History – Ciao Bella

Hello!
Long time, no see! Though Ciao Bella has been more quiet than usual, my spring break has been all sorts of wonderful, providing ample time for day trips with my family, events with friends, and reading books aplenty. Better yet? This week off has me looking forward to ending the school year on a strong note. I get ahead of myself though – for today, I’ll be studying for my APUSH exam {practice essays galore}, wrapping up Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s The Smell of Other People’s Houses {I’m digging it so far}, and sharing yet another High Five. What’s on your Sunday agenda?

[1] My interest in theater – and in particular, stage management – has long been a part of my life, shaping my extracurricular schedule and certainly influencing my college search! It’s a passion I’ll gladly discuss with anyone and everyone if given the chance, so you can only imagine my excitement when an opportunity arose to sit backstage on the national tour of The Wizard of Oz. I was allowed to shadow the stage manager, hopping on headset, watching the monitors, and learning her technical tricks – as someone whose crew work lies only in school auditoriums, I couldn’t ask for a cooler experience. Many thanks to the friendly crew for showing me the ropes and, of course, to my amazing middle school drama teacher for setting it all up. Are you involved in any production at the moment?

[2] I’m incredibly late to the party in just setting up a Spotify account this month, but in my opinion, better late than never! In all truth, I couldn’t have timed it better; after watching Begin Again {starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo} with my sister and friend, I was happy to find the film’s soundtrack available to listen to as I draft blog posts, prepare for quizzes and tests, and reply to emails. Knightley has a gorgeous voice, and it’s the perfect complement to Adam Levine’s own. To play the favorites game, my most-played tracks include “Lost Stars,” “Like a Fool,” and “Tell Me If You Wanna Go Home,” but that may change once I add in the songs of Once :) Have you seen Begin Again? I’m on an indie kick, so if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them.

[3] History nuts and The Mother-Daughter Book Club readers alike will recognize the picture above: it’s a snapshot from the reenactment of the Battle of Lexington, performed annually on the Lexington Green by the Minute Men. It’s been several years since my family had last gone, but with nothing else planned that early in the morning, my dad, sister, and I thought the fun of it would outweigh the 3:30 wake-up call! I’ll be the first to admit that the battle itself is anticlimactic, but what I love most is that it takes what you read about in textbooks and brings it to life. Coupled with my daily playings of the Hamilton soundtrack and my watching of Selma, it’s been one history filled vacation.

[4] My other theater outing of the week was to see a performance of Little Women at my local community theater. I’ve gone there only a few times before, but I love the March sisters too much to miss seeing them on the stage. The show was met with criticism when it hit Broadway in 2005 that I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m delighted to report that the production was incredibly well-done, especially for the venue: a tiny black-box theater! Hearing Meg and Mr. Brooke sing of their engagement, Jo of her publications, Beth and Mr. Laurence in a charming duet, and Amy of her crooked nose has me tempted to revisit the book or, at the very least, watch the film with Winona Ryder another time. Have you read Little Women?

[5] Finally, I caught a showing of The Jungle Book early last week, and I enjoyed it even more than I expected! I’ll admit, I have yet to see a Disney movie I’ve haven’t liked, but I was wholeheartedly impressed with the extensive CGI work and the performance of young actor Neel Sethi. I haven’t watched the cartoon version in ages, so the live-action remake served as a welcome refresher of the story {and the beloved song!}. Furthermore, the lush graphics drew me in from the opening scene to the final credits, which is to say: my eyes never left the screen. Rumor has it a sequel may be in the works, but during the wait, I’d be happy to watch this first film again. What movies have you seen recently?

Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

Hello!

I make it no secret that I love musical theater. I’m not one to act – I feel much more at home behind the curtain than in the spotlight – but that’s not to stop me from seeing various productions, reading up on my favorite shows, and listening to soundtracks again and again. Ever since my sister and I first downloaded the Hamilton album in the fall, we’ve fallen in love with the hit musical – it wouldn’t be a night of late studying without it playing in the background. You can only imagine my excitement, then, when I came across The Hamilton Book Tag on the Cuddlebuggery blog; I went straight to writing my own edition, because who wouldn’t want to pair Hamilton songs with some good books?

A few notes before we get to the fun: These songs are listed in chronological order for your listening and organization needs. All the credit for the tag goes to Maureen {thank you!}. I did my best to explain the story behind each song, because this tag isn’t any fun if you have no idea what’s happening. Finally, if you haven’t already listened to the Hamilton soundtrack, let me urge you to do so HERE! :) Are you a Hamilton fan? What are you currently reading?

