Kurt Oberhaus isn’t a house hold name… yet. But give it time. Quad City native Kurt Oberhaus is out to make a name for himself and make the Quad Cities proud. Now living in the “City of Stars,” Oberhaus is an actor and model who is coming up through the ranks. A film lover from birth, Oberhaus was born and raised in Davenport, Iowa. As to what catpulted him into this direction, Oberhaus recalls, “Stars Wars was the inspiration for this career.” “When I was twelve, I started making action figure films and those progressed into live action films,” he said. While here in the... Read More

You ever watch a performance and wonder, “why weren’t they nominated for that?” That’s how I felt after watching Michael Keaton’s explosive and dynamic performance as Ray Kroc in The Founder.  This dude becomes Ray Kroc and within seconds you forget you are watching an actor, you are just watching a person. Keaton falls into this role with reckless abandon and takes you one hell of a ride. The Founder follows the saga of how mega-hit fast food restaurant McDonald’s came to be.  Kroc, a milk machine salesman, heads to San Bernadino, California, to check out a client... Read More

The Academy Awards will begin at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, airing on ABC, and finally all of the speculation will be over in regard to who will walk away with the coveted statues. So who will win? Here are this critic’s humble picks. And the Oscar goes to… BEST PICTURE Arrival Fences Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water Hidden Figures La La Land Lion Manchester by the Sea Moonlight WINNER: La La Land did tie Titanic’s record and has all the spot on buzz around it. It will be hard to beat this beautiful and energetic film. POSSIBLE UPSET: I wouldn’t be too surprised if Hidden Figures came... Read More

La La Oscarland By now, we all know La La Land is my favorite film of the year and one of my favorite films of all time. I think it’s a masterpiece and deserves each and every award it garners. Is my opinion biased? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. But I think we can all agree that is not an “alternative fact” that La La Land rocks. Like or not, it’s hard to call foul on something that looks and sounds this good. The Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday and La La Land is up for a whopping 14 Academy Awards. To beat the record held by Titanic, Lord of the Rings and... Read More

A theatrical event can’t happen without an important component: the audience. And Paul DeWilde has spent years in the audience cheering on local shows and local talent. A regular at nearly every theater in town, he’s become a friend to many and supporter to far more. For Mr. DeWilde, his journey began at the now defunct Harrison Hilltop Theatre in Davenport when he went see a production of Oedipus that had been adapted by Hilltop company member Steve Quartell. DeWilde said, “What I came away with was the intimacy of the room and the feeling that I was really missing something important... Read More

Oscar nominations will be announced January 24th and this day has always been (and still is) a little like Christmas morning for me. I love the hype, the excitement, the politics… I hate that I love it, but man oh man do I love show business. It’s totally cool to get stoked about this kind of thing! I’ve been so inspired by this year’s offerings and it safe to say this has been one of my favorite movie years since 2005-2006. Here are my Academy Award nomination predictions for the Picture, Director, Actor and Actress categories: Best Picture: Moonlight La La Land Manchester by the Sea Lion Hell... Read More

P.T. Barnum once said, “Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd.” Sadly, the circus can no longer draw a crowd. On Saturday night, Feld Entertainment announced that the famed Ringling Brothers-Barnum & Bailey Circus would shutter forever in May. And while this is a merely drop in the bucket of things truly affecting our nation, it still broke me a little in a very unexpected way. This company provided employment for hundreds of specialty acts, technicians, musicians, clowns,  stunt performers and designers (and more) and this was their passion. They’ve lost more than their... Read More

By Tristan Tapscott The Golden Globes are well known for being, to quote Ricky Gervais, “a bit louder, a bit trashier, a bit drunker” and it typically lives up to the hype. This year? Not so much. The tone still had that air of who-the-fuck-cares but was low key, somber and all over the place. Here are some thoughts on the evening! FA FA FALLON Opening and Host The night started off with a bang featuring one of the best cold opens I’ve seen in years. Appropriately, Fallon led a star studded spoof of La La Land which included hysterical cameos from Tin Fey, Barb and the kids from Stranger... Read More

We begin. Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse. Quad City Music Guild. Playcrafters Barn Theatre. QC Theatre Workshop. New Ground Theatre. Prenzie Players. Genesius Guild. Center for Living. Richmond Hill Players. Opera Quad Cities. Ballet Quad Cities. Bottoms Up Burlesque. Countryside Community Theatre. The After Hour. Circa ’21 Speakeasy. The Blacklist. Backroom Comedy Theatre. My Verona Productions. Comedy Sportz. Establishment Theatre. Curtainbox Theatre Company. The District Theatre. …and on and on and on… To quote one of the most brilliant musicals of all time, Hamilton, “Look... Read More