WESTFIELD — The Westfield Memorial Library will end March with three programs, including music, landscaping and author events. The library is located at 550 East Broad Street.
On Tuesday, March 25, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Bonnie Rapp, a homegrown Westfield vocalist, will sing the songs of composers Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan and others.
Ms. Rapp performed the lead role of Christine Daaé in the National Tour/San Francisco Company of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.
Some of her favorite roles include Maria in The Sound of Music, Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Louise in Gypsy and Sister Amnesia and Sister Leo in Nunsense, Nunsense II and Nunsense Jamboree. In addition, Ms. Rapp has appeared in numerous galas, fundraisers and Broadway concerts, including performances at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.
Virtual Author: Dreams We Chase: AnAuthor Talk with Novelist Jennifer Weiner will be presented on Wednesday, March 26, from 7 to 8 p.m. A number-one New York Times bestselling author, Ms. Weiner will speak with participants about the emotional depth of her books that have been inspiring readers toward self-discovery for decades. Ms. Weiner is the author of the novels “Good In Bed,” “In Her Shoes,” “Big Summer,” “The Breakaway” and many more. Additionally, in a special preview, she will briefly discuss her forthcoming novel, “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits,” due out Tuesday, April 8, 2025.
Set in the world of pop music, “The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits” is about sisters, motherhood, young love, and the dreams we chase. Sisters Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were born just a year apart but could not have been more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows.
On the brink of adulthood in the early 2000s, destiny intervened, catapulting the sisters into the spotlight as the pop sensation the Griffin Sisters, hitting all the touchstones of early-aughts fame — SNL, MTV, Rolling Stone magazine — along the way. But after a whirlwind year in the public eye, the band abruptly broke up. Two decades later, Zoe is a housewife; Cassie is off the grid. The sisters are not speaking, and the real reason for the Griffin Sisters’ breakup is still a mystery. Ms. Weiner’s books have spent over five years on the New York Times bestseller list, with more than 11 million copies in print in 36 countries. She also is the author of “The Littlest Bigfoot” middlegrade trilogy. Her nonfiction collection, “Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing” (2016), was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay.
In order to receive the Zoom link for this virtual author talk, interested persons must register for the event on the library’s website, https:/ /wmlnj.org/.
Lois Kraus, co-founder of Advocates Transforming Landscaping in New Jersey, and Bianca Wright, landscape designer and owner of Habitats and Gardens, LLC, will give a presentation on “Sustainable Landscaping” on Thursday, March 27, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. They will discuss how people can make their property more sustainable while protecting the health of themselves, their family and neighborhood.
Ms. Kraus and Ms. Wright will cover topics such as what Sustainable Landscaping is; why today’s “Green Stamp/Leaf Swept” aesthetic is problematic; gas leaf blowers: what is all the buzz about towns restricting their use, and the specific steps homeowners can take to make their yard more sustainable.
To register for these programs, visit https://wmlnj.org/.
