Anne of Green Gables (2010)

Anne of Green Gables (2010) is a musical with books, music and lyrics by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman based on the novel Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. The musical made its world premiere on November 10, 2010 at Village Theatre in Issaquah, Washington and ran through January 30, 2011. Kasey Nusbickel starred as Anne Shirley, and the production also featured Suzy Hunt, Matthew John Kacergis, and Dennis Bateman.

An earlier version of the musical, then titled Green Gables, was performed at Victoria Theatre in Cincinnati in 2005, and a reading was performed as part of York's Developmental Reading Series at York Theatre Company in New York City in February 2006. In addition, the musical was previously presented as part of the Village Originals 9th Annual Festival of New Musicals.

The full two-act version of the musical is 136 minutes long. A one-act version is also available that runs 70 minutes. The musical is licensed by Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

The musical is described as follows by Theatrical Rights Worldwide:

"A new musical lovingly based on Lucy Maud Montgomery’s timeless classic with its unforgettable characters, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES brings the comical adventures of spunky red-headed orphan Anne Shirley to life, as she wins over her new family and the rest of Prince Edward Island, as well, with her spirit and imagination in this heartwarming story about love, family, and home."

Village Theatre described the musical as follows:

"Bright, Inspiring Classic
Captivating readers for over a century, Lucy Maud Montgomery's treasured, best-selling novel is transformed into this charming new musical. When the Cuthberts expect to adopt a boy, imagine their surprise when a talkative and clever young girl steps off the train in Avonlea. Witness Anne's transformation from a playful young girl to a confident young woman as she finds her way into the hearts of everyone she meets-despite a knack for getting into trouble! Set to an unforgettably beautiful score, this is an enduring story for all ages."


Image Credit:
Anne of Green Gables musical artwork from Theatrical Rights Worldwide.

References:

Anne of Green Gables. janet yates vogt & mark friedman. Retrieved from: http://vogtfriedmancomposers.com/anne_of_green_gables.

Anne of Green Gables. Theatrical Rights Worldwide. Retrieved from: https://www.theatricalrights.com/show/anne-of-green-gables/.

Anne of Green Gables. Village Theatre. Retrieved from: https://web.archive.org/web/20101201175334/http://villagetheatre.org/anne.php (archived).

Cain, Scott. (May 6, 2005). Regional Reviews: Cincinnati: Green Gables, The Musical. Talkin' Broadway. Retrieved from: https://www.talkinbroadway.com/page/regional/cincy/cincy126.html.

Gans, Andrew. (February 7, 2006). Nancy Opel Part of Free Green Gables Reading Feb. 7: A reading of the musical Green Gables, which features book, music and lyrics by Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman, will be presented Feb. 7 at the York Theatre Company. Playbill. Retrieved from: https://playbill.com/article/nancy-opel-part-of-free-green-gables-reading-feb-7-com-130724.

Hetrick, Adam. (March 3, 2010). Village Theatre to Stage Iron Curtain, Green Gables, Sleuth, Superstar and Full Monty: The new musicals Iron Curtain and Anne of Green Gables are on the 2010-2011 season bill for the Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA. Playbill. Retrieved from: https://playbill.com/article/village-theatre-to-stage-iron-curtain-green-gables-sleuth-superstar-and-full-monty-com-166443.

Seattle Spotlight: November 2010: Christmas Story Time. (October 31, 2010). TheatreMania. Retrieved from: https://www.theatermania.com/news/seattle-spotlight-november-2010_31587/.

Created February 2, 2011. Last updated January 24, 2025.
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Green Gables: Lucy Maud Montgomery's Favourite Places

Green Gables: Lucy Maud Montgomery's Favourite Places is a book by Deirdre Kessler featuring photography by Alanna Jankov. It was published by Formac Publishing Company in June 2010. The 72-page-long book explores the places L.M. Montgomery cherished on Prince Edward Island.

Here is the book's description:

The landscape of Prince Edward Island set Lucy Maud Montgomery's imagination on fire. This book explores the places where she grew up and discovers the settings of her most famous works of fiction. Green Gables, once the home of Montgomery's relatives, is now furnished and decorated based on descriptions in her most famous novel. Nearby is the author's childhood home--her grandparents' farm--and at New London, her lovingly preserved birthplace. At Park Corner, visitors can enjoy one of her favourite places--Silver Bush, the home of her Campbell cousins. This book offers beautiful contemporary photographs and historical images of the sites. Author Deirdre Kessler provides detailed background on these places, putting them in the context of rural life on Prince Edward Island a century ago.

Image credit:
Cover of Green Gables: Lucy Maud Montgomery's Favourite Places.

