I’m participating in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, where I post every day in the month of April (except Sundays) and each day is a letter.

My theme for the month is a series of posts about the things that shaped me.

Ruth Chew

It is very possible you’ve never heard of Ruth Chew, but oh my goodness are her children’s books amazing.

I’ve already made reference to my love of magical realism, and Chew’s books were some of my earliest exposure to the genre. Most of the ones I’ve read took place in and around New York, and all involved magic, or witches, or both.

My two favorites:

  • The Wednesday Witch — One day a young girl hears a knock on her door and when she peeks through the peephole, she sees an old woman with a pointy hat, a black cat, and an old vacuum cleaner. When Mary Jane refuses to let her in, the witch flies off on the vacuum, leaving her chatty cat behind. What did she want, and will she be back?
  • The Witch’s Buttons — Sandy loses a button on her coat, and when she goes poking through her friend’s button bag, she finds one shaped like a little man. But — is he smiling? And why does the button seem to be afraid of the little old lady who is now following Sandy all over town?

Rent

I LOVVEEEEEE musicals. Like, half my Spotify playlists are all Broadway and movie showtunes — Hamilton, Funny Girl, Singin’ in the Rain, Sound of Music, Hairspray, Book of Mormon, Annie, Avenue Q, Wicked, Les Mis… I’ll shut up now.

I’ve loved musicals my entire life, but the one that will always top my list is Jonathan Larson’s masterpiece, Rent.

For those of you unfamiliar, Rent is the story of a group of poor, starving artists in New York’s East Village in the early 90s. Larson based it off of Puccini’s opera La Boheme, but mixed in drag queens, AIDS, and a whole lot of rock music.

It’s brilliant from start to finish and every time I see it, it just breaks my heart that Larson did not live to see it become the Pulitzer-prizewinning Broadway sensation that we know it as today. (If you’ve seen Tick, Tick… Boom!, his semi-autobigraphical musical, it’s even more heartbreaking.) He died of an aortic aneurysm the morning of the show’s off-Broadway opening, and never knew how successful it was going to be, how many people would listen to and love his music.

Because how can you not? Some of my favorites:

  • “Rent”
  • “What You Own”
  • “Take Me or Leave Me”
  • “Light My Candle”
  • “La Vie Boheme” — it’s just joyful and wonderful.
  • “Today 4 U”
  • “Seasons of Love”
  • “Tango: Maureen” — I really love Mark’s whole character.
  • “Another Day”
  • “Will I?”
  • “Santa Fe”
  • “I’ll Cover You” — one of the most romantic songs ever, and the reprise? Absolutely crushing.

I honestly believe this is the best musical, ever. Nothing else can touch it.

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