Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories

Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories is a collection of 16 stories by L.M. Montgomery that were gathered and rediscovered by Rea Wilmshurst and published in 1995. Two stories are Christmas chapters from the Anne of Green Gables series, and the other 14 stories are Christmas and New Year stories written by L.M.Montgomery for magazines. The titles of the stories contained in this volume and their original publication dates are listed below:

Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves (from Anne of Green Gables, 1908)
Christmas at Red Butte (1909)
The End of the Young Family Feud (1907)
Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket (1903?)
The Osborne's Christmas (1903)
The Unforgotten One (1906)
Clorinda's Gifts (1906)
Katherine Brooke Comes to Green Gables (from Anne of Windy Poplars, 1934)
A Christmas Mistake (1899)
A Christmas Surprise at Enderly Road (1905)
The Falsoms' Christmas Dinner (1906)
A Christmas Inspiration (1901?)
The Josephs' Christmas (1902)
Uncle Richard's New Year Dinner (1910)
Ida's New Year Cake (1905)
Bertie's New Year (1905)

Purchase and read Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories:



Created December 27, 2002. Last updated April 26, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Road to Avonlea (1990-1996)

Road to Avonlea (1990–1996) is a television series produced by Sullivan Entertainment that aired for seven seasons on the CBC. The storylines in Road to Avonlea are based in part on L.M. Montgomery's novels The Story Girl and The Golden Road as well as her short story collections Chronicles of Avonlea and Further Chronicles of Avonlea.

Road to Avonlea takes place in the early 20th century in the fictional town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, the home of the Anne of Green Gables novels and Sullivan Entertainment’s Anne of Green Gables miniseries. The series begins when Sara Stanley is sent to live in Avonlea with her mother's family, the Kings, after her father is accused of embezzlement. Sara is a wealthy girl, who is used to life in big city Montreal. She must adjust to new experiences in a small village and her close-knit relatives.

Over the course of the series, its focus expanded from Sara to the rest of the King family and residents of Avonlea. Like other productions by Sullivan Entertainment, Road to Avonlea is humorous, romantic, and heart-warming. Its visually beautiful with a talented cast.

Road to Avonlea was a celebrated television series, winning 15 Gemini Awards and three Emmys. It aired in the United States on the Disney Channel with the title Avonlea. The series concluded after airing 91 episodes. Following the series finale, the Road to Avonlea cast reunited in a 1998 made-for-television film called Happy Christmas, Miss King (also known as An Avonlea Christmas). Set in 1914, the storyline was set during the first World War.

Image credit:
The Road to Avonlea photograph above features (from left to right) the characters Cecily King (Harmony Cramp), Olivia King (Mag Ruffman), Janet King (Lally Cadeau), Felicity King (Gema Zamprogna), Alec King (Cedric Smith), Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley), and Hetty King (Jackie Burroughs). © Sullivan Entertainment

External link:
Road of Avonlea: The Official Website

Purchase and watch all seven seasons of Road to Avonlea:

Created November 23, 2002. Re-posted online March 12, 2022. Last updated March 12, 2022.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables: The Musical (1965)

Anne of Green Gables: The Musical (1965) is based on the novel Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Its music was composed by Norman Campbell, and the book is by Don Harron. The lyrics were written by Don Harron and Norman Campbell, with additional lyrics by Mavor Moore and Elaine Campbell. It was directed and choreographed by Alan Lund. At the premiere in 1965, Anne Shirley was portrayed by Jamie Ray. Barbara Hamilton played Marilla Cuthbert, Peter Mews played Matthew Cuthbert, and Dean Regan played Gilbert Blythe. The stage musical was based on the 1956 Anne of Green Gables musical film that was produced for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and directed by Don Harron.

The musical is notably the longest running musical in Canadian history. After its premiere in 1965, the production ran every summer for more than 50 years at the Charlottetown Festival, which is hosted by the Confederation Centre of the Arts, until 2019. Performances paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and the musical returned to the stage in 2022. According to the Confederation Centre of the Arts, "Starting in 2024, Anne of Green Gables–The Musical™ will be playing on the mainstage every two years (biennially) coinciding with the 150th birthday of Lucy Maud Montgomery."

