Mr Rochester's '500-watt smile'

The Prague Post reviews Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, on stage at Prague's National Theatre. Apparently the production has a Wuthering Heights moment:

Havelka also uses a video sequence to turn a romantic duet by Hoffmann and his second love, Antonia, into a witty take on Wuthering Heights. (Frank Kuznik)

CNN interviews Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:

CNN: And then came the imitators
Grahame-Smith: There have been so many attempts at mash-ups in the past year.
People don't seem to understand that the mash-up isn't arbitrary. We're not putting folded pieces of paper into two hats and then pulling out Emily Bronte with one hand and werewolves with the other. It has to work on both a superficial, fun level, and it has to work on a thematic level and for the characters.
In PPZ, the book is about repression and the role of women in Jane Austen's regency era, so I'm taking those same themes and giving them scope. The repression of women becomes "women aren't the best zombie slayers; men are." Or, the class system that's in the original book is portrayed through, "your training isn't as good as my training in the deadly arts." (Breeanna Hare)

Funny he should mention Emily Brontë and werewolves because we have a) Wuthering Bites coming out at the end of the summer and about vampires (with a very Twilight-y cover) and b) Jane Slayre coming out in a couple of weeks and featuring many creatures, including werewolves.

The San Diego Reader includes quite a sweeping statement:

Alex is tall, dark, and broodingly handsome, but with a 500-watt smile (eye-candy alert to Jane Eyre fans and Goth girls!). (Naomi Wise)

Because, you know, that's how Charlotte Brontë described Mr Rochester, with special emphasis on the '500-watt smile'. Read the novel again if you don't remember that bit!

On the blogosphere, CraftyPod invites you to join in the Brontë-Along and Pinarthan reviews Wuthering Heights 1992.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, References, Theatre, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights