Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera Hits 8,500 Performances July 3 at the Majestic.

Lloyd Webber and Rice's First Musical, The Likes of Us, Released for Amateur Productions:
The performance rights for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's first musical collaboration, The Likes of Us, written shortly after they met in 1965, has been made available for amateur groups through the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA). . . .

The musical is based on the true-life story of Dr. Thomas Barnardo, whose 19th-century crusade to rescue abandoned or orphaned children living on the streets of London led him to set up homes to house them. The first "Home for Destitute Boys" opened in 1870, with a sign on the door saying, "No destitute child ever refused admission – Open All Night." For the amateur productions, the Really Useful Group . . . will donate a portion of its own share of receipts to Barnardos until the end of 2010. . . .

Eric Smart, Chairman of the Trustees for NODA, commented, "Andrew Lloyd Webber is our Patron, and we are most grateful to him and Tim Rice for agreeing to release The Likes of Us to the amateur sector before a professional release. That in itself is truly unique and this innovation deserves to be widely recognized."

FIC RECS:

Doctor Who (to the surprise of no one who can't believe it's *still* not Saturday)
Composed of Nows by indiana_j (PG-13) [links to final chapter, which links back to previous parts] - At first, I thought this Jack-falls-through-the-void-and-ends-up-in-Pete's-World fic (which I found through available_very) was going to be too similar to doyle_sb4's They Came To Norway To Eat Our Brains (which is, easily, one of my Top Ten Favorite Doctor Who fanfics). However, I think the author distinguished this story enough, since doyle_sb4's fic had Rose and Mickey find Jack upon his arrival, since they were working for Alt!Torchwood, whereas indiana_j has Jack investigating Rose and her whereabouts, like a mystery.

My favorite bit from Jack's search for info on Rose:
The [newspapers] wrote about Pete's business with Torchwood and public works; how Jackie had been seemingly changed for the better by the escape from the Cybermen; what Rose was wearing (and in one case, what she wasn't wearing. Jack firmly approved and added that to his growing folder. For scientific reasons, of course).

How the Doctor Got His Friend by donutsweeper (G) - wintercompanion's current challenge is AU, and donutsweeper rises to the challenge by giving us one of the crackiest AUs of them all: The one in which they are all stuffed animals. No, really. Aunt Barbara gives Susan a teddy bear, dubbed Doctor Bear -- AND I AM OVERWHELMED BY THE CUTENESS OF IT ALL! Having the entire series be a child's imaginary adventure would explain a lot, actually. I have only one complaint: Why is Rose a pink bunny, when, obviously, she should have been a pink wolf? ;)

Untouched by Frost by dameruth (NC-17) [WIP - only 4/12 complete - links to the most recent chapter, which links back to the previous parts] - Yet another Rose-returns-from-Pete's-World OT3 fic. HOWEVER, what piqued my interest in this story was Rose's reason for returning now. Usually, in this genre of fics, Rose has been trying all along to get back or suddenly finds a deus ex machina gadget to slip through the void. In this story, however, Rose is visited in an evocative dream by a she-wolf, who guides her way. I love the imagery, and I also love that Rose finds Jack first, before the Doctor. I'm a complete sucker for Jack and Rose or Jack/Rose (as I've mentioned many times). Actually, when they're together, they tend to prove that I am, in fact, twelve-years-old and just pretend to be above the drinking age -- a pretense which might be useful come Saturday.