Purchase and read Green Gables: Lucy Maud Montgomery's Favourite Places:


Created October 10, 2010. Last updated October 18, 2024.
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Astroboy and Anne of Green Gables

Today, I read a thoughtful article called "How animé conquered the world" written by S.B. Zulueta, a lecturer-technologist who works in the Animation Department at College Central, Singapore. Published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the article discusses key points in the history of animé and mentions the 1979 Anne of Green Gables animé.

In the article, Zulueta describes how TV audiences initially viewed Japanese animation as "crude and corny." These opinions began to change in 1963, when Osamu Tezuka created an animated series featuring his popular manga character Mighty Atom (aka "Astroboy"). Astroboy was the first Japanese animated TV series. Tezuka had a limited budget, so Zulueta explains that he compensated for the lack of drawings and movement by applying a cinematic approach with "interesting layouts and camera movements."

This cinematic approach is Tezuka lasting legacy. During the robot animation fad of the 1970s, others used Tezuka's approach to create animation TV series quickly and cheaply and then sell toys based on the series.

Zulueta writes that, "Only Team Takahata and Miyazaki, later to form Ghibli Studio, tried to buck the system by doing better-quality TV series of Western classics such as "Heidi, Girl of the Alps," and "Anne of Green Gables." When all the other ’70s TV series had faded into obscurity, those Takahata-Miyazaki TV series remain watchable today because of the care that went into them."

According to Zulueta, the rest of the world began to appreciate animé with the release of Katsuhiro Otomo's “Akira” (1988), Mamoru Oshii’s “Ghost in the Shell” (1995), and Hayao Miyazaki’s stunning feature films.

Zulueta describes the two most important factors that have helped animé develop. The first is the strength of the manga industry, which provides source material for many popular animé adaptations for television and film. The second is the ability of animé "to absorb world stories and repackage them as its own. Indeed, the Anne of Green Gables animé is an example of the latter. As Zulueta concludes, "good stories know no borders."

Image Credit:
Drawings of Astroboy and Anne of Green Gables.

Reference:
Zulueta, S.B. How animé conquered the world. (September 20, 2010). Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved from: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/artsandbooks/artsandbooks/view/20100920-293216/How-anim-conquered-the-world (archived).

Created September 21, 2010. Last updated November 27, 2024.
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Christina Hendricks on Anne of Green Gables

I love finding mentions of Anne Shirley and L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables in interviews. Here’s my most recent find.

Christina Hendricks is an actress and model who stars as Joan Holloway on the television series Mad Men. The show is a period drama about a fictional advertising agency set in the 1960s. Christina Hendricks’s talent and striking beauty have made Joan Holloway a favorite on the show. In May of this year, in a poll of female readers, Hendricks was named Esquire’s sexist woman of the year.

This July, prior to the debut of the fourth season of Mad Men, Leslie Gornstein interviewed Christina Hendricks for the Los Angeles Times Magazine. It was a great interview, in which Gornstein asked Hendricks about Joan and Mad Men, her playing the accordion, her seeing Tom Waits perform and once dining with him and his wife, her three-episode role on Firefly, and her appearances in several music videos. She also spoke about finding red carpet gowns, dressing in retro costumes, and the Joan Holloway Barbie doll.

Best of all (for me, at least), Leslie Gornstein asked Christina Hendricks about how she began dying her hair red:

You’ve said you started dying your blond hair red at age 10. How exactly did you sell that choice to your folks?
They did it to me! I was obsessed with the Canadian novel Anne of Green Gables. I decided I was Anne of Green Gables. There was something that spoke to me about her, and I wanted to have her beautiful red hair. So my mother said, “Let’s just go to the drugstore and get one of those cover-the-gray rinses!” My hair was very blond at the time, but it went carrot red. And I was over the moon. I went to school the next day and felt like myself. And then I went back [to that color] over and over again. What a cool mom, right?

I think we can all agree that Christina Hendricks’s Mom was super cool for supporting her daughter’s obsession with Anne of Green Gables. And I adore Christina Hendricks’s red hair.

Reference:
Gornstein, Leslie. (2010, July) Past Perfect Christina Hendricks. Los Angeles Times Magazine. Originally retrieved from: https://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/07/christina-hendricks.html (presently, dead link). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20101227122133/https://www.latimesmagazine.com/2010/07/christina-hendricks.html

Image credits:
Left: Photograph of Christina Hendricks by Joshua Jordan with styling by Hayley Atkin from "Past Perfect Christina Hendricks", Los Angeles Times Magazine, published July 2010.
Right: Screen capture of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel © Sullivan Entertainment.

