The Pop Tart

It's been ages since I last wrote, I apologize. Had a nice vacation in Chicago and saw the very wonderful Wicked with Ana Gasteyer in the Elphaba role. For those of you not familiar with this Broadway musical - it's all about the Wicked Witch and how she got to be that way. It's based (loosely) on the book of the same title by Gregory Maguire. The book has far more depth and some elements in the play were altered, but I highly recommend both.

Speaking of musicals...yesterday I led a teen book group discussion here at my library. I lead several book groups, but usually the youth services librarian handles the teens. I was asked to fill in while we search for a new YS librarian. So I dutifully read the book, Neal Shusterman's The Schwa was Here and prepared to talk with the teens. The teens were all boys and ranged in age from about 12-14 years old. Boys! The actual book discussion didn't last that long, but we did have a good talk about a range of entertainment topics. Here's where I bring it back to musicals. One of the boys was giving me a blow by blow description of a movie he'd seen called Equilibrium and in the midst of his description he asked if I'd seen the movie Newsies.

Newsies? Being a musical fanatic, I've always been convinced I'm the only one who actually saw this one in the theater and loved it besides. And here's this 13-year-0ld boy asking about it. He then informs me that the guy who played the lead, Jack, is in this movie Equilibrium and oh, by the way, is also the guy who played Batman in the most recent movie. Wow! Christian Bale was in Newsies? I'd long since forgotten who played the lead (if I ever knew). So funny having this kid rave that it's his favorite musical!

Maybe I need to lead the teen book group more often.