Hi friends! I’ve felt pretty distanced from the world of theater as of late, especially in terms of the Seattle theatre scene, but the 2024 – 2025 Broadway in Seattle seasons recently got announced, and I’m starting to feel excited about going to a show for the first time in ages. I thought it’d be fun to pair books with musicals that I’m hoping to see soon for today’s post.
& Juliet: Enter the Body by Joy McCullough
In the room beneath a stage’s trapdoor, Shakespeare’s dead teenage girls compare their experiences and retell the stories of their lives, their loves, and their fates in their own words. Bestselling author Joy McCullough offers a brilliant testament to how young women can support each other and reclaim their stories in the aftermath of trauma.
Links for Enter the Body: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Les Misérables: A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat
All light in Chattana is created by one man — the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars. The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness. Worst of all, Pong’s prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free.
Nok, the prison warden’s perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family’s good name. But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear. Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, and inspired by Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables.
Links for A Wish in the Dark: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Mamma Mia: The Last Love Song by Kalie Holford
After high school graduation, Mia Peters faces a summer full of painful goodbyes. Songwriting is her only solace. Everyone she knows is moving on, including Britt, her biggest supporter … and kind-of-sort-of girlfriend. Britt keeps pushing Mia to go bigger and do better than their small town, but Mia can’t imagine a life beyond Sunset Cove. Besides, she refuses to follow in the footsteps of her late mother–country music star Tori Rose–who abandoned her family to pursue her dream, leaving Mia and her two grandmothers alone. Desperate for a sign of what might lie ahead, Mia finds the opposite–a mysterious letter from the past, addressed to her in her mother’s handwriting. It turns out to be the first of many. One by one they lead Mia on a wild scavenger hunt through a Sunset Cove she never knew, buried under the memorializing that has frozen her mother in time. Each new discovery brings Mia closer to the real Tori Rose, but with the clock ticking on Britt’s departure, Mia knows she is running out of time. With the summer winding down, Mia must decide if she is ready to face the present, confront her feelings, and forge the destiny she truly wants.
Links for The Last Love Song: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Spring Awakening: The Dark We Know by Wen-yi Lee
After escaping her abusive father, eighteen-year-old Isadora Chung swore never to return to her dead-end hometown of Slater. The town has already claimed the lives of her two best friends, who died by suicide during their senior year.
But when Isa’s father dies, she can’t resist the chance to claim an inheritance that will pay her art student loans, even if that means going home one last time. Except it’s not that simple. Because according to Isa’s last living childhood friend, Mason Kane, the ones they’ve lost are still there, and their deaths were not accidents or suicides.
Something is waiting in the shadows of Slater, something that feeds on the pain and heartbreak of its children―and whatever it is, it knows Isa’s back and it won’t let her escape twice.
Links for The Dark We Know: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
The Last Five Years: Good Material by Dolly Alderton
Andy’s story wasn’t meant to turn out this way. Living out of a suitcase in his best friends’ spare room, waiting for his career as a stand-up comedian to finally take off, he struggles to process the life-ruining end of his relationship with the only woman he’s ever truly loved.
As he tries to solve the seemingly unsolvable mystery of his broken relationship, he contends with career catastrophe, social media paranoia, a rapidly dwindling friendship group and the growing suspicion that, at 35, he really should have figured this all out by now.
Andy has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend’s side of the story.
Links for Good Material: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Waitress: The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta
Syd (no pronouns, please) has always dealt with big, hard-to-talk-about things by baking. Being dumped is no different, except now Syd is baking at the Proud Muffin, a queer bakery and community space in Austin. And everyone who eats Syd’s breakup brownies . . . breaks up. Even Vin and Alec, who own the Proud Muffin. And their breakup might take the bakery down with it. Being dumped is one thing; causing ripples of queer heartbreak through the community is another. But the cute bike delivery person, Harley (he or they, check the pronoun pin, it’s probably on the messenger bag), believes Syd about the magic baking. And Harley believes Syd’s magical baking can fix things, too—one recipe at a time.
Links for The Heartbreak Bakery: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop.org
Guess I need to read The Heartbreak Bakery