Even in the world of dance, it's not surprising when a successful original inspires a sequel, and on October 17 and 18, a Halloween-themed one comes to Moline's Spotlight Theatre in the form of Ballet Quad Cities' More Twisted Tales of Poe.
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Delivering a two-night mega-event that will also be broadcast on pay-per-view, the mixed-martial-arts spectacle Caged Aggression XL: The Big Show will take place at the Davenport RiverCenter October 17 and 18, with more than two dozen supremely talented MMA greats facing off in the nightly battles.
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On October 18, Rock Island's Dan Vinar Furniture Company (and current Rock Island Haunted Roadhouse), will host the 2025 Quad Cities Archives Fair, allowing the public to experience Quad Cities history by visiting with regional cultural and historical organizations, learning about unique collections and services, listening to talks on historical topics, and discovering some of the area's hidden gems.
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On October 21, Wicked fans can expect a magical virtual evening as Illinois Libraries Present and the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries host the film's breakout sensation in Beyond the Screen – A "Wicked" Conversation with Marissa Bode, an evening with the actor who made her feature-film debut as Nessarose in director Jon M. Chu's Academy Award-winning blockbuster.
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Quick-witted improvisation, audience participation, new games featuring musical direction by Bob Derkach, and loads of laughs will be enjoyed when Davenport's Adler Theatre hosts an October 22 evening with the nationally touring comedians of Whose Live Anyway? – the hilarious stage show inspired by TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and a touring sensation boasting famed standup and improv comedians Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Joel Murray, and Jeff B. Davis.
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Any citizen of Davenport can tell you that our town was named after Colonel George Davenport. They might not know much else of the city's history, but that they are pretty sure of. Unfortunately, much of what they think they know is wrong.
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Citizen's Case Reveals Incurious Davenport Mayor and Council Gave Away $1.6MM to Spiegel Without Requesting or Reviewing Demand Letter Addressed to Themselves
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The problem? Corporate tax cuts passed by Congress in July “may offset much of the anticipated corporate tax revenue growth” from state-level reforms. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget projected last week the current fiscal year’s budget will run a $267 million deficit. The budget office recommended taking “immediate” action to plug the hole.
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The announcement last week that the Illinois AFL-CIO was withdrawing from the “agreed-bill process” at least forty years after its inception took almost everyone by surprise, but nobody was really shocked. For years, whenever the group engaged in carefully-constructed negotiations with business interests on workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance, labor leaders would grumble privately that most other states don’t have a similar process.
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Overhead, Iowa's landscape is a quilt of green patches of cornfields stitched together by highways that connect its 934 cities. It’s a picturesque Grant Wood painting of rural America. But from the ground, these fields feel very different.
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Lauded by the New York Times as a "brutal satire about mythmaking" and by the Hollywood Reporter as "something for which to be truly thankful," author Larissa FastHorse's comedy The Thanksgiving Play makes its Quad Cities debut at Moline's Black Box Theatre October 17 through November 2, the show's 2023 New York rendition marking the first time that a female Native American playwright had a play produced on Broadway.
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A special one-act version of the hilarious fairytale musical that won Great Britain's 2000 Olivier Award for Best Musical – and triumphed over such contenders as Mamma Mia! and The Lion King – the family entertainment Honk! Jr. will be staged by the young talents at Davenport Junior Theatre October 11 through 19 demonstrating why Broadway World said the show boasts “plenty for kids, parents, and grandparents to enjoy.”
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A Noël Coward masterpiece boasting period elegance, touching romance, loads of laughs, and more than a hint of the supernatural graces the stage at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre October 24 through November 2, the British classic Blithe Spirit treating audiences to one of the most popular comedies of 20th Century world theatre, as well as the show whose most recent Broadway version won co-star Angela Lansbury her fifth Tony Award.
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If Halloween is approaching, it must be time for that theatrical command: “Let's do the 'Time Warp' again!” Consequently, the Circa '21 Speakeasy will stage its 10th-anniversary presentation of the cult-musical smash The Rocky Horror Show October 24 through 31, treating audiences to live performances of classic songs in this nutty, interactive experience that has been delighting show regulars and virgins alike for more than half a century.
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A 2025 Tony Award winner hailed by the New York Times as "the perfect play for our age of disagreement," Jonathan Specter's hilarious, biting comedy Eureka Day enjoys an October 24 through November 9 run at Iowa City's Riverside Theatre, the work also lauded by The New Yorker as "so brilliantly yoked to the current American moment – its flighty politics, its deadly folly – that it makes you want to jump out of your skin."
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Praised by Funkatopia for his “amazingly fluid guitar and great piano work” and “vocal work which he has nailed down to a science,” singer and multi-instrumentalist Marshall Charloff brings his ensemble the Purple xPeRIeNCE to Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 17, the ensemble performing the signature stylings of Prince & the Revolution, and emerging as what the El Paso Times deemed the nation's “top Prince tribute act.”