I saw this musical in Charlottetown in 2006, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The script is available is available through Concord Theatricals.

A cast recording of the musical was released by The Charlottetown Festival and you can listen to it at Amazon Music. The album includes the following 19 songs:

1. Overture / Great Workers for the Cause / Where Is Matthew Going?

2. Gee I'm Glad I'm No-One Else but Me

3. We Clearly Requested a Boy

4. The Facts

5. Humble Pie

6. Apology

7. Back to School

8. Wond'rin'

9. Did You Hear?

10. Ice Cream

11. Summer

12. Kindred Spirits

13. Open the Window

14. I'll Show Him

15. General Store

16. If It Hadn't Been for Me

17. Anne of Green Gables

18. The Words

19. Wond'rin' (Reprise)

Purchase the Anne of Green Gables: The Musical cast recording:

Official Site:
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical at the Confederation Centre of the Arts

Image Credit:
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical promotional image by the Confederation Centre of the Arts.

Reference:
Confederation Centre of the Arts. Anne of Green Gables–The Musical™ to return to The Charlottetown Festival in 2024. Retrieved from: https://confederationcentre.com/anne-of-green-gables-the-musical-to-return-to-the-charlottetown-festival-in-2024/

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated May 7, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne (1998)

Anne (1998) is a play adapted by Paul Ledoux from the novel Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. The play premiered at the at Young People's Theatre in Toronto, Ontario on April 5, 1998 and was directed by Patricia Vanstone. Jennie Raymond, a native of Prince Edward Island, starred as Anne Shirley. The cast featured Janet Amos as Marilla Cuthbert, Robin Craig as Rachel Lynde,
Jerry Franken as Matthew Cuthbert, Catherine Gatotos as Diana Barry, Carolyn Hay as Josie Pye, Jamie Robinson as Gilbert Blythe, and Eliza-Jane Scott as Ruby Gillis.

The two-act play is 125 minutes long. Its script was published in 1999 by Playwrights Canada Press.

The play is described as follows:
"They wanted a young boy from the orphanage to help out around the farm. Instead, Matthew and Marilla got the irrepressible Anne Shirley. Their lives and the community of Avonlea would never be the same again."

A review in Variety described the production, saying: "What Ledoux has created is a rich evocation of turn-of-the-century life on tiny Prince Edward Island, with Anne at its center. In his hands Marilla and Matthew, Anne’s adoptive parents, and nosy neighbor Rachel Lynde, come alive as powerful archetypes whose gentle story is deeply sentimental, but never saccharine in its delivery of a timely message about the importance of community."

The play is available at the Canadian Play Outlet.

Image Credit:
Cover of Anne published by the Playwrights Canada Press.

References:

Friedlander, Mira. (1998, May 11). Anne. Variety. Retrieved from: https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/anne-1200453779/

Young People's Theatre. Young People's Theatre Production History 1966 to 2021. Retrieved from: https://www.youngpeoplestheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ALL-SEASONS-revised-Fall-2021.pdf

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated May 8, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables (1956)

In March 1956, Anne of Green Gables was broadcast as a black and white television musical film by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). The 90-minute program aired as part of the CBC Folio series. The musical was based upon L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables and starred Toby Tarnow as Anne Shirley.

The musical film was directed by Don Harron, a Canadian actor, comedian, author, composer, director, and journalist. It written by James Costigan and Harron. Two years later, a second CBC-TV production aired on November 18, 1958, starring Kathy Willard as Anne Shirley. The 1956 television production was the basis for the stage production Anne of Green Gables - The Musical, which has been performed every summer since 1965 at the Charlottetown Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada. This musical is the longest-running stage musical in Canada.

Image Credit:
"Anne of Green Gables in Hollis" by Michael Cleveland, Merrimack Journal, December 30, 2005.

Created August 15, 2002. Re-posted online June 12, 2021. Last updated June 12, 2021.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Avonlea (1940)

In 1940, James Reach, writing under the pseudonym Jeanette Carlisle, adapted L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Avonlea into a play titled Anne of Avonlea: A Comedy in Three Acts. This play was the first dramatization of Anne of Avonlea written for the stage. It was published by Samuel French, Inc., the same company that printed the 1937 stage adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by Wilbur Braun (pseudonym Alice Chadwicke).

