#( connection. / && gertie johnson )

[tckenbythesky]

                                             MOODBOARD MEME | accepting!                    ( send   👪  for  a  moodboard  of  my  muses  family  dynamic )                                                 @benreillyscarletspider​ asked

First row:  Stanley (father). Ida (mother). Gertie (honorary/adopted grandmother).

Lou and Stanley have no relationship currently. She doesn’t want anything to do with him and he is the bulk of the reason she left Greenville. Ida died when Lou was fifteen. They had a fairly great relationship until Lou hit her teens. Lou has very, very complicated feelings about her mother to this day. Someday she’ll reconcile everything. Today is not that day. Gertie was a friend of Lou’s maternal grandmother and was a stable party of her life growing up until Gertie moved north. When Lou left Greenville and got a bit of wandering out of her system, she showed up on Gertie’s doorstep looking for help and of course the older woman obliged. Lou is as precious to her as her own children would have been, had she been able to have any.

Second row:  Daniel (paternal uncle). Leif (maternal uncle). Leona Conlon (almost a second mom. almost).

Lou has met Daniel only a couple times and she doesn’t think much of him beyond him being the only member of her father’s family to have wanted to meet her. He’s an eternal bachelor and a lush, and told Lou far too much about the Wolfe family and how his parents didn’t like many of Stanley’s life choices. Leif is a solid piece of shit. He took his distaste for Stanley out on Lou, particularly when she was in juvi. He partially blames her for Ida’s passing and he makes that known. Leona has tried to be a rock for Lou since the day they met, pretty much. She always believed Lou and her son Shaun would wind up together, married, with babies, and living a happy life on their own, until Shaun ‘died’. When Lou fled Greenville, she was crushed, but understood, and still emails her from time to time, just to check in. Lou doesn’t really keep in touch. It’s too hard for her.

Third row:  Olivia Ida aka “Ollie” (daughter). Theodore Maxwell aka “Teddy” (son). Bowie (honorary kid).

Ollie takes after her mother in many ways, which causes the pair to butt heads quite frequently. While she has her gripes, she has never felt unloved. Lou wasn’t expecting Teddy, at all, when he arrived in her life, and while the circumstances weren’t the best, she welcomed him just the same, and he’s her baby. His personality reminds her a lot of her mother’s. Lou found Bowie in the alley behind her shop, abandoned, alone, and crying. She took him in and cared for him, and he eventually became the shop cat. He kicks around there during the day with her and then goes home with her at night. She loves the little fuzzhead and he’s helped make her feel less lonely.

[javajunkieao3]

Daisy/Sousa Fic: The New Normal

Daisy and Daniel inadvertently get left behind during a time jump.  While waiting for the team to return, they settle into a friendship and then something more.  ONESHOT

 The tricky part about unpredictable time jumps is that it always seemed like someone was getting left behind.  First, it was Enoch.  Although, being a Chronicom had its benefits, and when they happened upon him some thirty years later, he was both unchanged and unflummoxed.  Then, it was Deke and Mack.  After the Team got them back, they enacted new rules.  Better safeguards.  A more precise way of monitoring the jumps.  They seemed to have it all under control – well, as controlled as an uncontrollable entity can be - until the Zypher catapulted back to 1960s New York City, and then forward to the 2000s, except without Daisy and Daniel.

           “What do we do now?” Daniel said, still breathing hard from their unsuccessful sprint back toward the Zephyr.

           Daisy was in no better condition, leaning against a tree with her hand bracing a cramp in her side, and looked back over at him with confusion.  “What do you mean?  You’re back in your time.  Well, a bit later, but close enough.”

           “I’m also supposed to be dead.”

           “Fair point,” she said.  “I guess we just wait.”

           “Wait,” Daniel repeated.  He didn’t sound convinced, and she couldn’t blame him.  They had really only gotten Deke and Mack back because of luck, and considering everything that had happened, their luck seemed to be running out.

           “They’ll come back for us,” Daisy said with more conviction than she felt.  

           “If you say so.”

           One Month Later

            After a few weeks, it became clear that any sort of quick fix was not going to happen and if Daisy and Daniel were going to survive, they needed to start earning some money.  You also needed identification papers.  Daisy begroaned the era, telling Daniel that if she had access to a modern computer she could whip them up new identities within the hour.  But, modern computers were unsurpsingly not available in the 1960s and Daniel worked up the nerve to call up an old friend.  He used a payphone, not wanting the number to be tracked to any place that he frequented.  He didn’t know if she would still have the same number and was relieved when he heard her voice.

           “Hello?”

           “Hi Peggy.”

-----

           Daisy went with him to Peggy’s house, asking him on the cab ride over how he convinced the woman to see him when he was supposed to be dead.  

