#Catherine Adel West

[blackinperiodfilms]

There's no such thing as a perfect so make peace with that now. Save yourself a lot of tears later.

Catherine Adel West, The Two Lives of Sara

[signal-failure]

Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat

Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat

Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat, is edited by Cassandra Newbould, with a intro by Aubrey Gordon (from Maintenance Phase!), with short body-positive stories by Nafiza Azad, Chris Baron, Sheena Boekweg, Linda Camacho, Kelly deVos, Alex Gino, Claire Kann, amanda lovelace, Hillary Monahan, Cassandra Newbould, Francina Simone, Rebecca Sky, Monique Gray Smith, Renée…

[dance-in-my-storm]

“There is a ferocity to the intimacy, an unspoken knowledge that the permanence of love is a myth… Yet we still do this time and time again. Try love. Find it. Possess it. No matter how impossible and dark the circumstance. In our very depths, there is a need for someone else and we chain this unyielding conviction to a small and helpless word like love.”

-The Two Lives of Sara, Catherine Adel West

[sporadiceagleheart]

Today's joy with Rachel Joy Scott Friday edits is for missing kids I hope soon they be found and Brought back home safe and sound Madeleine McCann, Inga Gehricke, Summer Wells, Haleigh Cummings, Morgan Nick, Ben Needham, Timmothy Pitzen, Baby Lisa Irwin, Baby Sabrina Aisenberg, Kayla Berg, Mary Boyle, Jennifer Joyce Kesse, Amy Lynn Bradley, Asha Jaquilla Degree, Brian Randall Shaffer, Brandon Swanson, Lars Joachim Mittank, Maura Murray, Kyron Richard Horman, Rebecca Coriam, Evelyn Grace Hartley, Frederick Valentich, Lauren Spierer, Marjorie West, Margaret Ellen Fox, Joshua Guimond, LeeAnna Warner, Tara Leigh Calico, Cherrie Ann Mahan, Nyleen Kay Marshall, Phoenix Coldon, Laureen Ann Rahn, Johnny Gosch, Sara Anne Wood, Rebecca Reusch, BRANDON LEE WADE, Katrice Lee, Adele Marie Wells, William Tyrrell, Rene Hasee, Jane Beaumont, Dennise Jeannette "Denny" Sullivan, Ember Skye Graham, Tricia J. Kellett, Donnis Marie "Pinky" Redman, Renee Aitken, Dulce Maria Alavez, Jonathan Allen, Victoria Allen, Mylette Josephine Anderson, Erica Nicole Baker, Ava Grace Baldwin, Amber Renee Barker, Brittney Ann Beers, Tammy Lynn Belanger, Alessia Vera Schepp, Livia Clara Schepp, Ilene Rebecca Scott, Mary Lou Sena, Natasha Marie Shanes, Kathleen Ann "Kathy" Shea, Crystal Ann Tymich, Anna[1] Christian Waters, Holly Ann Hughes, Ashley LaShay Jones, Sofia Lucerno Juarez, Amber Jean Swartz-Garcia, Brooklinn Felyxia Miller, Marjorie Christina "Christy" Luna , Lorie Lynn Lewis, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Lauren Maria Pico Jackson, Hattie Yvonne Jackson, Janice Kathryn Pockett, Alice Pereira, Sabine Morgenroth, Daniela Moreno, April Ann Cooper, Catherine Barbara "Cathy" Davidson, Mary Rachel Bryan, Hazel X. Bracamontes, Melissa Lee Brannen, Edna "Bette Jean" Masters, Shaina Ashly Kirkpatrick,

[adelleandlaura4ever]

Night Go Slow

.

The cars all stop where they are,
when you take my hand, there is no time.
Every moment that passes by with you,
I wish I could rewind.
.
Let go of your ways
and forget today
Just follow me tonight
.
Do you understand why I put all my plans on hold?
And doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows.
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.

.
It feels like we are the only two people that left in town.
Our phones are dead and the planes overhead,
don't even make a sound.
With no distractions my only reaction to you is the joy I found.
And I don't think I can let this moment go.
.
And doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.
.
Stop. Breathe out. Slow motion.
This is our pure moment.
The sun stays frozen hidden down below.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows.
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.

(Writer(s): BRIAN WEST, CATHERINE SHAW, JASON LEVINE)

❤️ ❤️ ❤️   ❤️ ❤️ ❤️  

My Love!

