Seize the Stars

Been reading Emma by Jane Austen. ( My impressions of it here )

In my Classic Doctor Who Watch-athon, I've finished 'Delta & the Bannermen'. All I can say is that I now take back what I said about 'Paradise Towers' being weird- it was perfectly normal compared to 'Delta & the Bannermen'! Poor old Seven just gets the weirdest stories. (And that's really saying something, considering this is Doctor Who...) ( Rambly Whovian musings here )

Been doing lots of interesting research lately. Just finished an amazing book A Very Dangerous Woman: Martha Wright and Women's Rights by Sherry Penney and James Livingston. It's a biography of one of the founding leaders of the women's rights movement in the 19th century, and so inspiring and eye-opening. Martha Coffin Wright (sister of Lucretia Mott) was one of the organizers of the first Woman's Rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, was present at the founding of the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia in the 1830s, and served on in it's business commitee, her home was a stop on the Underground Railroad, she attended or presided at all of the annual National Woman's Rights conventions and many regional ones from 1850 to 1861, she was part of a party of women who went to Washington to speak before the Senate in support of women's rights, she collected signatures for the National Women's Loyal League petition during the Civil War, which helped to end slavery, after the war when the Women's Rights movement split, she sided with the more radical NWSA, attending their annual conventions and becoming a president in the 1870s, but continued to advocate for reconciliation with the more moderate AWSA, who were also friends and colleauges. Over the years she wrote numerous letters and articles championing women's rights and abolition for various publications, and counted Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison,and William Henry Seward, among others, as personal friends or reforming colleauges.

I always thought I knew quite a bit about the history of the women's rights movement in America, and I probably did know a bit more than most people. But Seneca Falls, Stanton and Anthony, and Suffragettes are just the tip of the iceberg. There's so much interesting stuff, so many more brave people, so many important events, and so many untold stories that are worth discovering, and I'm really excited to go find out more now. :)

Ever have a sewing day where everything went so horribly wrong that you felt like you wanted to give up sewing forever? That was me a few days ago. I haven't touched the 1820's doll dress since then because the bodice is just not fitting, and I ripped out a side back seam I probably shouldn't have, and... well, let's not go into it! I have no idea how to fix it, but I'm trying to pluck up the courage to try again. Which I will do, because I've made up my mind that once I'm finished I'm going to take apart this old pseudo-Victorian dress I made for myself many a year ago. It doesn't fit and only looks vaguely historical, but the fabric is SO perfect for circa 1780-1800, so I'm going to see if I can remake it into:
a) a 1780's robe a l'anglaise
or b) a 1790's round gown
or c) an 1800 open robe.
I'll have to figure it out once I know how much fabric I've got to work with.

Also started reading Agnes Grey. It's just freaky how people are exactly the same no matter what time or place they're in, even down to the things they say. I really do think I've baby-sat for the same families Miss Grey has been a governess in!

The Broadway Odyssey continues; I've fallen in love with The Secret Garden in a big way. A gorgeous score, rich and atmospheric, a wonderful cast, a magical story, the whole nine yards. I hadn't actually read the novel before, so I rushed out and got it after I listened to the show, and I really love it. The show does diverge from the book in a lot of ways; even before I read the book I thought the numbers with the adults going on about their past and how they all loved Lily were unnecessary and dull, and distracted too much from the main story, and after reading the novel, and finding out that there was nothing of the sort in the source material, I think so even more. Also reading the musical's libretto and finding they wasted a whole book scene on an invented sub-plot about sending Mary to a boarding school, is a bit distracting as well. But I can put up with all that, because of all the good stuff that's there. The music really captured the feeling of magic the novel has. And the cast was wonderful; usually child stage actors are way too hammy, but Daisy Eagan was very natural as Mary; John Cameron Mitchell was great as Dickon, despite the fact that they made the character older, he still had the right sort of elfin charm to make it work; even Mandy Patinkin, (who is the last person who could ever believably play an Englishman) played the role much more low-key than I've ever seen him in anything, thankfully! In fact the whole cast found just the right tone for it, and the ones who had to have Yorkshire accents accomplished them splendidly. The whole thing was a great treat, well-done from start to finish.

I wish I could say the same for the cast recording of the 2001 London revival, though! I was intrigued by the fact that it was supposed to be a 'steamlined' version, but instead of cutting just the extraneous material, they cut some of the best songs too! The did cut the "Quartet" for the adult characters, which was the weakest number, but they also cut "Show Me The Key", which was one of the best! It was also a very important plot point, when the robin shows Mary the key to the secret garden, and it was the most ingeniously integrated piece of musical adaptation in the whole show. But in a way I'm almost glad they did, because the London cast was terrible. Mary and Dickon were the best in the Broadway cast, but the worst in London. Their Mary was one of those stagey hammy children you always find, and their Dickon was... I don't know what that was! He was very strange and even a little bit creepy, because he's really crazily excited about whatever he's singing about, and it was just strange. They really ruined "Wick", and I fear what they would have done to "Show Me the Key". And his accent was terrible! It was something akin to Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, I kid you not. You would think an English actor (I assume he's English, anyhow) could do Yorkshire at least as well as an American, but no. Happily, they did cut most of the ghosts and their rather repetitive commentary (Yes, people, it's a concept musical! There are singing ghosts!) but they added a whole chorus of singing, dancing servants and gardeners! WTF??? How can it be a Secret Garden if there are twenty servants regularly invading it to sing and dance?? At least the 7 or 8 ghosts aren't actually 'there'. And Colin's mother being there as a ghost makes sense, because it was her garden. But dancing servants! Oy. And the guy who played Ben Weatherstaff was a comic or something, I think, and screwed up "It's a Maze" by trying to make it a more comedic number. The one thing I liked in the show was how they extended "Come Spirit, Come Charm" to include more of the Hindustani chant and swirling Indian music, but that's literally the only good thing in it that they didn't screw up. That was the big problem here, the tone was all wrong. They tried to make it cute or silly or jolly, when it's supposed to be beautiful and solemn and joyous. I suppose that's a weird combination that's hard to get right. But the Broadway production did it. I think I'll have to make some room for it on my list of favorite musicals. In the top 5 even. It's that good!

Eeeeee! I just met Patricia Polacco! She was at the local library today! For those of you whose childhoods didn't include her books (and who I'm very sorry for!), she's the author and illustrater of many lovely and touching picture books, like Rechenka's Eggs, Chicken Sunday, The Keeping Quilt, Mrs. Katz and Tush and many others. I first learned about pysanky eggs in her books! I still get a tear in my eye when I read Chicken Sunday! She actually showed us the real Keeping Quilt! She couldn't read until she was 14, and now she makes her living as a writer. How amazing is that? There is so much negative stuff out there teaching children all kinds of hateful things these days, and it's so great that she makes books for children that teach them tolerance, to celebrate family in all it's forms, to understand different backgrounds and celebrate what's special instead of to divide because of differences. And she signed a couple of my books! And gave me some publishing advice! All in all, a very good day!