Created July 6, 2010. Last updated September 4, 2023.
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Elizabeth Vargas on Anne of Green Gables

I love finding fans of Anne of Green Gables. My most recent discovery is that Elizabeth Vargas, the American television journalist and anchor and correspondent for ABC News, is a fan of Anne.

In an interview with SheKnows, Joel Amos asked Elizabeth Vargas, "What were some of those books that were so wonderful for you that when they ended you cried?"

Elizabeth Vargas mentions several books, including the Winds of War, War and Remembrance, and Charlotte’s Web, that deeply moved her. She also mentioned Anne saying, "I loved the Anne of Green Gables series. That was just as a girl, I loved those books. It’s a trilogy. When I read the last one, I was devastated that were no more coming up."

I really hope Elizabeth Vargas finds out that there are eight Anne of Green Gables novels and has a chance to enjoy them all.

Reference:
Amos, Joel D. (July 16, 2009). Elizabeth Vargas Gets Inside JK Rowling’s World. SheKnows. Retrieved from: https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/809857/elizabeth-vargas-gets-inside-jk-rowling-s-world/

Image credits:
Left: Photograph of Elizabeth Vargas.
Right: Screen capture of Megan Follows as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables © Sullivan Entertainment.

Created July 19, 2009. Last updated December 17, 2024.
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World Masterpiece Theater Exhibition

The Suginami Animation Museum in Tokyo, Japan is holding an exhibition called "World Masterpiece Theater," which spotlights beloved anime from the long-running television series, including Anne of Green Gables (Akage no An). The exhibition opened on May 26, 2009 and will continue through August 23, 2009.

The World Masterpiece Theater is a long-running Japanese television anime series based on classic children's stories. The series included Anne of Green Gables, A Dog of Flanders, Princess Sara (based on A Little Princess), 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, Rascal the Raccoon, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Swiss Family Robinson. The most recent World Masterpiece Theater anime series titled Konnichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables aka Hello Anne: Before Green Gables is currently airing. It is based on the Anne of Green Gables prequel novel, Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson.

The exhibition includes a chronology of the World Masterpiece Theater, informative displays on 26 anime series, and rare production items, including animation cel drawings and scripts. The museum will host special workshops and events about World Masterpiece Theater. In addition, the exhibition will screen episodes from Anne of Green Gables, A Dog of Flanders, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, Rascal the Raccoon, Perrine's Story, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Romeo's Blue Skies, as well as the first episode of Hello Anne: Before Green Gables in the anime theater on weekends.

The Suginami Animation Museum is open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day (closed on Mondays). The museum is located at 3F Suginami Kaikan, 3-29-5 Kamiogi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo 167-0043.

Image credit:
Poster advertising the World Masterpiece Theater Exhibition at the Suginami Animation Museum.

Websites and References:
Suginami Animation Museum
"World Masterpiece Theater" Exhibition at Tokyo Art Beat

Created June 1, 2009. Last updated October 3, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

100 Years of Anne with an 'e': The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables

100 Years of Anne with an 'e': The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables edited by Holly Blackford is a scholarly book that was published by The University of Calgary Press in April 2009. This collection of essays examines the impact of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables and the novel's themes and historical context. The volume includes an introduction by Holly Blackford and contributions by Joy Alexander, Hilary Emmett, Irene Gammel, Monika Hidler, Melissa Mullins, Eleanor Hersey Nickel, Sharyn Pearce, E. Holly Pike, Cornelia Rémi, Laura M. Robinson, Christiana R. Salah, and Theodore Sheckels.

Here is the description of the volume from The University of Calgary Press:

The centennial study of Anne of Green Gables, bringing together international, cross-disciplinary scholars to examine the lasting legacy and cultural impacts of the most famous girl from P.E.I.

“I cast ‘moral’ and ‘Sunday School’ ideals to the winds and made my ‘Anne’ a real human girl.” – L. M. Montgomery

Anne fans everywhere celebrated the 100th birthday of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables in 2008. Though Anne has always been recognized as a Canadian classic, her story is loved the world over.

In 100 Years of Anne with an “e”, Holly Blackford has brought together an international community of scholars who situate L. M. Montgomery’s novel in its original historical and literary context, discuss its timeless themes, and explore its aesthetic and cultural legacy across time and place.

Blackford’s collection certainly proves Anne’s international appeal, gathering contributors from Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United States. Their essays explore diverse themes such as L.M. Montgomery’s career and writing practices, her influence on Canadian fiction, shifting views and definitions of childhood, domesticity, identity and place, and Anne on film.

This new look at the beloved red-headed orphan will appeal to any reader who just can’t get enough of Anne.