           “I told her the truth,” Daniel said.

           “And she believed it?”

           Daniel shrugged and said, “I guess we’re about to find out.  If we’re greeted with a gun, I’d say the answer is no.”

           “Well, that’s comforting.”

           Daisy crossed her legs, her yellow shift dress shifting higher up on her thigh.  She smoothed the skirt and reached down to flick a bit of dried leaf off her cream boot. “At least if I die, I got to wear these boots.”

            “You’re not going to die.  Peggy and I always understood each other.  She’ll believe me.”

           “Whatever you say.  But, for the record, I’m not above quaking the Director of SHIELD if I need to.”

           Daniel smirked.  “Understood.”

           The cab pulled to a stop in front of a house and Daniel paid the driver before climbing out of the car.  By force of habit, he went to open Daisy’s door but she was already out, striding past him toward the house.  He took a hold of her arm and said, “I think I should be the first one up there.”

           Remembering that Peggy Carter had no idea who she was, Daisy nodded and followed him up the steps to the house.  He knocked on the door and after a few minutes Peggy opened it, her eyes meticulously scanning his face.  She glanced behind him and said, “I see you brought someone along.”

           Daisy offered Peggy a small wave and said, “We’re sort of a package deal.”

           “This is Daisy Johnson.  She’s the woman I told you about on the phone.”

           Peggy nodded.  “Alright then, why don’t you come on in.”

           Daniel shuffled into the house behind Peggy, feeling just about every sort of uncomfortable as he began, “Look, I know you probably have questions.  Hell, I would have a million if I were in your situation.  Whatever your questions might be, I’ll do my best to answer them.”

           “I don’t have any questions,” Peggy said simply.

           “Really?”  Daisy said. “You have no questions for us.”

           She thought if anyone would have questions for supposed time travelers, it would be the director of an international spy network tasked with guarding the unexplained.

           “I have no questions for you,” Peggy repeated. “Believe it or not, time travel isn’t exactly a foreign concept for me.”

           Daniel looked at her with confusion and Peggy said, “That’s a story for another time.  Tell me, what do you need?”

           “We need new identities.  Or, at least I do.  Daniel Sousa is supposed to be dead.  I know Howard Stark used to have connections.”

           “Howard claims to have gone the straight and narrow now,” Peggy began, smiling slightly.  “But, I know better.  I’ll talk to him.”

           “Thank you, Peggy.  I really appreciate it.”

           “It’s no problem.”  Peggy didn’t say anything for a moment, her eyes softening, and she said, “It’s good to see you, Daniel.  When I heard what had happened before, well…it is very good to see you.”

           Daniel nodded.  “It’s good to see you, too, Peggy.”

           She cleared her throat and said, “Anyway, would you two care for a cup of tea?  Or how about something stronger?”

           “We probably shouldn’t stay long,” Daniel said. “I figure it’s best if I’m not seen too much around people at SHIELD.”

           “I understand.  Where can I reach you when the papers are ready?”

           “We’re staying at a motel over on 18thstreet.  Do you have paper?  I can write down the phone number.”  She quickly procured a spiral notebook from the kitchen and he jotted down the address and phone number.  “We’re staying there under Daisy and Daniel Johnson.”  

           Peggy nodded.  “I’ll call you when they are ready.”

           On their way out, Daniel’s eye caught on a photograph.  It was taken in front of a courthouse, Peggy dressed in white next to a tall blonde man. Daniel recognized him immediately, and when Daisy stepped next to him and looked at the photo, she said, “Hey, isn’t that Steve Rogers?”

           In a low voice, Daniel said, “Steve Rogers died in 1946.”

           Quickly realizing that Daniel didn’t know that Steve Rogers had, in fact, survived his trip into the Arctic, Daisy hurriedly explained what happened, starting to have an idea of how Peggy Carter was familiar with time travel.

           “He actually hasn’t been seen for a while. People thought he just retired or something.”  

           As the truth dawned on Daniel, he looked back at Peggy and said, “You’re familiar with time travel, huh?”

           Peggy only smiled in response.

           Three Months Later

           After they got their identification papers, wanting to stay under the radar, Daisy got a job as a waitress and Daniel worked at a local grocery store.  He stopped at the restaurant every day after work, having a cup of coffee, and sometimes a slice of pie, and then walking Daisy home after her shift.  She reminded him that she had superpowers and didn’t need a chaperone, but in truth she enjoyed the company.  Some nights they walked straight home, but on others they meandered down the city blocks, talking aimlessly about their days.  In the beginning, conversation would invariably turn to the Team returning, but after a while they both accepted the low likelihood of that happening and they filled the time instead with talks of her childhood and his return after the war.  She filled him in on the gossip at the diner, doing voices for all the different patrons.  Daniel’s favorite was an old woman name Gertie who snuck sugar cubes into her purse.  

