The Wuthering ransom note

Esquire rescues several 'forgotten' inventors:

Ryan Wendel (1862)
First person to design complete ransom note by cutting individual letters out of assorted newspapers and his sister's Emily Brontë novel, then gluing them onto sheet of parchment. (Note: Wendel was really self-conscious about his handwriting.) (Brian Frazer)

The Oldham Evening Chronicle gives some additional details about the Tamasha Theatre's upcoming Wuthering Heights production:

Bronte goes Bollywood in Oldham next year in a new musical which is being premiered at the Coliseum Theatre. (...)
Emily Bronte may be spinning in her Haworth grave when her only novel becomes a sumptuous musical based on her classic tale of passion, jealousy and revenge.
Oldham audiences will be asked to substitute Cathy, the heroine, and Heathcliffe, the brooding anti-hero, and instead visualise Shakuntala, the beautiful and head-strong daughter of merchant Singh, and Krishan the wild street urchin that Singh adopts.
Thrown together as unlikely siblings, their adolescent play soon turns into tumultuous passion.
But — just like 19th century Yorkshire — Indian society has its taboos and hierarchies, and Shakuntala yearns for the riches and status that only local playboy Vijay can provide.
Coliseum chief executive Kevin Shaw said: “It is a really exciting project which has been bubbling for a little while now.
“We are only a few miles away from where Wuthering Heights was set, and we have long had an idea of doing some sort of Bollywood extravaganza.
“We are supplying technical teams and supporting development of the show.
“It will be quite an innovative design, because it is touring, but will create the locations very simply yet effectively.
“There will be lots of fabric, some puppets and lots of colour.”
Tamasha’s producer Alex Derbyshire added: “I hope Emily Bronte would be delighted with the reinvention.
We will be true to the storyline of the novel, and we won’t be changing the ending.”
Wuthering Heights will open at the Coliseum on March 13, and runs until March 28. After Oldham, it goes to Exeter, Glasgow, London, Newcastle, Southampton, Coventry, and Harrogate. (Janice Barker)

We think it must be rather difficult to be both spinning in her grave and delighted at the same time, though.

The Bellingham Herald interviews the amateur composer of the ongoing performances of Robert Johanson's Jane Eyre at the Sehome High School, Bellingham, Washington:

Sehome High School's drama department is staging Robert Johanson's adaptation of "Jane Eyre," Charlotte Bronte's classic 19th-century Gothic romance, this weekend at the school's Little Theatre.
Director Vicki Chaney asked senior Michael Marcel Ardans, 17, who goes by his middle name, to improvise some music on piano for the play. Ardans asked her if he could put together a string quartet and compose music for them to perform during the show. He then attended several rehearsals and then composed period and situation appropriate music for the production. He spoke with The Bellingham Herald about his musical life. (...)
Q: What was the process for composing this music?
A: I generally compose on paper and when I've finished I transfer it to a computer merely so I can print it. There really isn't a huge need for me to hear everything I do as I'm composing. As a musician I know certain things work or don't and I have a good understanding of harmony so that's not too much of an issue like most would imagine it to be. I however do not perform in this show, nor will I be conducting. I am strictly behind the scenes. The music's performed by Molly LeCompte, first violin; Annie Vohs, second violin: Emma Binderup, viola; and Kaeli Earle, cello. (Margaret Bikman)

On Anime News Network the distinction between the Brontës and Jane Austen is not really very important. Presenting Emma: A Victorian Romance:

For anyone who enjoys Victorian romance novels, Emma will definitely please. With its tale of inevitably and unanswered love, class and obligation, it could fit alongside anyone's mental repertoire of favorite works, between Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre. (Bamboo Dong)

The Telegraph & Argus reminds us of the Branwell Brontë's Christmas Cracker day at the Brontë Parsonage Museum next December 13.

Several newspapers report the upcoming release of the 100 Classic Book Collection for Nintendo DS: The Sun, The Times, Nintendo World Report, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, PC Magazine, ...

Some reviews on the blogosphere: Cara Lockwood's Wuthering High on Bookworm 4 Life, Wuthering Heights 1939 on Doin' the pop (in Spanish) and Jane Eyre on The Full Review and BFC Book Reviews. Finally via Brontës.nl we have discovered a Flemish radio programme: Bekende Buitenlanders in Brussel (Known Foreigners in Brussels) in Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal devoted to Emily and Charlotte's stay in Brussels.

Categories: Audio-Radio, Books, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Brussels, Humour, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Theatre, Wuthering Heights