I want every moment with you to pass slowly, very slowly. Because every moment with you is beautiful and gives me so much pleasure. You are my longing for which I thirst every day.

I love you deeply Adelle  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

 

@adelle4ever

@adelleandlaura4ever

[the-final-sentence]

And with all my heart I finally answer, 'yes, yes I do.'

Catherine Adel West, from “Orion’s Star”

[judgingbooksbycovers]

The Two Lives of Sara: A Novel

By Catherine Adel West.

[blackchildrensbooksandauthors]

✍🏿 Debut You: A 2020 Debut Author Series: Catherine Adel West

Debut You is an interview feature on Our Stories Matter blog. Debut authors, who have released or have upcoming releases in 2020, are given five questions to answer about themselves and their book. Currently, the questions are the same for all authors. We hope you enjoy getting to know these new authors and can offer them your support.

Describe yourself in five words, then expound on one of them.

Intelligent, creative, focused, funny, and proud.

I’d say ‘focused’ is the word that best describes me. It took a lot to get my debut novel Saving Ruby King traditionally published. There’s a lot of rejection and doubt peppered throughout the journey towards publication, but if you remain steadfast and confident in your ability, there is a good chance you’ll be able to achieve your goal, no matter what it is.

Explain your writing procedure, such as how you come up with ideas, carve out time to write (or, if you can write anywhere at any time during the day), deal with writer’s block, or anything particular or peculiar.

I’m a pantser, so many of my ideas for Saving Ruby King came to me at moments when I was focused on something else. Also, I pull many of my ideas from my experiences and the people around me. I write at all times of the day (when I’m not at my job). Mainly, I write on weekends in the morning as it’s a calm time. Recently, I’ve participated in writing sprints with friends who are other women of color. We talk, encourage each other, and have a lot of fun.

If I experience writer’s block, I normally write something outside of my comfort zone. So, I’ll write some (bad) poetry or flash fiction, or I read a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while. That normally gets my creative juices flowing again.

Continue reading Debut You HERE on Our Stories Matter Blog

Family. Faith. Secrets. Everything in this world comes full circle.

Saving Ruby King: A Novel (Park Row, Young Adult, 320 Pages, June 16, 2020) 

Pre-order Saving Ruby King

Find more children’s and young adult books by Black authors here

<> Follow BCBA on Twitter | Instagram <> Subscribe to Our Newsletter <>

[reginakhoward]

Six Queens as their inspirations in their colors:

Aragon:

Beyoncé in GOLD 💛

Boleyn:

Avril Lavigne with GREEN hair 💚

SEYMOUR:

Adele in BLACK & SILVER 🖤

CLEVES:

Rihanna in RED ❤️

Howard:

Ariana Grande in PINK 💗

PARR:

Alicia Keys in BLUE 💙

[richincolor]

2021 Anthologies

YA short story and non-fiction anthologies are being published more and more and as I teacher I am here for it. With the call for more diverse texts in classrooms, anthologies provide a perfect bite sized work of literature that can be digested in one class setting. Here are but a few of the anthologies that came out in 2021.

Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon

Six critically acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning authors bring the glowing warmth and electricity of Black teen love to this interlinked novel of charming, hilarious, and heartwarming stories that shine a bright light through the dark. A summer heatwave blankets New York City in darkness. But as the city is thrown into confusion, a different kind of electricity sparks… A first meeting. Long-time friends. Bitter exes. And maybe the beginning of something new. When the lights go out, people reveal hidden truths. Love blossoms, friendship transforms, and new possibilities take flight.

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed by Saracia Fennell (editor)

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, writers from across the Latinx diaspora interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about this rich and diverse community. From immigration to sexuality, music to language, and more, these personal essays and poems are essential additions to the cultural conversation, sure to inspire hope and spark dialogue. Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed features bestselling and award-winning authors as well as new, up-and-coming voices, including: Elizabeth Acevedo Cristina Arreola Ingrid Rojas Contreras Naima Coster Natasha Diaz Kahlil Haywood Zakiya Jamal Janel Martinez Jasminne Mendez Meg Medina Mark Oshiro Julian Randall Lilliam Rivera Ibi Zoboi

Every Body Shines: Sixteen Stories About Living Fabulously Fat by Cassandra Newbould (Editor)

An intersectional, feminist YA anthology from some of today's most exciting voices across a span of genres, all celebrating body diversity and fat acceptance through short stories.