           Three months turned into six, and somewhere amongst all those evening walks and stories of Gertie stealing sugar cubes, Daisy realized they had become friends, and then sometime later, as he pressed his mouth against hers beneath a flickering street lamp, something more.  That night, Daniel traded in the couch for his own side of the bed, although they woke up entangled in the middle, Daniel amusedly listening to her soft snores before she stirred and looked up at him with a drowsy grin.  

           Daniel kissed her and she said, “Well, good morning to you.”

           He chuckled, his chest rumbling beneath her ear. “Good morning, Daisy.”

           She wrapped her arm around around him, feeling entirely content, and said, “Is it bad to feel this way?”

           “To feel what?”

           “Happy.  I think about it sometimes – the team went off to face the Chronicoms, and we’re just here.”

           “There’s nothing more we could have done.  Going to SHIELD wasn’t an option, you know that. At a certain point, we have to get on with our lives.”

           He had a point, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty.  They had been her family for so long, and even though it hadn’t been her choice, she left them when they needed her the most.  When she told Daniel that, he said, “Your family would want you to be happy.”

           Daisy considered this for a moment and then sighed, rested her chin on his chest and looking up at him.  “You know, Daniel, you make a lot of sense sometimes.”

           “Making sense is one of my most valued attributes.”

           “Do you want to get some breakfast?”

           He nodded, gently pushing her hair away from her face.  “Sure, we can get some breakfast.”

           One Year Later

           On a dreary Saturday in December, Daisy announced that she was finished with living out of a motel.  (Both had considered getting their own apartments at various times previously, but always ended up backing out at the last moment.) When Daniel reminded her that it was the 1960s and it would be near impossible to rent an apartment together without being married, Daisy saw a simple solution, and said, “Then we should get married.”

           “Just like that?” Daniel said with a bemused smile from his perch on the bed.

           “Yeah, just like that.”

           “Daisy, I appreciate the offer, but I don’t really think we should get married just so we can rent an apartment.”

           “Why does the reason matter?”

           “When people ask us about our engagement, do you really want to say that it was for better living conditions?”

           “People have gotten married for wayless.”

           “I do agree it’s pretty cramped here,” Daniel said, looking around the room.  “But, that’s not why we should get married.”

           Daisy was getting frustrated with Daniel’s rebuff of what she considered a perfectly acceptable proposal, and said, “Fine, then we won’t get married.  Are you happy?”

           She walked past him and he grabbed her arm, saying, “Hey, you didn’t let me finish.  I said that’snot why we should get married.  But, I think there are a lot of other pretty convincing reasons.”

           She smiled softly, letting him pull her between his legs, and said, “You do?”

           “I love you, Daisy.  And I’m pretty sure you love me, too.”

           “Good instincts.”

           “That’s why we should get married,” Daniel said. “So, what do you say?”

           Daisy leaned forward, framing his face with her hands, and just before her mouth met his, she said, “Technically I asked you first –“ he grinned, “- but yes.”

-----

           Sometime after the wedding and a spacious two-flat in Brooklyn, Daisy and Daniel had unexpected visitors.  Daisy was finishing up dinner when there was a knock on the door.  She hollered for Daniel to get the door as she checked on dinner.  Cooking was a relatively new pastime for Daisy, but she had gotten relatively good at it or Daniel was a good liar.  

           “Daisy, I think you should come over here,” Daniel said.

           Something was strange about his voice, and when she went into the living room she knew why.  Standing beside their new pastel curtains was Simmons and May.  

           “Oh my God, you’re here.”

           Before she could say anything more, she was hugging all of them, surprise and confusion washing over her.  By that point, she had given up all hope of seeing them again, and it seemed almost like a dream to have them in her living room. Daniel stood off to the side, watching them somewhat warily.

           “I can’t believe you’re really here,” Daisy said. “It’s so good to see all of you.”

           “It’s good to see you, too,” Simmons said.  “You look happy.”

           “I am,” Daisy said.  She noted the absence of several people, and carefully broached the subject before Simmons assured her, “They’re on the Zypher.  They figured you’d be coming home with us, but…something tells me you’re not.”

           Daisy looked over at Daniel and shook her head. “I’m home already.”

           Simmons smiled sadly.  “I can see that.  I’m so happy for you, Daisy.”

           “Why don’t you tell the others to come here?” Daisy said.  “I’m cooking a chicken that there’s a 50/50 chance I haven’t completely dried out.”

           “I’d say it’s more 60/40,” Daniel said.  “You’ve come a long way with chicken.”

           “We’re only here for a limited amount of time,” May said.  “We’re set to jump in another forty minutes.”

