By now you've probably heard about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. And you probably know that Ellen DeGeneres is catching hell from WGA East. Some of you are thinking, "Well, TV is not looking so good these days; perhaps this is an opportunity to get out of the house and catch some live theater."

Which is a great idea. Unless your plan is to see Broadway theater.

Local One, the Broadway branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, went on strike Saturday morning, effectively shutting down most of Broadway.

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Last week was an especially Chaka-licious week: as though her well-received new album (blogged about by roc in August) and AfterEllen.com shout-out weren't enough, producers also announced that Chaka Khan is about to join the Broadway cast of The Color Purple, along with American Idol finalist LaKisha Jones.

The show may have gotten a mixed review from AfterEllen.com Contributing Writer D. Williams for its handling of Celie and Shug's relationship, but folks haven't much complained about the singing and it looks like they aim to keep it that way with these additions.

While Khan has done theatre in the past, Jan. 9 will be her debut on the Great White Way. Perhaps she's looking to add a Tony to her lengthy list of awards; the role of Celie's neighbor Sofia (with gospel star BeBe Winans as husband Harpo) should allow her to be as fierce as can be. … continue reading

Here’s a horrifying thought. What if someone wrote two chapters of a novel, purposely using plagiarized sections lifted directly from one of the world’s most recognizable female literary figures? And what if the publisher who had just recently republished the original author's work turned down that new “author”? What if that same publisher told the “new” author that this “new” work of fiction was actually a "really original and interesting read" but not quite what the publisher was looking for? Wonder no more. It happened. For shame. What's more, only one publisher of the many who read the manuscript recognized the work as Jane Austen's. One?

In this day of popped-out popular culture, it’s easy for many not to recognize the classic works of the great literary giants of yesteryear. Of course, not being a great literary mind myself, I’m hard pressed to recognize the theme of Romeo and Juliet in West Side Story. So I pass no judgment on those common folk who would more easily recognize the plagiarized text of Jackie Collins and Barbara Cartland before they’d recognize Jane Austen’s delicate word choices. But a publisher? Yikes. That just hurts. I want to think that some professionals, other than librarians and museum directors, can still act as the custodians of pre-20th-century literature. … continue reading