The beloved Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods” – done at Augustana College this past weekend for very limited, campus-only audiences – was a cathartic, unprecedented experience for its young performers. The emotional 1987 musical, combining classic fairy tales and an original story about a baker and his wife, is full of longing, doubt, adventure, danger, hope, grief and perseverance in normal times. But of course, these aren’t normal times, and in the first partnership among Augie’s musical theater, opera and orchestral programs, the student actors found the fantastical tale... Read More

Saturday in the Arts is a weekly feature covering a trend, subject, event or personality of local interest. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for the best entertainment and arts coverage in the area, QuadCities.com! The Covid crisis has made all musicians sweat, and Davenport’s Alan Sweet – the father of the Quad-Cities’ All Sweat Productions – is pouring his sweat into a new outlet that generously serves local musicians and the wider community. Earlier this month, the friendly 39-year-old Davenport West alum and tireless performer launched the All Sweat Podcast, recorded at and... Read More

Eighteen months after staging their last full production, Quad City Music Guild will return in June, to perform a filmed version of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” with no in-person audience, to be streamed online three times. Originally scheduled for June 2020 (and postponed with the entire season due to Covid), the original Music Guild cast and crew will return to record the fully-staged version, and stream it June 11-12, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. and June 13 at 2 p.m. Ticket prices are yet to be determined; Guild already had sold over 500 tickets for last June’s show, including many season-ticket... Read More

On Friday, United Way Quad Cities announced it has awarded $275,000 in grants to local organizations to help reduce and prevent racial inequities in education, income and health. The new “United for Equity” grants will help 25 nonprofits, grassroots organizations and social entrepreneurs provide access and opportunity to people of color in the Quad Cities by focusing on three primary goals — empowering the next generation, strengthening families, and educating and equipping the community. “In these turbulent times, issues of racial equity and social justice have been magnified. And, our... Read More

To help celebrate the blockbuster exhibit “For America,” at the Figge Art Museum, the Quad City Symphony will feature American music in a Signature Series concert at the Figge’s lobby on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Up to 50 socially-distanced concertgoers will be allowed in person; the concert will be livestreamed and will be available for viewing for 30 days following the livestream. As of Thursday morning, 42 tickets were sold for the program featuring associate concertmaster and violinist Emily Nash, violist Bruno Silva, and associate principal bass Kit Polen. The evening begins with... Read More

Like many other events throughout the Quad-Cities, a 2020 special event that was rescheduled once, is being postponed again, to 2022. WVIK, Quad Cities NPR, is moving “The Power of Words” with Michele Norris to March 10, 2022. This event was originally scheduled for March 26, 2020, and was moved to March 11, 2021, when the Covid pandemic and related shutdowns made a live event with hundreds of attendees impossible. “As a radio station, we do remote engagement all the time. The opportunity to meet an on-air personality live is the primary draw for our event,” WVIK director of development... Read More

Bill Campbell attended the 91st-annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles exactly two years ago, Feb. 24, 2019. And he may be part of another Oscar nominee this spring. “It was quite an amazing experience to be part of it,” he said of the 2019 event Wednesday. “Throughout the whole day and night, I kept reminding myself, I’m here because I wrote music for a film that’s all about trying to help people. And that felt good. “It did feel a little bit odd being there and celebrating it, but we worked hard for it and that was good,” Campbell said. “It was really... Read More

It’s been a long process, but this Friday, theater students from Davenport Central High School will present a filmed version of Clue: High School Edition. The play will be shown for free on the Broadway on Demand streaming platform, at 7 p.m., Feb. 26. Clue: High School Edition is based on the 1985 Paramount mystery/comedy Clue, which in turn was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game of the same name. The tale begins at a remote mansion – here filmed at Davenport’s Renwick Mansion — where six mysterious guests assemble for a dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu.... Read More

Amy C. Novak, president of Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., will become the 14th president of St. Ambrose University, Davenport, this August. She was chosen earlier this month by the SAU Board of Trustees following a national search and will succeed Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, PhD., who will retire after 14 years as SAU president. A 49-year-old native South Dakotan, Novak has served as president of Dakota Wesleyan University since April 2013. She will become just the second female president in SAU’s 139-year-history. The success during Novak’s tenure led to DWU being profiled... Read More

A Davenport barbershop will have a permanent health station installed that will provide access to health information, resources, and education, and be the site of health screenings and in-person provider education. The health station, part of the “Medicine in the Barbershop” partnership between UnityPoint Health – Trinity and 4 Sher Cut & Style, is partially funded through a grant from the University of Iowa College of Public Health, Business Leadership Network Community Grant program. It will help advance health and wellness for African-American men while offering a health access point... Read More