Fat girls and boys and nonbinary teens are: friends who lift each other up, heroes who rescue themselves, big bodies in space, intellects taking up space, and bodies looking and feeling beautiful. They express themselves through fashion, sports and other physical pursuits, through food, and music, and art. They are flirting and falling in love. They are loving to themselves and one another. With stories that feature fat main characters starring in a multitude of stories and genres, and written by authors who live these lives too, this is truly a unique collection that shows fat young people the representation they deserve.

With a foreword by Aubry Gordon, creator of Your Fat Friend, and with stories by:

Nafiza Azad, Chris Baron, Sheena Boekweg, Linda Camacho, Kelly deVos, Alex Gino, Claire Kann, amanda lovelace, Hillary Monahan, Cassandra Newbould, Francina Simone, Rebecca Sky, Monique Gray Smith, Renée Watson, Catherine Adel West, Jennifer Yen 

Living Beyond Borders: Stories About Growing Up Mexican in American by Margarita Longoria (Editor)

Twenty stand-alone short stories, essays, poems, and more from celebrated and award-winning authors make up this YA anthology that explores the Mexican American experience. With works by Francisco X. Stork, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, David Bowles, Rubén Degollado, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, Diana López, Xavier Garza, Trinidad Gonzales, Alex Temblador, Aida Salazar, Lupe Ruiz-Flores, Sylvia Sanchez Garza, Dominic Carrillo, Angela Cervantes, Carolyn Dee Flores, René Saldaña Jr., Laura Perez, Justine Narro, Daniel García Ordáz, and Anna Meriano.

In this mixed-media collection of short stories, personal essays, poetry, and comics, this celebrated group of authors share the borders they have crossed, the struggles they have pushed through, and the two cultures they continue to navigate as Mexican American.

Living Beyond Borders is at once an eye-opening, heart-wrenching, and hopeful love letter from the Mexican American community to today’s young readers.

[sobriquett]

Dear Trick or Treat Author

Dear Trick or Treat Author,

[WIP: 23:50 BST 19/09/21]

What a wonderful time of year! (Or is that Yuletime? Nearly there too!)

Hello! I am very easily pleased so please take this as a starting point if you need some ideas but otherwise write what makes you happy! I know horror tropes/genre are in my dislikes but if you want to write a scary trick, you do that, yes please! Just play within the canonical world (werewolves in Milton-Northern, vampires at Thornfield, ghosts at the White House) and I'll be a happy reader (but please still stay aware from my gore-related DNWs!).

My normal ramble about what I enjoy in fic isn't really relevant to a 300+ word exchange but you can find it in past letters, click the letter tag.

That said, things missing from my main signup include these:

Loves: exploration of power imbalances Likes: epistolary

My fandoms are in alphabetical order (ish), so here we go!

1.      16th Century CE RPF

Anne Boleyn Anne of Cleves Catherine of Aragon Catherine Parr Elizabeth I of England Henry VIII of England Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury Robert Dudley 1st Earl of Leicester Thomas Seymour (1508 – 1549)

I've been on a bit of a Philippa Gregory kick this summer reading the Cousins' War series out of order. I'd love more stories about these figures – with some of them (Henry VIII in particular!) it's pretty easy to lean into the trick side of things, but there's treat potential too. Add more characters if you want; I've been reading histories and historical novels on this period for many, many years so if you drop in Maria de Salinas or Stephen Fisher or Kat Ashley or Thomas Cromwell or anyone I'm up for that, but I am also a laidback reader and this is a low-stress exchange, don't tie yourself in knots over accuracy. (Although I would, and I'd definitely recommend Ruth Goodman's How to be a Tudor if you haven't read it, even if you're not normally a non-fiction reader.)