James Reach (1909–1970) was an American playwright who wrote under several pseudonyms. Along with writing under the name Jeanette Carlisle, he also published plays under the names Hilda Manning, John Rand, and Thomas Sutton. Reach wrote many comedies, mystery-comedies, and dramatic plays, including The Wagon To The Star, Women in White, Afraid of the Dark, Blind Gambit, and Life Begins at Sixteen.

In the opening pages of Anne of Avonlea, the "Story of the Play" states,

"Here is the first dramatization of L. M. Montgomery’s famous novel which has been read and loved by millions since its publication more than thirty years ago. The play is in one simple living-room set, with most of the characters young ones, and should appeal particularly to clubs, schools and churches. Its heroine is the same adorable little red-headed vixen whose acquaintance so many of you have made in 'Anne of Green Gables.' But the little girl of 'Green Gables' has become a grown-up school teacher of seventeen. How she faces and overcomes the first real problems of her life form the basis of Miss Carlisle’s faithful adaptation, of which it may be said, as Meredith Nicholson said of the original, 'A story to lift the spirit and send the pessimist into bankruptcy!'"

The story involves Anne’s experiences teaching at the Avonlea School, her friendships with Diana and Gilbert, her neighbor Mr. Harrison, and her work with the Avonlea Village Improvement Society to beautify Avonlea. The introductory “Story of the Play” states, “Miss Carlisle has magically blended these into a whole that will capture and hold your interest from curtain to curtain, that will bring you much wholesome laughter and a few sentimental tears...”

Anne of Avonlea by Jeanette Carlisle is available for purchase and licensing through Concord Theatricals, which acquired Samuel French, Inc. in 2018.

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated May 12, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables (1937)

In 1937, Wilbur Braun, under the pseudonym Alice Chadwicke, adapted L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables into a three-act play titled Anne of Green Gables. This play was the first dramatization of Anne of Green Gables written for the stage. It was published by Samuel French, Inc.

Wilbur Braun (1894-1968) was an American playwright who wrote under over 50 pseudonyms. He was a prolific writer known for his dramatic and comedic stage adaptations, including Great Expectations, Pudd'nhead Wilson, Davy Crockett, Tish, and The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

In the opening pages of Anne of Green Gables (1937), the "Story of the Play" states, "for years this fascinating book has headed the list of best sellers. It has been printed and reprinted, has been made twice as a movie, once as a silent picture and only recently as a talkie, but it has remained for the distinguished dramatist, Alice Chadwicke, to make the first and only dramatization of this magically beautiful story."

The dedication of the play reads:

TO
L.M. MONTGOMERY,

who created the most lovable heroine
the world of fiction has ever known,
this play is most earnestly dedicated.

ALICE CHADWICKE.

Anne of Green Gables by Alice Chadwicke is available for purchase and licensing through Concord Theatricals, which acquired Samuel French, Inc. in 2018.

Purchase and read the Anne of Green Gables (1937) play script:

Created August 15, 2002. Last updated May 12, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Easton Press Hardback Anne of Green Gables Series Book Set

I've had a few questions about the availability of hardback volumes of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series. The only place I have seen a set like this for sale is in the Easton Press catalog. The Easton Press offers high quality book sets, and I'm sure their Anne set is gorgeous.

Their eight-volume Anne of Green Gables keepsake book set is leather bound with 22 karat gold accents and gilded page ends. The books are $109 per volume. Each volume is 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" in size and has a full-color frontispiece by Ben Stahl.

According to the Easton Press website, the books feature:
- Fully bound in genuine leather.
- 22kt gold deeply inlaid on the “hubbed” spine.
- Superbly printed on acid-neutral paper that lasts for generations.
- Sewn pages – not just glued like ordinary books.
- Satin-ribbon page marker.
- Gilded page ends.
- Bound in the USA. Imported materials.
- Rigorous inspection at every stage ensures adherence to our exacting standards.
- Superb craftsmanship and commitment to quality.
- Standard shipping included at no additional charge.

You can order the eight-volume set online at the Easton Press website, or request a catalog and order them by mail. According to their site, the books will ship in 6-10 business days.

Created July 28, 2002, Last updated May 2, 2024
© worldofanneshirley.com