Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at emily.ecm@gmail.com.
Fans of 90s rom-coms and contemporary adaptations of William Shakespeare’s classic works, rejoice: a musical adaptation of the film 10 Things I Hate About You is heading to Broadway! But what does this mean? What can we expect from the show? When can we line up to get tickets? Read on to find out more!
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10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 teen rom com adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew. The film was written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith. It stars Julia Stiles as Katarina “Kat” Stratford, the titular “shrew” of the Taming of the Shrew story. Heath Ledger stars opposite Stiles as Patrick Verona (the contemporary version of Shakespeare’s Petruchio).
Similar to the Shakespeare source material, Patrick is tasked with wooing the headstrong, “difficult” Kat so that Kat’s more easy-going/”desirable” sister Bianca is allowed to date. In The Taming of the Shrew, Katarina must be married before Bianca can be married. In 10 Things I Hate About You, Bianca is not allowed to go to prom unless Katarina also goes. As you might expect from a Shakespeare comedy, humor, romance, and hijinks ensue. And we can wait to relive it all on the stage with new original songs.
The 10 Things I Hate About You musical is in its early stages, but we already have some exciting details about the creative team behind the project. Lena Dunham, the Golden Globe-winning creator of HBO’s Girls is attached to co-write the book with acclaimed playwright Jessica Huang, whose works include Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters and Mother of Exiles.
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Carly Rae Jepsen, the Canadian singer/songwriter behind hits like “Call Me Maybe” and “Cut to the Feeling,” will be co-writing the score with Grammy-winning producer Ethan Gruska. Gruska has worked with artist such as Phoebe Bridgers, Ryan Beatty, Bon Iver, Remi Wolf, Conan Gray, and John Legend.
The upcoming musical will also be directed and choreographed by two-time Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon (Center Stage, An American in Paris, MJ the Musical). Two-time Tony Award winner Tom Kitt (Next to Normal, If/Then, Jagged Little Pill) is on board for music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations. Mike Bosner (Shucked) will produce.
No news on when the musical is aiming to premiere, but we are already seated.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that offers you a guide to all things cozy genre books! Get to know some outstanding cozy mysteries, cozy horror, and a whole lot more. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
A Guide to All the Cozy Genres
Cozy has certainly become a buzzword attached to genre fiction. It all started with cozy mysteries, which have been around for decades. Now we’re seeing cozy science fiction and fantasy, and even cozy horror. So what exactly does “cozy” mean?
There are some common traits of so-called cozy books. Generally, they evoke a charming atmosphere with their setting. In cozy mysteries, this is often a small town—think of a quaint village in the English countryside. Fantasy adds some magic to that quaint village; horror adds ghosts. For science fiction, coziness often manifests as a ship, space station, or colony with a tight-knit crew. Readers can expect rich descriptions of the setting and a lot of atmosphere for a fully transporting reading experience.
Another common factor in these books is the stakes of the story. Cozy mysteries are somewhat confounding because the crimes they solve are typically murders! Nevertheless, the reader is not subjected to gory details or put in a position of extreme suspense. Likewise, cozy fantasy and sci-fi novels may deal with the aftermath of a large-scale conflict, but the characters are likely to be dealing with smaller, more internal or interpersonal challenges.
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English (US) · 