What if [any utterly disastrous thing] didn't happen, or perhaps was somehow worse? Did Elizabeth and Dudley actually have some happiness in a romance, however brief? How did Anne of Cleves feel to retire as the King's beloved sister? What was Margaret Pole thinking on the morning of her execution? Is Henry VIII haunted by the ghosts of some of those he killed: friends and lovers and family? Did anything actually happen between Elizabeth I and Thomas Seymour (There's historical room for a secret pregnancy in the country…)

2.      Downton Abbey

Mary Crawley Edith Crawley Sybil Crawley Matthew Crawley­ Tom Branson Robert Crawley Cora Crawley Violet Crawley Isobel Crawley Lavinia Swire Anna Bates Evelyn Napier Freda Dudley Ward Marigold Crawley George Crawley Ship: Tom Branson/Sybil Crawley

This is like my TV comfort blanket. I rewatched it this year and I am interested in just about every main character except, oddly, Thomas – who is the favourite fic character of most writers! Give me a missing moment, a look at the future, a glance at the past, a look from the outside – whatever. Any point in, before or after canon is cool with me, except I tend to skim a lot of S4 (ugh, that rape storyline, please don’t use that).

Do ghosts walk the halls of Downton Abbey? What is life like in Ireland for Tom and Sybil? Do any of the characters ever feel a moment of true despair? What if Matthew had died in the war? What does the future hold for these characters? How did Robert, Cora and Violet get on in the 1890s? What was Carson like with Mary/Edith/Sybil as children? Does it parallel his relationship with their children?

3.      The Good Place

Eleanor Shellstrop Chidi Anagonye Tahani Al-Jamil Jason Mendoza Michael Janet

This is another show I can watch over and over and over. I think Chidi's my favourite but it's hard to be sure. I can tell you I absolutely sobbed during the S3 finale and I was a wreck for the S4 finale. Tug my heartstrings, make me laugh, make me cry, I don't care! I've studied philosophy and despised it so I'll take or leave what you include on that score, I just love the characters. Please include any or all other characters you'd like, but I definitely ship Eleanor/Chidi over Chidi/Simone! Although I'll take angst in that direction too! I don't know, I feel like a kid in a candy store writing this letter: hyper and having trouble deciding between all the possible wonders!

Existential dread? Moments from their human lives? Moments from the good place? Please tell me more about the time knife. Does Michael return to the good place when he dies? Does he reunite with Janet and/or Tahani?

4.      Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre Edward Rochester Adele Varens Ship: Jane Eyre/Edward Rochester

This is my favourite classic novel, I reread it every couple of years, most recently in 2020 for Yuletide. My reading of it changes each time, and I increasingly believe that Rochester is more bad guy than good guy and that Jane Eyre lies as a narrator and is as prejudiced and superior as those she crititcises for the same qualities. But I still love her, and that she says she got a happy ending.

Is Rochester more of a villain? How? How does Adele find school, either the one Rochester sends her to, or the one Jane moves her to? Post-canon happiness? Post-canon unhappiness? A scene from the engagement? A missing moment between the non-wedding and Jane running away? What if the wedding wasn't interrupted? (Full disclosure: I'm writing this too.) Canon divergence for, well, anything? Is Adele separated from Sophie? How does that go, how does she manage?

5.      Memoirs of a Geisha

Nitta Sayuri Mameha Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Nitta Sayuri/Nobu Toshikazu Ship: Mameha/Matsunaga Tsuneyoshi | The Baron

6.      North and South

Margaret Hale John Thornton Hannah Thornton Bessy Higgins Ship: Margaret Hale/John Thornton

7.      Stardew Valley

Female Player Sebastian Shane Harvey Robin Elliott Leah Marlon Ship: Shane/Female Player Ship: Sebastian/Female Player Ship: Lewis/Marnie

Do Sebastian and the farmer go on any more bike rides? How did Lewis and Marnie’s relationship start? Are they ever found out? Why does Lewis want to keep it secret? Why is he such an arsehole to Marnie? Tales of the purple shorts. Tell me more about Harvey’s nerdy hobbies or fear of heights? What happened with Robin and Sebastian’s dad? The horrors of the mines, or the skull cavern? Is Leah frightened by the things that go bump in the night near her home? Is Elliott? Some angst or h/c around a wounded farmer, being found/nursed? Or how about some angst/horror in which... they’re not? Fics about the war with the Gotoro Empire?

8.      Star Trek: Voyager

Kathryn Janeway Chakotay Tuvok Kes Seven of Nine Naomi Wildman

I’ve been a J/C shipper since before I knew shipping was a thing (as a kid, I had all the two-parters, S5&6, and Resolutions on video. Pre-internet, how did I even know which episode Resolutions one? Shippy magic instinct, I guess?) So apart from that ship, or canonical relationships, I would prefer genfic please. I also don’t mind the other Voyager characters so they’re welcome to make an appearance, but these are the ones that interest me.

