Soooo I started this book because it was for a book club. That and the fact that it was being turned into a musical! I tried to read it. It was a book written by a local woman about the local history of Athens where I was living. But it was such a busy time (preparing to move, family visiting to do some last minute things in Georgia before moving/helping us pack…) that I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down with this book to read it. It wasn’t enough to capture my attention. 

I did see the musical though. I am a HUGE musical person. To put it into perspective, I saw 8 shows within the 2 month span just before moving out of Georgia (a couple of Broadway tour productions at the Fox theatre in Atlanta… a couple of Athens community theatre shows… a town and town community theatre show… a Broadway tour production at the very theatre where Linnentown was performed, and a University of Georgia theatre show… in addition to Linnentown) so I do have a background to compare this production against. For being such a local production it was presented on a very large scale. It was performed in the venue that actually supports a Broadway season tour- much larger than you would expect for a local thing. And the sets were good enough to look professional. Buttttt the story was not meant to be a musical. While extremely interesting and a story worth telling and sharing and making known, it was too slow and not right for a musical at all. And the music was (I hate to say it) not good. And the acting (I really hate to say it) was also not good. But there were some very good singers! Overall it went on for too long. Probably because it was not well suited for musical… I think it would have made an amazing documentary. With interviews and images and them showing what the area looks like now. I think that would have been the proper medium to get the story out there.