TV: Up Close and Personal with BroadwayWorld's Don Grigware

Michael Sterling, BroadwayWorld TV's Los Angeles On-Air Host and Producer, gets up close and personal with well-known and respected theatre reviewer/journalist Don Grigware (www.grigwaretalkstheatre) and Los Angeles Senior Editor for BroadwayWorld.com, has just released the sequel to Two Worlds Together, Donnelly's Greatest Christmas, which was released on amazon.com last December, 2014. The title of the sequel is Two Worlds Together, Donnelly's Greatest Christmas Books II & III, which concludes the story introduced in the first volume. Books II & III are together in one volume and include colorful illustrations by local artist Laurie Morgan. Both this volume and the previous one are available in paperback and on kindle.

The story follows the escapades of a male blonde cocker spaniel named Donnelly who has served for many years as the mascot to Santa Claus's reindeer. After he dies and goes to heaven, God makes him an angel and sends him back to the North Pole to continue to serve, in the best way he knows how, the needs of all the creatures at the North Pole. In Book I, Santa sends Donnelly on an important mission. He is sent to a far away land to scout possible reindeer replacements for Christmas Eve. Two of the regular reindeer have leg injuries and are unable to fly, so substitutes must be found. When Donnelly arrives in the new land, he is verbally attacked and abused by a terrorist named Vinnemous T. Wolf, who has taken control of the territory. Vinnemous refuses to let Donnelly drink from the lake and sends him away, terrified. Donnelly fears for the safety of the other creatures and avows to return to the land to help the animals stop Vinnemous T. Wolf's reign of terror.

In Books II and III, we welcome back Donnelly and his friends Syllie, the cute stable mouse and lazy Jake the Ox, and introduce for the first time a bevy of creatures from the new land called the Holy Oak. Calvin, ex-mayor/governor and his sheriff Mitus, otters Emmett and Godfrey, adorable little bunny rabbit Oopsie, and raccoon oderiferous Phanny Pharkus all fear for their lives as Vinnemous T. Wolf continues his rampage.

The crux of the story is how Donnelly helps Calvin bring justice to Holy Oak and joy to all of the creatures there through nonviolent measures... and gives them the opportunity to celebrate Christmas for the very first time.

Reviews for Book I were unanimous in their praise for its topical, realistic dilemma and its delicious humor. One reviewer cited it as a "new Christmas classic along the lines of It's a Wonderful Life" and "These are animal creatures that children of all ages will come to love for their playfulness, warmth and spirit".

Grigware explains in the forward that he was angered by the events of 9/11/2001 and that the story emanated from those tragic occurrences. Grigware was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts and attests to the fact that many of the creatures are his relatives and other people that he came to know as he grew up there.

Grigware graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with two Masters Degrees, one in Education and the other in Bilingual Studies. Apart from journalism, he is a teacher of foreign language and ESL and sometimes an actor onstage. He is a member of the prestigious Road Theatre Company in NoHo.

Two Worlds Together, Donnelly's Greatest Christmas is a two-volume set that will please children of every age. Christmas is merely a few months away and the books make great Christmas presents. To purchase, go to amazon.com. On the drop list, click books, then type in the title and voila! Enjoy!

To post a comment, you must register and login.