9.      The West Wing

CJ Cregg Josh Lyman Sam Seaborn Abbey Bartlet Charlie Young Donna Moss Jed Bartlet Leo McGarry Toby Ziegler Zoey Bartlet

Happy writing!

Sobriquett

[2021ya]

EVERY BODY SHINES

SIXTEEN STORIES ABOUT LIVING FABULOUSLY FAT

edited ​by Cassandra Newbould

(Bloomsbury, 6/8/21 5/11/21)

9781547606078

Add to Goodreads

Purchase from Bookshop

An intersectional, feminist YA anthology from some of today's most exciting voices across a span of genres, all celebrating body diversity and fat acceptance through short stories. Fat girls and boys and nonbinary teens are: friends who lift each other up, heroes who rescue themselves, big bodies in space, intellects taking up space, and bodies looking and feeling beautiful. They express themselves through fashion, sports and other physical pursuits, through food, and music, and art. They are flirting and falling in love. They are loving to themselves and one another. With stories that feature fat main characters starring in a multitude of stories and genres, and written by authors who live these lives too, this is truly a unique collection that shows fat young people the representation they deserve. With a foreword by Aubry Gordon, creator of Your Fat Friend, and with stories by: Nafiza Azad, Chris Baron, Sheena Boekweg, Linda Camacho, Kelly deVos, Alex Gino, Claire Kann, amanda lovelace, Hillary Monahan, Cassandra Newbould, Francina Simone, Rebecca Sky, Monique Gray Smith, Renée Watson, Catherine Adel West, Jennifer Yen

[moulinrougefanfanfans]

Moulin Rouge for VOGUE!

(These are the HQ Photo Versions!)

Moulin Rouge!’s Broadway cast, photographed at Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. Sittings Editors: Hamish Bowles, Alexandra Cronan. Produced by 360pm. Set Design: CJ Dockery at Mary Howard Studio; Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber; Choreographer: Sonya Tayeh

Photographed by Baz Luhrmann, Vogue, July 2019

July 2019 Vogue (Online)

BAZ LUHRMANN WAS BORN to reinvent the movie musical for a new generation—which is exactly what he did in 2001 with Moulin Rouge!, his deliriously romantic mash-up, set in 1890s Paris, of La Bohème, La Traviata, and the Orpheus myth, with a soundtrack that exploded with modern-day pop songs, lavish Technicolor sets and costumes (by his wife, Catherine Martin), and a hyperkinetic cinematic style that drew on MGM musicals, MTV videos, and Bollywood spectaculars. The motto of this blatantly artificial world, served with a knowing wink (which nevertheless swept us up in its very real, very breathless emotions), could be borrowed from William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “Enough! Or too much.”

In his own way, the brilliant theater director Alex Timbers—whose work includes Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Here Lies Love, and, most recently, Beetlejuice—was born to reinvent Moulin Rouge! for the stage, as another generation of New York audiences will discover when his electrifying, eye-popping, and blissfully over-the-top adaptation of Luhrmann’s masterpiece opens on Broadway, after a smash run in Boston, this month.

“I’ve spent my life taking classics and interpreting them in radical ways,” Luhrmann says, “so how could I not applaud someone taking a work of mine and interpreting it in a radical way? You have to interpret things for the time and place you’re in. In the end, it’s still a tragic opera, but Alex applies himself to it in such a dexterous way that there’s irony and fun and music and emotion.”

Luhrmann grew up in Herons Creek, a tiny, remote Australian town with a total of seven houses in it, where, he says, “if you didn’t have a good imagination and an ability to create worlds in your mind, you were lost.” Fortunately his family, which ran a gas station and a pig farm, also ran the local movie theater and had a black-and-white TV set (which showed exactly one channel), and Luhrmann devoured a steady diet of old movies, including musicals, with which he fell in love. His mother was a ballroom-dance instructor who started giving him lessons early, and his father insisted that Luhrmann and his siblings study painting and music. Before long he was staging little shows, performing magic tricks, making films with his father’s 8-millimeter camera, and acting in school plays.