           “Forty minutes,” Daisy repeated.  “That fast?”

           “I’m really sorry, Daisy,” Simmons said.

           “It’s okay.  I’m just glad I was able to see you.  Please tell everyone else – I really miss them.”

           “I will,” Simmons promised.

           Daisy gave them each another hug, and when May pulled away, she kept her hand on Daisy’s bare shoulder and said, “You really are happy.”  Daisy nodded. “I’m glad.”

           After a final goodbye, the pair left and Daniel walked over to Daisy, sliding his arm around his wife’s shoulders.  

           “Are you okay?”

           She leaned her head against his shoulder.  “Yeah, I actually am.”

[rockislandadultreads]

Domestic Fiction: a reading list

Neighbors by Danielle Steel

Meredith White was one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces. But a personal tragedy cut her acting career short and alienated her from her family. For the last fifteen years, Meredith has been living alone in San Francisco with two trusted caretakers. Then, on a muggy late summer day, a massive earthquake strikes Northern California, plunging the Bay Area into chaos. Without a moment’s hesitation, Meredith invites her stunned and shaken neighbors into her mostly undamaged home as the recovery begins. These people did not even realize that movie star Meredith White was living on their street. Now, they are sharing her mansion, as well as their most closely kept secrets. Without the walls and privacy of their own homes, one by one, new relationships are forged. For every neighbor there is a story, from the doctor whose wife and children fear him, to the beautiful young woman dating a dishonorable man, to the aspiring writer caring for a famous blind musician. In the heart of the crisis, Meredith finds herself venturing back into the world. And thanks to the suspicions and the dogged detective work of a disaster relief volunteer, a former military officer named Charles, a shocking truth about her own world is exposed. Suddenly Meredith sees her isolation, her estranged family, and even her acting career in a whole new light. Filled with powerful human dramas, Neighbors is a penetrating look at how our world can be upended in a moment. In a novel of unforgettable characters and stunning twists, acts of love and courage become the most powerful forces of all.

The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

A promise could betray you. It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to—and was forced to leave behind—when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past. Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a traumatic incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives. Powerful and revealing, The Kindest Lie captures the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and offers both an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.

A Lie Someone Told You about Yourself by Peter Ho Davies

A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself traces the complex consequences of one of the most personal yet public, intimate yet political experiences a family can have: to have a child, and conversely, the decision not to have a child. A first pregnancy is interrupted by test results at once catastrophic and uncertain. A second pregnancy ends in a fraught birth, a beloved child, the purgatory of further tests—and questions that reverberate down the years. When does sorrow turn to shame? When does love become labor? When does chance become choice? When does a diagnosis become destiny? And when does fact become fiction? This spare, graceful narrative chronicles the flux of parenthood, marriage, and the day-to-day practice of loving someone. As challenging as it is vulnerable, as furious as it is tender, as touching as it is darkly comic, Peter Ho Davies's new novel is an unprecedented depiction of fatherhood.

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

Welcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world. Arlo Wilde, a gruff has-been rock star who’s got nothing to show for his fame but track marks, is always two steps behind the other dads. His wife, beautiful ex-pageant queen Gertie, feels socially ostracized and adrift. Spunky preteen Julie curses like a sailor and her kid brother Larry is called “Robot Boy” by the kids on the block. Their next-door neighbor and Maple Street’s Queen Bee, Rhea Schroeder—a lonely community college professor repressing her own dark past—welcomes Gertie and family into the fold. Then, during one spritzer-fueled summer evening, the new best friends share too much, too soon. As tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes that spins out of control. Suddenly, it is one mom’s word against the other’s in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.

[shesboundtolose]

Lou Wolfe’s Pertinent People Cheat Sheet

It’s sort of dawned on me that this might be a good way to go as far as quickly explaining connections here and across my other blogs ( NOTE: these are just my muses/NPCs. Lou has many connections to other people’s muses, who will not be included here. )

BLOOD RELATIONS:

STANLEY WOLFE - Father ( largely an awful force in her life )

IDA (SNYDER) WOLFE - Mother ( deceased in almost every verse )

DANIEL WOLFE - Uncle ( Lou has never met him in almost every verse )

LEIF SNYDER - Uncle ( worked at the juvenile detention center Lou was sent to; helped make life rough for her as a way to get back at her father )

OLIVIA “OLLIE” IDA WOLFE / SULLIVAN - Daughter ( verse dependent; very similar to her mother, though she doesn’t like to admit it. Would fight God for her family. )

THEODORE “TEDDY” MAXWELL JOHNSON ( CONLON ) - Son ( verse dependent; reminds Lou so much of her mother at times that it’s difficult to be in his presence. )

FAMILY (NOT BY BLOOD):

