Reviews
I have to begin by stating that I am not a child. (According to my relatives, I was a child once, about forty or fifty years ago - but I have no memory of this and do not fully believe it.)
However, in spite of my lack of credentials as a card-carrying 'child', I love the wonderland story, along with all Carroll's other stuff. This CD is wonderful. Even if YOUR childhood is further away than Alice's feet after she took a bite from the caterpillar's mushroom, you still might enjoy this CD very much.
On it you will find the complete Alice in Wonderland, a (rather brief) selection of Carroll's verse, and several of his letters.
For me, the only thing that stops this CD from being perfect is that it doesn't include what most right-minded scholars, philosophers, and Good Sorts must surely regard as the finest,funniest, most moving and most profound poem in the English language (I refer, of course, to The Hunting of the Snark.)
Even so, this still deserves its five stars. Since the number '1' appears twice on the description above, maybe we can yet hope that there will be a '2' before 2 long, and that it will include the Snark.
Highly recommended for the child, the childlike, the just plain childish, and all lovers of Mr Carroll's works.
Alice in Wonderland & Nonsense Verse and Prose by Lewis Carroll is another excellent independent venture offering books with an Oxford connection. It begins with a multi-cast Alice in Wonderland. Alice (Katherine Eve) is fresh and matter-of fact; the White Rabbit is a jittery stickler for convention and the snarling between the Duchess and the Red Queen is terrible to hear. There is half an hour of Carroll's schoolroom skit, Sylvia and Bruno, a romping Jabberwocky, The Mad Gardener's Song and much more.
An MP3 CD contains more audio (in this case, 3hrs 30mins) than a regular 80-min CD. It works on computers and most CD players.
...(Oxford Storypods) have included a bonus of selected poetry and prose by our favorite author - including some of the better-known letters - so it’s a good amount of material for the money.
Happily, the producers of this maiden effort have put just the right maiden front and center: Katherine Eve acts as both the narrator and as our heroine, and does a delightful job with both. Some might quibble that it would seem odd to hear the narrator’s sometimes deathly droll asides coming from the same voice as that of Alice, but Ms. Eve handles the distinction subtly and adroitly. And most importantly, she brings to her Alice a delightful combination of youthful abandon and forthright intelligence that is ideally suited to the role. Never for a moment does she sound like an adult "reading down"; she is utterly committed to the straightforward simplicity of Alice, and the result is a fresh and winning performance that rewards continued listening. The rest of the cast acquit themselves respectably supporting her; Bill Moulford in particular brings engaging specificity to a number of roles, and also composed the charming piano music that starts and ends the recording.
The text is unabridged, although I will note that the producers do allow themselves one modern touch, when the narrator advises those seeking a picture of a gryphon to look it up on the Internet. There are no sound effects, and I didn’t feel the need for them; those involved wisely let the words carry the day. All in all, this is a charming first recording.