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A combined celebration of two of the most revered and iconic rock bands in American history, the Redstone Room's October 17 concert with Southbound and Winterland will find their artists paying respective tribute to the Allman Brothers Band and the Grateful Dead, both ensembles Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees included among Rolling Stone's ranking of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."
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Hailed by When the Horn Blows as "the king of good vibes" and by PopMatters as a musician who "executes his ideas with precision," singer/songwriter JW Francis headlines an October 17 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, Take Effect Reviews raving that as "an artist whose version of pop is never predictable and touches on punk, surf, garage and indie-rock, JW Francis possesses a wealth of talent."
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With the touring ensemble led by Jeff Bush, a gifted trombonist who has played alongside jazz masters Benny Golson, Jon Hendricks, Ahmad Jamal, and Vanessa Rubin, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra performs a special October 17 concert at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, the group's namesake beloved for standards such as "Opus One," "This Love of Mine," "Song of India," "I'll Never Smile Again,” and “Marie.”
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Performing locally in support of their 2025 release Land's End Eternal, which The Quietus hailed as "an album of fluttering ambience and uncanny cyborg systems," the Oakland, California-based electroacoustic saxophonist, improviser, and composer Cole Pulice headlines an October 18 concert at Rock Island venue Rozz-Tox, Treblezine calling the artist's latest a work in which "dissonant fragments and jagged edges settle in your ears with a sense of decay that is simultaneously unsettling and mesmerizing."
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A sci-fi excursion that's neither as scientific as you may need nor as fictional as you may want, Tron: Ares finds the fate of humanity resting in the hands of either a global-weaponry mogul or a video-game mastermind. So, you know, we're pretty much effed any way you slice it.
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In recent years, it was starting to look as though Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was no longer capable of genuine screen rapport with anyone. Turns out he very much is. Maybe he just needed a true kindred spirit to share some with.
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Going to the cineplex or staying in and streaming this weekend? Every Thursday morning at 8:15 a.m. you can listen to Mike Schulz dish on recent movie releases & talk smack about Hollywood celebs on Planet 93.9 FM with the fabulous Dave & Darren in the Morning team of Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. The morning crew previews upcoming releases, too.
Or you can check the Reader Web site and listen to their latest conversation by the warm glow of your electronic device. Never miss a pithy comment from these three scintillating pundits again.
Thursday, October 16: Before the previews of Black Phone 2, After the Fall, Good Fortune, Truth & Treason, and Pets on a Train, discussion of The Smashing Machine, Anemone, Good Dog, Tron: Ares, Roofman, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and John Candy: I Like Me. After a week off, it's Lightning Round time again -- this time with Lightning Round sound effects.
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What do you get when you give $130-175 million to a filmmaker who, after nearly 30 years in the business, has never helmed a blockbuster, or even a movie that grossed more than $41 million domestic? If you're Warner Bros., which granted a nine-figure budget to Paul Thomas Anderson, you probably get all sorts of happy, because the writer/director's new screwball epic One Battle After Another is going through the roof in every imaginable way. Better still, it deserves to.
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Now playing at area theaters.
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An eclectic mix of practical lettering and expressive pieces that involve letters, historical recreations, and three-dimensional collages, Cheryl Jacobsen's Lettering and Assemblage: (things I love, my art so far) is on display at St. Ambrose University's Catich Gallery from October 20 through December 12, with the artist and her work showcased in a Q&A and reception on October 23.
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A dazzling, visually rich celebration of fascinating felines and the artists who love them, the Figge Art Museum exhibition Cats! can currently be viewed in the Davenport venue's third-floor gallery, and on October 23, a Scholar Talk on both the exhibit and the animal will be presented by Dr. Amy Freund and Dr. Michael Yonan, co-authors of the Journal18 article “Cats: The Soft Underbelly of the Enlightenment."
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A trio of gifted artists, and a quartet of disparate artistic mediums, will be showcased in the latest exhibition at the Quad City Arts International Airport Gallery, the gallery's display cases, through October 29, housing new furniture and sculpture by John Schwartzkopf, fabric collages by Heather Steckler and paper collage by Lauren Pesta.
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Featuring presidential portraits and an array of images showcasing the University of Dubuque's evolving campus, all reminders of the rich tradition and enduring mission that continue to shape UD today, Stewards of Our Story: A Legacy of Leadership at the University of Dubuque will be on display in the university's Bisignano Art Gallery through October 31, the exhibit and its opening reception aptly timed for the 2025 Homecoming celebration.
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On November 1, Muscatine Art Center invites families to celebrate an autumnal Mexican holiday through its Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) festivities, an afternoon of free, hands-on activities, artmaking, and bilingual performances that honor this vibrant Mexican tradition.
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