One of the first songs in Hamilton is “My Shot,” in which Hamilton moves to New York and joins in the fight for American independence. It’s fitting, then, that the song would be used to feature a go-getter, a character who goes after what they want regardless of the obstacles in their way. It was a description that instantly brought to mind Gladys Gatsby, the pint-sized food critic in Tara Dairman’s All Four Stars; despite the difficulties that arise {and there are plenty}, Gladys takes the opportunity to do what she loves. {reviews: 1 / 2}

“The Schuyler Sisters,” the song where the production’s three leading ladies are first introduced, happens to be one of my favorite tracks, not in the least because it’s led by the talented Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmine Cephas Jones. I was happy to match their number with one of my favorite books: Rachel Hawkin’s Rebel Belle. Like the Schuyler sisters, protagonist Harper Price proves to be an intelligent, strong, and admirable main character, and I only wish more people would give her story a try. {review}

Jonathan Groff {perhaps you know him from Glee or Frozen?} was the first to play King George on Broadway, and he absolutely nails the role, as any listener or viewer can gather from his first solo, “You’ll Be Back.” The song serves as a reminder to the colonists of his power and authority, though be warned: it’s sung with a healthy heaping of funny lines. Who in literature reminds me of his character? None other than Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, the nemesis to Lord Ballister Blackheart in Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona.

“Satisfied” is, hands down, my favorite piece in Hamilton – my sister and I are known to play it more than a few times in one afternoon – and it would be a delight to see it sung live. In the actual production, the number is staged so that the audience’s perspective is twisted; you return to a previous song {“Helpless”} and see it again from Angelica’s point-of-view. I can only imagine the panic attack it causes in a stage manager, but I can pair the track with Rebecca Stead’s Goodbye Stranger, a masterful middle grade fiction told in multiple voices.

King George returns with yet another hilarious solo; in “What Comes Next?,” he asks the American people what they plan to do following the Battle of Yorktown and the end of the war. As a history nut, I love to put the context behind the song, but as a bookworm, I can only wish for, as the prompt asks, more installments of The Mysterious Benedict Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart. Another book would be awesome, indeed. {review}

The finale of Act I, “Non-Stop” is used to describe Hamilton’s accomplishments to Aaron Burr; he is, in a sense, “non-stop” as he writes much of the Federalist Papers, attends the Constitutional Convention, and becomes a successful lawyer. Now, I’ll use the phrase to describe how I read Jenny Han and Siobhan Vivian’s incredible Burn for Burn trilogy, which is to say: without break. How can you stop at only one book when the cliffhanger practically begs you to check out the next one? {review}

The opening number of the second act, “What’d I Miss” marks Thomas Jefferson’s return to the United States {for those who slept in US History, he was serving as the American minister to France beforehand}. A catchy number, it highlights many of Jefferson’s contradictions in policy, demonstrating not only the talent of the actor playing Jefferson, Daveed Diggs, but also that of the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. History and creative references aside, the song is a perfect match to my reading of Harry Potter – having just started this past summer, I’m only a decade or so late. {review}

Things get even more interesting when Hamilton sings “Say No to This,” the first of many songs devoted to his affair with Maria Reynolds {interestingly enough, played by the same actress who fills the role of Peggy Schuyler}. As explained here, it’s the “first major sex scandal in the United States’ political history,” so it’s only appropriate that we’d chat our guilty pleasure reads, such as my own: Emmy Laybourne’s Monument 14 novels. They are not particularly well-written, nor are they all that taxing, but are they entertaining? You bet. {reviews: 1 / 2 / 3}

Immediately after “Say No to This” comes “The Room Where It Happens,” the number in which Burr explains and shares his take on the famed Dinner Table Compromise {another history lesson: this was a meal between Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison over the matter of the nation’s capital}. Others have expressed their wishes to be put in a high-fantasy world, but I’m a small-town, Stars-Hollow-inspired girl through and through. A day in Pumpkin Falls, the charming setting of Heather Vogel Frederick’s Absolutely Truly, sounds lovely. {review}

Brian Selznick be praised. Few authors can combine two mediums – the visual and the written – as eloquently as he, and his makeshift trilogy, beginning with the award-winning The Invention of Hugo Cabaret, proved him more than worthy on anyone’s auto-buy list. Like the song “The Reynolds Pamphlet,” which presents a situation the audience likely didn’t expect, Selznick combines two seemingly unrelated stories in a unique manner in his latest novel, The Marvels. It’s good.

At risk of spoiling anything, the reprise of Stay Alive is one of the saddest moments in the show, tying Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, over the death of a loved one. There too is a death that never fails to make me cry in the classic Little Women; I’ll have you guess which character that is {hint: I can’t watch Claire Danes without thinking about this scene}.

Finally, the last number in Hamilton is the touching song, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story,” sung by the cast and company as they craft Hamilton’s legacy. If you listen to the soundtrack all the way through, your emotions will be running high, and the finale does nothing to help that – it’s quite the powerful track. Similarly, though John Green’s writing wasn’t my cup of tea, I can’t discount the impact he had on YA literature and its readers with his bestseller, The Fault in Our Stars. {review}