GERTRUDE “GERTIE” JOHNSON - Close family friend ( worked with Ida’s mother, was like a second grandmother to her. Took Lou in when she left Greenville and helped her establish herself in Brooklyn. The closest thing to family Lou has. )

LEONA (BRENNAN) CONLON - Family friend / Shaun’s mother ( tried desperately to be there for Lou as much as possible. Loves her like a daughter. )

LOVERS:

SHAUN PATRICK CONLON - Best friend / that first love / first serious boyfriend ( assumed deceased in most verses; father of Teddy in others )

EDWARD “EDDIE” JAMES ARMSTRONG - Best friend / Guy she should be with / patron saint of patience & broken hearts ( Lou left him back in Greenville to spare him; she spared no one. Moves back to Queens with her brother and eventually, accidentally, reunites with Lou. )

FRANCIS “FRANKIE” JOSEPH SULLIVAN - Douche bag / Big mistake / Punishment ( most verses – in a few, he is the father of her daughter Ollie )

CHARLEMAGNE CLAUDIUS CHRISTOPHER “CHRIS” MACKINNON - Trust fund brat / ‘friend’ of Jacob Stack ( strictly business )

FRIENDS:

Lou has, in general, some sort of friendly acquaintance with pretty much all of my other muses in a smattering of verses.

ANTAGONISTS:

JACOB MICHAEL STACK - Employer / Man who enjoys her misery ( verse dependent )

CHARLES “CHARLIES” PHILIP ARMSTRONG - Asshole / cop who’s loyal to Stanley / Protective older brother ( can’t stand Lou for many reasons; also has the wrong idea about her. )

PEARL LEE “BULLET” SULLIVAN - Cousin to Frankie ( verse dependent; her jealousy blinds her and she winds up hating Lou fairly irrationally. Lou is somewhat apathetic in return. Distrusts her anytime they’re around one another. )

DOMINIC “DOM” BRENNAN CONLON - Protective older brother / suspicious bastard ( never trusted the kid of a cop, and thought Lou was too much trouble for her worth. )

BRADLEY “BRAD” LINCOLN - Friend of Frankie’s / just likes to poke the tiger ( verse dependent;  he really just tries to ruffle Lou’s feathers upon Frankie’s request. )

[londontheatre]

Acclaimed rising star director Thom Southerland (Titanic, Grey Gardens, Grand Hotel) is to direct the first ever revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony and Olivier Award-nominated musical The Woman in White.

A tempestuous tale of love, betrayal and greed, adapted from Wilkie Collins’ haunting Victorian thriller, this is the premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel’s revised score.

The Woman in White will preview at Charing Cross Theatre from Monday 20 November, 2017 and run 12 weeks to Saturday 10 February, 2018. Press night is Friday 4 December, 2017 at 7.30pm.

Featuring one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s greatest and most romantic scores, The Woman in White premiered in the West End in 2004. Now, in its first major revival, Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel have revisited their original work to refresh the storytelling for a new generation of theatregoers.

Thom Southerland, Artistic Director of Charing Cross Theatre, said: “I am so excited about this new production. The Woman in White is a wildly exciting romantic thriller which is frequently tender and personal. The music is grand, sweeping and instantly captivating. Having long been an admirer of The Woman in White, I know that Charing Cross Theatre is the ideal intimate space for audiences to experience it for the first time or rediscover this lush Victorian Gothic thriller.”

Walter Hartright’s life is changed forever after a chance encounter with a mysterious woman, dressed in white, desperate to reveal her chilling secret. When he takes up his position as drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, Marian, he sees in Laura’s face an eerie reflection of the forlorn creature he met previously. Walter and Laura’s feelings for each other are thwarted by her engagement to the sinister Sir Percival Glyde. What is the connection between, Laura, Sir Percival, and the woman in white? Can true love prevail?

Casting to be announced.

Creative team: Director Thom Southerland. Movement Cressida Carré. Set Designer Morgan Large.Costume Designer Jonathan Lipman. Lighting Designer Rick Fisher. Sound Designer Andrew Johnson. Casting David Grindrod Associates. Orchestrations David Cullen.

The Woman in White is produced by Patrick Gracey, Steven M. Levy and Vaughan Williams by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Limited.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (Music) When Sunset Boulevard joined School Of Rock, Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera on Broadway in February 2017, Andrew Lloyd Webber became the only person to equal the record set in 1953 by Rodgers and Hammerstein with four Broadway shows running concurrently. Other musicals he has composed include Aspects Of Love, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and Love Never Dies.

His production of School Of Rock is the first British musical to have world premiered on Broadway. He has co-produced his own showsincluding Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera and as a solo producer he presented the groundbreaking Bombay Dreams which introduced the double Oscar winning Bollywood composer AR Rahman to the Western stage.