Reviews

"An invaluable aid to exploring some of the most important contextual and literary challenges and contributions of Montgomery’s novels."
—Jane Mattison, British Journal of Canadian Studies

"A useful contribution to the ever more crowded field of Montgomery Studies."
—Margaret Mackey, Children’s Literature Association Quarterly

The book includes the following contents:

Acknowledgements
Introduction, Anne with an "e": The Enduring Value of Anne of Green Gables by Holly Blackford

I. Writing and Placing Anne
1. Wildwood Roses and Sunshine Girls: The Making of Anne of Green Gables as a Popular Romance by Irene Gammel
2. L.M. Montgomery and Literary Professionalism by E. Holly Pike
3. Anne with two "G"s: Green Gables and Geographical Identity by Joy Alexander

II. Romancing Anne: Language and Silence
4. Negotiating the Well-Worn Coin: The Shifting Use of Language in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables by Melissa Mullins
5. "Mute Misery": Speaking the Unspeakable in L.M. Montgomery's Anne Books by Hilary Emmett
6. "The World Hasn't Changed Very Much": Romantic Love in Film and Television Versions of Anne of Green Gables by Eleanor Hersey Nickel

III. Quoting Anne: Intertextuality at Home and Abroad
7. Anne and Her Ancestors: Self-Reflexivity from Yonge to Alcott to Montgomery by Laura M. Robinson
8. Anne of Green Gables as Intertext in Post-1960 Canadian Women's Fiction by Theodore Sheckels
9. Interactions with Poetry: Metapoetic Games with Anne in Astrid Lindgren's Madicken by Cornelia Rémi

IV. Maturing Anne: Gender and Empire
10. A Ministry of Plum Puffs: Cooking as a Path to Spiritual Maturity in L.M. Montgomery's Anne Books by Christiana R. Salah
11. The Ethos of Nurture: Revisiting Domesticity in L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables by Monika Hilder
12. Constructing a "New Girl": Gender and National Identity in Anne of Green Gables and Seven little Australians by Sharyn Pearce

Chronology of Important Events in the Life and Career of Anne's creator: Lucy Maud Montgomery

About the Contributors
Index

ISBN-13: 978-1552382523


Image credit:
Book cover of 100 Years of Anne with an 'e': The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables from The University of Calgary Press.

Purchase and read 100 Years of Anne with an 'e': The Centennial Study of Anne of Green Gables:


Created May 13, 2009. Last updated February 21, 2024.
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Looking for Anne (2009)

Looking for Anne (2009) is a film that tells an original story that was inspired by L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. The contemporary tale follows the journey of Anri, a seventeen-year-old Japanese woman, who visits Prince Edward Island for three weeks. Anri arrives in Canada on a personal quest to search for her recently deceased grandmother's first love. The man was a Canadian soldier that her grandmother met at the end of World War II, and he gave her a copy of Anne of Green Gables. Beyond this, all Anri knows is that the man lived near a lighthouse.

The press kit for the film describes it as follows:

"Looking for Anne" presents an entirely original story inspired by the book "Anne of Green Gables" of the Canadian writer, Lucy Maud Montgomery. It tells how this single book, and the friendships that build around it, can change the life of people beyond time and space...

Looking for Anne starred Honoka Ishibashi as Anri and was directed by Takako Miyahira. The film's cast also included Daniel Pilon, Rosanna Zanbon, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Johnny Sa, Mahiru Konno, Ai Takabe and Tarek Ghader. The film is 105 minutes in length, and it was produced by Zuno Films and was distributed by Filmoption International Inc.

Director Takako Miyahira first read Anne of Green Gables as an adult. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Miyahira states, "The first time I read the book, I thought, Why did I miss this precious book? I should have read it earlier!" She felt compelled to make a film about the power of the Anne of Green Gables. Miyahira goes on to say, "Now in the world, people are confused with so many values about happiness or aiming for success. Anne of Green Gables teaches how to find happiness,"

In 2009, Looking for Anne received awards for Best Film and Best Director at the Singapore Asian First Film Festival. It had a wide theatrical run in Japan.


References:
CBC News. (2009, December 7). Anne film wins at Asian festival. Retrieved from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/anne-film-wins-at-asian-festival-1.817665

Dixon, Guy. (2010, December 1). Anne of Green Gables' eternal life in Japan. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/anne-of-green-gables-eternal-life-in-japan/article1316455/

Looking for Anne Press Kit (2009). Retrieved from: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5bb117fe8dfc8ced93a929ee/t/5c9106a8eb39312d6e39b65d/1553008311339/Looking+for+Anne+-+Press+Kit+ENG.pdf

Image credit:
Official film poster for Looking for Anne © Filmoption International Inc.

Official Websites:
Looking for Anne (Filmoption International Inc.)
Looking for Anne Trailer

Created April 19, 2009. Last updated April 26, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com