Apparently it was the ideal upbringing to produce an artist of dazzling originality, one with a singular, idiosyncratic vision and an expansive playing field: film, theater, opera, commercials, music videos, pop songs. After the success of his first two films, Strictly Ballroom and Romeo + Juliet—both of which had healthy doses of movie-musical DNA encoded into their cinematic language—Luhrmann wanted to take on the genre itself. He and his co-writer, Craig Pearce, set their film in Belle Epoque Paris, in and around the legendary Moulin Rouge nightclub, telling a tragic love story straight out of verismo opera with the Orpheus legend—a young poet and musician travels to the underworld in search of his dead love, Eurydice, and is reunited with her only to lose her again, emerging forever changed—as its mythical underpinning.

But Luhrmann also had what he calls a “preposterous conceit” that allowed his Orpheus—a Bohemian poet named Christian, played by Ewan McGregor—to metaphorically enchant the very rocks and stones to follow him because of his voice: “When our poet opens his mouth, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ comes out of it,” he says. “Whether you like The Sound of Music or not, it’s a giant hit that’s got artistic cred—so it’s a funny, concise way of saying ‘The guy has magic.’” Preposterous or not, the conceit turned the love story between McGregor’s Christian and Nicole Kidman’s doomed Satine, a nightclub star and courtesan, into a pop fantasia, giving the music its audience had grown up with—from “Your Song” to “Lady Marmalade”—an operatic grandeur.

Luhrmann had long wanted to bring Moulin Rouge! to the stage but felt that he wasn’t the right person for the job—he worried that he was too close to the material and might be overprotective of it. Enter Alex Timbers, 40, a downtown wunderkind who has brought the cheeky, postmodern spirit of his theater company Les Freres Corbusier to Broadway and shares with Luhrmann a restlessly playful and inventive mise-en-scène. “When I saw Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, I could tell that his aesthetic and the way he told a story—very high-energy, very theatrical, ironic but also moving—had a certain kinship with mine,” Luhrmann says. “And after I met him, I knew that he would have his own interpretation but also understand the language of the film.”

The biggest challenge Timbers and his team faced was how to bring the film’s hypercinematic exuberance alive on a stage. “We had to create a visceral and kinetic excitement using an entirely theatrical vocabulary,” Timbers says. “We don’t have any of those virtuosic techniques like close-ups and Steadicam and music video–style editing, but you want the show to be able to leap over the footlights—emotionally, but also as a spectacle. So we use a lot of techniques to do that.”

Do they ever. From the moment you enter the theater, it’s clear that Timbers has realized his mandate to make the show—which he’s been working on for the past six years—“360.” It’s as if you’ve walked into the Moulin Rouge itself, courtesy of the gorgeously overwhelming set (by Derek McLane) that greets you: There are hearts within hearts, chandeliers, the stage flanked by a windmill on one side and an elephant on the other. Then out come the corset-clad boys and girls of the night (who come in all colors, shapes, and sizes) and the fashionable members of the Parisian demimonde in Catherine Zuber’s fabulous costumes. The next thing you know, “Four Bad Ass Chicks from the Moulin Rouge,” as the script identifies them—propelled onstage by Sonya Tayeh’s wildly exuberant choreography—are belting “Hey sista, go sista, soul sista, flow sista,” and we’re off to the races. “I wanted to build this exotic, intoxicating world that felt beautiful and dangerous and gritty and sexy,” Timbers says. “It felt really important for the sets and the costumes to use period elements, and for us to be ruthless about that, but to put them in a form that feels contemporary and surprising.”

The seven-time Tony-winning costume designer Zuber (The King and I, My Fair Lady) has done that and then some, tipping her hat to Catherine Martin’s designs for the film without imitating them. She’s even managed to design Belle Epoque finery that allows the dancers the freedom of movement to execute Tayeh’s propulsive choreography. Zuber is also a master of using costumes to reveal character and situation, as with the ornate gown she designed for Satine after she becomes the Duke’s courtesan and enters his glittering world. Inspired by designs from John Galliano’s 2006 couture collection, it features a bodice that looks like a cage and three rows of lacing down the back. “It’s almost like she’s a prisoner,” Zuber says.

