It’s come to my attention that Mr. George Knightley of Jane Austen’s Emma fame is now authoring his own advice blog, titled Letters to Mr. Knightley! With help from colleagues and friends, he’ll be dispensing his wit and wisdom on life and love to the denizens of Highbury, the Internet, and beyond. Here’s a man I’d trust with any problem!

There’s been a ton of local Emma productions hitting the stage this spring, from Folsom, CA to Salt Lake City to Fort Wayne, IN, to Windsor, Ontario! Some of them involve the Michael Bloom adaptation.

I’m posting the latest news on my Twitter feed, but here’s a roundup from the last month or so…

• The Seattle Star’s “Another approach to the classics: Emma at the UW” – Michael Bloom’s Emma performed at University of Washington through 2/26/2012
• The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Austen’s turns of phrase on Pioneer Theatre Company Stage” – Pioneer Theatre Company’s Emma (Jon Jory) opens 2/17/2012 in Salt Lake City
• Broadway World piece on Pioneer Theatre Company Emma
• Examiner.com’s “A fool for love: Jane Austen’s Emma coming to Pioneer Theatre Company”
• The Actors’ Workshop presents Emma (scroll down) many evenings from 2/9-3/4/2012 in Folsom, CA (MyLincoln presents dates and times)
• The Folsom Telegraph’s “Emma brings Jane Austen’s work to Folsom stage”
• The Westerly Sun’s “Flock Theatre presents Jane Austen’s classic Emma“ – Opens in New London, RI, on 2/10/2012 as part of the Shaw Mansion Series
• Theday.com on Flock’s RI Emma
• The WIndsor Lance’s “Super Sweet: University Players presents Emma” – University of Windsor in Windsor, ON, presents Emma through 2/12/2012
• The Windsor Star’s “Emma: From the page to the stage” and “Evil Emma well-meaning”
• Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette’s “Values-rich Emma adapts to local stage”
• Cherry on Top Theatre presented Emma in Sacramento and Placerville, CA, last month
• 2010 Michael Bloom Emma stage performances
• Recent Emma stage adaptations (at Emma Adaptations Pages)

Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma, costumed by Academy Award nominee Ruth Myers.

Fashionable Emma Woodhouse: Costuming Austen’s Emma Adapted

Before the 2009-2010 BBC Emma miniseries came out – and before I’d even started this blog – my friends Vic and Laurel Ann of Jane Austen Today kindly asked me to do a quick piece about costuming in the three previous major adaptations of the novel: the 1971 BBC tv miniseries starring Dorin Godwin, the 1996 Miramax theatrical release starring Gwyneth Paltrow, and the 1996-1997 A&E/ITV movie starring Kate Beckinsale.

It’s based on a previous article on Emma costuming I prepared for Ellie Farrell’s excellent Celluloid Wrappers site, which is dedicated to film costume. Eventually, I’ll be adding a section on the Romola Garai Emma to that article.

I tend to tweet most of my minor updates these days, but here’s a roundup for the sake of completeness. 

Emma comes to the Old Globe in San Diego.

Paul Gordon’s Emma – A Musical Romantic Comedy is now running at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre!  The show – which has already enjoyed successful runs in the Bay Area, Cincinnati, and St. Louis – previewed earlier this month and officially premiers this weekend.  The run will continue through February 27 (with an extension to March 6).

Emma is directed by Jeff Calhoun and stars Patti Murin as the eponymous heroine and Adam Monley as Mr. Knightley.  For more…

• Patti Murin Is Emma, Singing an Austen Song, at Old Globe Jan. 15-Feb. 27 (Playbill.com)
• Official Old Globe Emma site – Includes articles, a program in .pdf format, cast biographies, related events, and notes on the production!
• KPBS “These Days” Interview with Emma director Jeff Calhoun and show writer Paul Gordon
• Globe plans fresh take on Jane Austen’s Emma – Pam Kragen, North County Times
• Perils of romance come to the stage in new musical Emma at The Old Globe in Balboa Park – Diana Saenger, La Jolla Light
• Ageless Emma – James Hebert, San Diego Union-Tribune

In other Emma adaptation news, Romola Garai’s Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television did not result in a win.  Still, it was nice to see her nominated for her starring role in the 2009-2010 BBC Emma miniseries.

In non-adaptation Emma news, Maria Edgeworth’s presentation copy of Emma was sold last month at auction.  According to Sotheby’s auction house, it fetched 79,250 pounds sterling.  Edgeworth was a bit of a novelist idol of Austen’s and an acquaintance of the James Leigh Perrots, Jane Austen’s aunt and uncle.  You can learn about Edgeworth’s opinions on Emma in this roundup of period responses to the book.

Happy new year, everyone!

Sir Michael Gambon received a nod during last week’s Primetime Emmy nomination announcements for his portrayal of Mr. Woodhouse in the 2009 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma.

In other Emma news, a new Jane Austen horror mashup novel hit Kindles last week.  Emma and the Vampires, written by Wayne Josephson, takes another stab at the novel of manners-meets-horror movie literary genre.

• Buy Emma and the Vampires for your Kindle
• Daily Herald:  Vampires continue to show life, even as parodies roll out

Sonam Kapoor as Aisha.

Aisha, starring Sonam Kapoor, opened this past weekend to fairly positive reviews and strong box office receipts.  Opinions on this film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma ran the gamut from “meh” to glowing.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  Was it the Clueless rehash some people expected?  Does it matter?

Bits and bobs from around the net relating to Aisha‘s premier:

• Anna’s Review
• Bollywood Ticket:  Skip Aisha
• Aisha…an average movie
• Bollywood Spice Review
• Hindustan Times:  Emma-Spotting in Delhi
• Wall Street Journal Friday Reviews:  Aisha Dazzles Critics
• Bollywood Hungama Review
• Times of India Review
• SiFy Review
• Deccan Herald Aisha Review
• Digital Spy:  Kapoor delighted by Aisha success
• The New Emma:  Clueless in Bollywood (The New Yorker Blogs)
• The Hollywood Reporter:  Q&A with Sonam Kapoor
• Progressive and Fresh: A discussion with Aisha director Rajshree Ojha
• Aisha image collection

Here’s another interview with Aisha directory Rajshree Ojha, this time presented by Yahoo! India.  In the piece, Ojha addresses the fact that viewers will be consciously comparing the film to previous Emma adaptations…

“I am prepared for all the comparisons that are going to come my way but ‘Aisha’ is very Indian. If you remember Jane Austen said ‘Emma’ is a heroine only she is going to love. As a filmmaker when I read something I imagine it and that inspires me to make a film. A good literature, if you adapt it well makes a very good film,” says Ojha.

And for those interested, here’s the Aisha IMDB entry.

IndianExpress.com recently published an interview with Aisha director Rajshree Ojha, highlighting both the challenges she’s faced as a female director in Bollywood and the striking social parallels within Emma’s and Aisha’s worlds.

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend.  Happy Fourth of July!

It’s been out for a few days, but I thought it was cute enough to post anyway.    Here it is, a tune from the Aisha soundtrack with video clips from the film… “Suno Aisha”…

The film stars Sonam Kapoor as the eponymous main character.  It’s set to release in August.  It’s also shaping up to be a humongous Clueless ripoff, but that’s okay. 

An Aisha teaser is out!  The film is still set for an August 6 release.

Keep up with the latest Aisha promotional activities at the official site, on Twitter, and on Facebook.  Those who are registered with the official website have been receiving digital postcards introducing the various characters from the film…

Those interested in reading more about the production might enjoy this short Times of India piece featuring young co-producer Rhea Kapoor:

Aisha is a ‘young’ film