Other productions include the Olivier Award Winning Daisy Pulls It Off and La Bete, the record breaking Palladium production of The Sound Of Music and The Wizard of Oz.

He owns seven West End Theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the Palladium and most recently the St James which reopened this year as The Other Palace to provide a unique London home for new musicals in development.

He is passionate about the importance of music in education and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain’s leading charities supporting the arts and music.

His awards, both as composer and producer, include seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best known compositions, Pie Jesu.

He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997.

David Zippel (Lyrics) David Zippel’s lyrics have won him the Tony award, the Olivier award, the Evening Standard award, two Oscar nominations, two Grammy award nominations, and three Golden Globe award nominations. His songs appear on over 25 million CDs around the world, and have been recorded by many great singers including Stevie Wonder, Christine Aguilera, Mel Torme, Ricky Martin, Cleo Laine, Elaine Paige, Barbara Cook, Sarah Brightman and Nancy LaMott. David Zippel made his Broadway debut with City of Angels (music by Cy Coleman, book by Larry Gelbart), he also wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical The Goodbye Girl (music by Marvin Hamlisch, book by Neil Simon). He has contributed lyrics to the revues A…My Name Is Alice, Diamonds and, with composer Doug Katsaros, wrote the musical comedy Just So. With Wally Harper he has written numerous songs for Barbara Cook including It’s Better With A Band and the original songs for her Broadway and West End show Barbara Cook, A Concert For the Theatre. Her acclaimed revue showcasing David Zippel’s lyrics, entitled It’s Better With A Band, played Off-Broadway and at the Donmar Warehouse. On film, in collaboration with Alan Menken, the songs for Disney’s feature film Hercules; with Matthew Wilder, the songs for Disney’s animated feature Mulan; with Marvin Hamlisch, the theme song for Frankie and Johnny; with Mervyn Warren the end title for the Jennifer Lopez movie The Wedding Planner; lyrics for The Swan Princess, an animated feature with music by Lex De Azevedo. Awards: Olivier award, Evening Standard award, Tony award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle award and Drama Desk award for City of Angels; Outer Critics’ Circle award nomination for lyrics for The Goodbye Girl; Oscar nominations for lyrics on Disney’s Hercules and Mulan; Golden Globe award nominations for lyrics for Hercules, Mulan and The Swan Princess.

Charlotte Jones (Book) Charlotte Jones is an award-winning writer of theatre, film, television, and radio. She won the Critics’ Circle Most Promising Playwright award in 1999 for In Flame and Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis. Her fourth stage play, Humble Boy, premiered at the National Theatre in 2001, and was awarded the Critics’ Circle Best New Play Award, the People’s Choice Best New Play Award, and was nominated for an Olivier Award. It transferred to the West End and ran for nine months before opening at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York and being nominated for a Drama Desk Award. In 2015, Charlotte was made an Honourary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, for her service to the arts. She currently has a number of films in development, and was the creator and writer of the television series, The Halcyon.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Thom Southerland (Director) Thom is the Artistic Director at Charing Cross Theatre. His opening season of major musicals included the return of his acclaimed multi award-winning Titanic and Ragtime (nominated for a record 14 Off West End awards) and Death Takes A Holiday. His production of Titanic has also been produced at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, and in Tokyo. He was longlisted Best Newcomer in the 2011 Evening Standard Awards for Parade. He was named Best Director at the 2011 The Offies for Me And Juliet at the Finborough. He directed Allegro, Grey Gardens, Grand Hotel, Titanic, Victor/Victoria, Mack & Mabel and Parade (Southwark Playhouse); The Smallest Show on Earth (Mercury Theatre, Colchester & tour) Jerry Herman’s The Grand Tour (Finborough); The Mikado (Charing Cross Theatre); Daisy Pulls It Off, Irving Berlin’s Call Me Madam! (Upstairs At The Gatehouse); the European première of I Sing!, Divorce Me, Darling!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Pajama Game and sold-out all-male adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore and The Mikado (Union); Noël and Gertie (Cockpit); the European première of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Landor); the European première of State Fair (Finborough & transfer to Trafalgar Studios).

Cressida Carré (Musical Staging) Cressida has previously worked with Thom Southerland on staging the award-winning production of Titanic in London, Toronto and Japan. Other selected theatre credits include the all-female version of POSH (Pleasance, Off West End Award nomination, Best Director), the UK tour of Avenue Q (director & choreographer); Laila The Musical, Britain’s Got Bhangra, Great Expectations (Watford Palace & UK tour); The Jungle Book (Glasgow Citizens); CATS (Dubai); Spring Awakening (UK tour).

Morgan Large (Scenic Design) Morgan has previously worked with Thom Southerland on Death Takes A Holiday at Charing Cross Theatre. He is currently designing a brand new production of Top Hat directed by Stephen Mear, and the UK tours of Son of a Preacher Man directed by Craig Revel Horwood, Tango Moderno directed by Karen Bruce, and Deathtrap directed by Adam Penford. Selected theatre credits include: Dance Til Dawn (West End & UK Tour); Forbidden Broadway (Menier Chocolate Factory & West End); Flashdance (West End); Xanadu (Southwark Playhouse); Othello (Sheffield Crucible); and the UK tours of Love Me Tender, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and Equus.

Jonathan Lipman (Costume Design) Jonathan Lipman has previously worked with Thom Southerland on Grey Gardens, Allegro (Southwark Playhouse), Ragtime, Death Takes A Holiday (Charing Cross Theatre), and a U.S. tour of Peter Pan. Selected theatre credits include: The Country Girl directed by Rufus Norris (West End & UK Tour), and the UK tours of Larkrise to Candleford and Jekyll & Hyde – The Musical.

Rick Fisher (Lighting Design) Rick Fisher is a multiple Tony and Olivier Award-winner. He is known for his collaborations with director Stephen Daldry on Billy Elliot the Musical and An Inspector Calls (for both of which he received the Tony Award). He has done the lighting design for many opera companies, including the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, the New York City Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Other selected West End credits include: Sunny Afternoon, Jerry Springer the Opera, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, The Threepenny Opera, and Lady in the Dark, Chips with Everything, Hysteria and Machinal at the National Theatre (for which he received Olivier Awards).

Andrew Johnson (Sound Design) Andrew’s recent credits including the Olivier Award-winning smash hit The Play That Goes Wrong. Other selected theatre credits includes: Titanic, Ragtime, Death Takes a Holiday (Charing Cross); Grey Gardens, The Toxic Avenger – The Musical, Grand Hotel, Dogfight, Victor/Victoria (Southwark Playhouse); Calamity Jane (UK Tour); Let It Be (UK Tour, Moscow, Japan); The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (UK Tour); Midnight Tango (West End & UK Tour); Top Hat (UK Tour); A Clockwork Orange (Theatre Royal, Stratford East).

THE PRODUCERS

Patrick Gracey Patrick Gracey is an international producer and general manager based in London’s West End. Patrick has produced and general managed plays and musicals in London’s West End, on Broadway, in Australia, and on tour in the UK. Most recently, Patrick produced Pedro Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End starring Tamsin Greig, and Constellations starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson on Broadway for Ambassador Theatre Group. On Broadway, Patrick was the general manager of the Tony Award®-winning production of Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starring Scarlett Johansson. As general manager of the Donmar, Patrick supervised over a dozen productions in the UK, U.S. and Australia, including the Donmar’s West End season at Wyndham’s Theatre. Productions included Ivanov starring Kenneth Branagh, Twelfth Night starring Derek Jacobi, Madame de Sade starring Judi Dench, and Hamlet starring Jude Law. In Australia, Patrick was the general manager of Disney & Cameron Mackintosh’s award-winning production of Mary Poppins.

Steven M. Levy Steven has spent the past 30 years as a theatrical producer, general manager and theatre owner in both New York and London. Broadway includes: Whoopi – The 20th Anniversary Show; Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All starring Ellen Burstyn; Our Town starring Paul Newman; I’m Not Rappaport starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen; Dame Edna: The Royal Tour; The Beauty Queen Of Leenane; The Lonesome West; Waiting In The Wings starring Lauren Bacall. West End includes: Titanic, Ragtime, Death Takes a Holiday, In The Bar Of A Tokyo Hotel, Piaf, The Mikado, Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris, Long Story Short, Finian’s Rainbow, Ushers: The Front Of House Musical, Jerry Herman’s Dear World, the Olivier Award-winning La Bohème, 6 Actors In Search Of A Director (written and directed by Steven Berkoff), Fascinating Aïda – Cheap Flights, The Man On Her Mind, John Leguizamo – Ghetto Klown, Patricia Routledge – Facing The Music, Thrill Me (Charing Cross); Singular Sensations, Tom Stoppard’s The Invention Of Love (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); Nixon’s Nixon (Comedy); Gross Indecency (Gielgud); The Boys In The Band (Aldwych). Film includes: Our Town starring Paul Newman; Whoopi (HBO, starring Whoopi Goldberg); The Man On Her Mind (The Talking Pictures Company). Steven’s productions have been the recipient of 14 Tony Award nominations, 5 Tony Awards, as well as the recipient of the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and OBIE Awards.

