klux Klan, and ... . Okay. What's going on in Quad Cities theatre this fall?! Sure, the days are getting shorter and winter's looming, but come on! One production of Guys & Dolls would kill us?!

I am, of course, being facetious. After all, nobody really thinks of Frank Capra's legendary It's a Wonderful Life as a suicide-themed downer, and director Ann Nieman's take on Circa '21's A Wonderful Life (November 11 through December 27) will find the holiday heart-warmer graced with songs by Sesame Street's Joe Raposo. There may a killer among us in Ballet Quad Cities' world premiere Murder Mystery at the Ballet (October 9 through 17), but we do know that choreographer Courtney Lyon's interactive, dance-tastic whodunit is inspired by a board game that has charmed families for decades. (BQC is currently mum on which board game, but I've got a Clue ... .) As for St. Ambrose's fall musical Parade (October 9 through 11), directed by Corinne Johnson, it may be based on a 1913 trial that found a Jewish man convicted of raping and murdering a 13-year-old, but ... . No, sorry, that one is pretty downbeat - although Alfred Uhry's Tony-winning book and composer Jason Robert Browne's Tony-winning score are quite lovely.

Happily, however, the rest of our area's collective musical season is set to inspire continuous smiles ... or, in the case of the District Theatre's seventh-annual staging of cult classic The Rocky Horror Show (October 10 through 30), more likely lascivious grins. After director Tom Vaccaro helms that Halloween-themed offering, Tristan Tapscott takes the directorial and book-writing reins for Big Rock Candy Christmas (November 13 through 22), his and arranger Danny White's follow-up to their comedic bluegrass/gospel revue Big Rock Candy Mountain. Another area premiere opens Circa '21's fall season, as director Dennis Hitchcock drives audiences through the musical Route 66 (September 23 through November 7), which delivers quirky stories of the historic highway and an opposites-attract romance between a big-city journalist and an urban cowboy (photographer).

Meanwhile, at Davenport's Adler Theatre, there will be supernatural goings-on and an accidental death - but no one could possibly think "feel-bad musical" when thinking of Disney's Beauty & the Beast (November 3). And regarding the Adler's November 14 touring production Girls Night: The Musical: If being allowed to laugh uproariously at drunken karaoke singers doesn't lift your autumnal spirits, I don't know what will.

 For more information on the area's Theatre and Dance scene, visit the Reader's Theatre calendar.

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