''Magic Under Glass'' is a young-adult

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

by American writer Jaclyn Dolamore. It was published in 2009 by

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

, with 240 pages. ''Magic Under Glass'' and its 2012 sequel ''Magic Under Stone'' were adapted as a fantasy

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concept ...

in 2017 by the

Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

Plot summary

The story takes place in the kingdom of Lorinar which is in an ongoing war with a neighboring fairy kingdom. Nimira, the heroine, is a woman of aristocratic roots who works as a dancer in a foreign land after her mother's death and the disappearance of her father. She does not think twice when a handsome and mysterious magician, Hollin Parry invites her to live in his palace on the condition that she performs with a robot that can only be turned on with a silver key. She soon finds out that there is some evil magic in the mist and that the automation is Erris, a cursed fairy prince who is trapped in a robot body. Hollin's wife Annalie is trapped in an attic under the control of a sorcerer. Nimira and Erris fall in love and help to free Annalie from her curse. It is unknown what fate awaits them as they seek to free Erris from his automaton body. The sequel, ''Magic Under Stone'', continues the tale of this duo in this magical land of twists and turns.

Background

Dolamore's inspiration for ''Magic Under Glass'' came from her interest in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and automaton. Due, in part, to the influence of her favorite author

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

, Dolamore wanted to write a story that incorporated

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

themes. It took her two months to write the first draft of the novel, which she then rewrote twice over the next two years.

Reception

''Magic Under Glass'', was met with generally positive reviews. Its publisher,

faced criticism due to perceived whitewashing by using a white woman on the cover to depict the heroine, Nimira who is described in the book as "black-haired and brown-skinned." The author, Dolamore wrote that, although the plot is set in an imaginary kingdom, Nimira's character draws from Eastern European, Asian and Roma cultures.

Adaptations

announced its intention to stage a musical adaptation of ''Magic Under Glass'' and ''Magic Under Stone'', engaging author Dolamore as a playwright, Michael Kline as composer and lyricist,

Toby Orenstein Toby Barbara Orenstein (née Press; born May 23, 1937) is an American theatrical director, producer, and educator. She has two honorable mentions for the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. Orenstein was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hal ...

as artistic director, and Ross Scott Rawlings as orchestrator and music director. Dolamore began writing the script in the Summer of 2015 and concluded it, with the assistance of Kline and Orenstein that December. The musical opened at

Howard County Community College Howard Community College (HCC or Howard CC) is a public community college in Columbia, Maryland. It offers classes for credit in more than 100 programs, non-credit classes, and workforce development programs. In addition to the main campus in C ...

Smith Theater in Columbia,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in July 2017. The costume designer, Kristen Clark exhibited the musical at the 2017 World Stage Design in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. In November 2017,

American Latino TV ''American Latino TV'' is a nationally syndicated television program produced by American Latino Syndication, a division of LATV Networks. The weekly magazine and culture lifestyle program showcases American and foreign-born Latinos making a po ...

featured the musical in an episode, interviewing cast members and hosting a live performance of selections from the original score.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2009 American novels 2009 fantasy novels American gothic novels American romance novels American young adult novels Romantic fantasy novels Bloomsbury Publishing books