Vaughan Williams Vaughan was a founder shareholder in and is Chairman of the Charing Cross Theatre, where he has been a regular producer. Following an English Literature degree at London University, Vaughan enjoyed a long career in the City of London. Initially qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Deloitte, he then joined merchant bankers Morgan Grenfell & Co., where he was appointed to the main Board in 1993. Following the merger with Deutsche Bank, he was appointed a Managing Director in Deutsche’s Investment Bank. Since retiring from banking in 2012, Vaughan divides his time between the theatre and property industries. His theatre productions include: Death Takes A Holiday, Christina Bianco: O Come All Ye Divas!, Ragtime (Offie Award for Best Musical), Titanic, 6 Actors In Search of A Director; the UK premiere of Jerry Herman’s Dear World, the Olivier Award-winning production of La Bohème, In the Bar of A Tokyo Hotel, by Tennessee Williams, and a number of shows currently in development. Vaughan has also recently fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear as lead guitarist in a rock and roll band.

LISTINGS INFORMATION Patrick Gracey, Steven M. Levy and Vaughan Williams by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Limited present The Woman in White Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics by David Zippel Book by Charlotte Jones

Monday 20 November, 2017 – Saturday 10 February, 2018 Press night: Monday 4 December at 7.30pm

Charing Cross Theatre The Arches Villiers Street London WC2N 6NL http://ift.tt/HQ6NWc

http://ift.tt/2tPZTgw LondonTheatre1.com

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          GERTRUDE ‘GERTIE’ JOHNSON is a very large part of Lou’s story that doesn’t get much mention or play. She’s almost like another mother/grandmother to Lou, a guardian of sorts, and someone who has looked out for Lou her whole life. She was best friends with Agnes Snyder, Lou’s maternal grandmother, and was a fixture in the Wolfe household for the first decade of Lou’s life.

Gertie owned a bakery in Greenville with her husband and Lou’s mother Ida worked there on and off for years prior to her death. Having been unable to have children of her own, Gertie treated Ida, her best friend’s daughter, like a child of hers, and subsequently, Lou too when she came along. When Gertie’s husband grew ill and unable to help manage the bakery, they made the difficult decision to close it down and move north, closer to some of their extended family. This was hard on Lou since it came at a time when her young life grew painful and was just the beginning of her losing those she cared. Though Gertie didn’t pass and would call, write, send cards and gifts, her visits were few and far between due to her husband’s condition.

When Bill passed, Gertie opened another bakery, in his honor, but also to keep herself busy. Also, with his death, he left her with a fairly substantial amount of money, which she invested in real estate around the city. Her bakery is located in the Prospect Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn and she owns a few buildings outside of that, mainly the one Lou rents for her shop and apartment when she moves to Brooklyn.

Lou’s arrival to New York was a welcomed one and Gertie immediately went into grandmother mode, setting the young woman up in her brownstone, the guest bedroom ripe for a visitor. Lou, however, being the independent creature she is, only remained until she decided what she wanted to do. Though Gertie was sad to be alone once again, she was happy to see that Lou hadn’t changed in that way, and helped her secure the space for her shop and apartment, selling the building to her at a very discounted rate. (NOTE: Lou hasn’t fully realized how discounted it was, but is still incredibly grateful and doesn’t allow Gertie to go a day without knowing that).

These days, Gertie sends along day-old baked goods to Lou each day. Lou, knowing she can’t possibly consume all of it herself, puts them out at her store for free as part of the ‘ambiance’ she wants to create there. It’s become a bit of a partnership in a way, or free advertising at least. Gertie is still incredibly overprotective of Lou to the point where the younger woman will not even discuss her love life (or lack there of) unless there is someone worth mentioning. And Gertie, for her part, demands that she vet any potential suitors.

VERSE DEPENDENT INFO:  In the AU based off of Lou’s main verse, Gertie sets her up with her nephew Max. They have a fairly long relationship that begins to unravel toward the end, particularly due to Max’s temper. During a small window of time when they’ve taken a break, Shaun returns to Lou’s life, showing up at her work after hearing from Eddie where she was, and they have a brief affair. When Max and Lou reconcile, Lou ends her fling with Shaun. Shortly after, Max is killed during a botched robbery of a convenience store, having taken a bullet for a complete stranger. Within days, Lou finds out she’s pregnant and can’t quite determine who the father of the child is, Max or Shaun. She says nothing of her relationship with Shaun, leaving Gertie and the rest of the Johnsons to assume that Lou’s unborn child is Max’s, the child of a hero. It wasn’t until Teddy was about three that Lou finally comes clean about his parentage, when Gertie inquires about dissimilar her looks from her nephew. Feeling deeply hurt and betrayed by the news, Gertie essentially kicks Lou out of her life.

[tckenbythesky]

tag drop, part 6