Playing Satine this time around is Karen Olivo (West Side Story, Hamilton), who brings very different qualities to the role than Kidman, both physical (Olivo is a woman of color) and temperamental (desperate, determined, and down-to-earth, as opposed to ethereal). Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Catch Me if You Can), meanwhile, sings like a dream and brings the requisite dewy idealism to the naive Christian, but with a hint of something edgier.

The story is very much the same as the film’s: Satine is the star attraction at the Moulin Rouge, owned by the rapacious Harold Zidler (Danny Burstein), who is in financial hot water and in danger of losing the club. Christian and Satine meet and fall head over heels, but she has been promised by Zidler to the villainous Duke (Tam Mutu), who can give her the bejeweled life she’s always dreamed of, forcing her to choose between that and true love. Meanwhile, Christian and his pals Santiago and Toulouse-Lautrec (Ricky Rojas and Sahr Ngaujah) are writing a show, bankrolled by the Duke, that is meant to save the Moulin Rouge from going under. Then, of course, Satine has this persistent cough and . . . well, you know.

The big difference in terms of the storytelling is that book writer John Logan (Red) has fleshed out and deepened the characters and the relationships between them. “We looked at the major characters, asked what their backstories were, and tried to figure out how grounded they could possibly be in psychological realism and yet still be heightened in that way that musical theater demands,” Logan says. “How did Satine get to be this sparkling diamond—and what’s the price she’s paid along the way?”

But the boldest change—and in many ways the heart of the show—is in the new songs, which give Moulin Rouge! fresh emotional resonance (and whip the crowd into a frenzy). Along with the familiar Bowie, Madonna, and Elton John tunes, expect to hear from the likes of Outkast, Sia, Beyoncé, Fun, Adele, and Lorde, to name but a few (there are more than 70 songs in the show). To curate Moulin Rouge!’s dizzying playlist, Timbers, Logan, and music director/genius Justin Levine holed up in a Times Square hotel room with a digital keyboard, dredged up their musical memories, and took note of what worked. Their taste is impeccable, whether using a song for its sheer exuberance, as with a rousing version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” or to reveal a character’s inner desires, as Satine does with Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

Logan has been blown away to see how powerfully audiences have connected with the show—and the songs. “I went to a wedding recently, and when the dancing started, I heard half our score being played, which was wild,” he says. “And when you see audience members respond to the songs—‘They’re using thatsong? Oh, my God! No way!’—you can feel how excited they are. It’s an experience I’ve never had before. It’s magic.”

[adelleandlaura4ever]

Night Go Slow

.

The cars all stop where they are,
when you take my hand, there is no time.
Every moment that passes by with you,
I wish I could rewind.
.
Let go of your ways
and forget today
Just follow me tonight
.
Do you understand why I put all my plans on hold?
And doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows.
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.

.
It feels like we are the only two people that left in town.
Our phones are dead and the planes overhead,
don't even make a sound.
With no distractions my only reaction to you is the joy I found.
And I don't think I can let this moment go.
.
And doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.
.
Stop. Breathe out. Slow motion.
This is our pure moment.
The sun stays frozen hidden down below.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Doesn't the night go slow?
.
When we are here alone,
Something inside you shows.
.
Ooohooh.
.
Doesn't the night go slow?
Ooohoh. Slooooowoh. Oooooohoh.

(Writer(s): BRIAN WEST, CATHERINE SHAW, JASON LEVINE)

❤️ ❤️ ❤️   ❤️ ❤️ ❤️  

My Love!

I want every moment with you to pass slowly, very slowly. Because every moment with you is beautiful and gives me so much pleasure. You are my longing for which I thirst every day.

I love you deeply Adelle  ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

@adelle4ever

@adelleandlaura4ever

[littlemosbookrecs]

Title: Saving Ruby King

Author: Catherine Adel West

“Saving Ruby King” was a great debut novel from Catherine Adel West! The story flowed smoothly, and the writing was so beautiful it had an almost poetic nature to it; I simply couldn’t put it down!

This book paints an emotional picture of the lineage of trauma throughout Ruby’s family, and the friendships that held them together over generations. I loved how dynamic the characters were, both the good and the bad, but I also loved the personification of the church, as if it were an innocent bystander following the lives of these characters.

Overall, I loved the story and was very surprised by who murdered Ruby’s mother. While the book didn’t end how I originally thought it would, I believe it still left the reader with a message of hope and redemption. Highly recommend!

*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://amzn.to/2Vzi47B