ROSEMARY'S BABY

Farrow's reading soon becomes a performance, first winning, then powerful, especially as Rosemary (whom she played in the film), a young Manhattan housewife who becomes the victim of a coven determined to bring Satan's heir into the world. She conveys especially well Rosemary's vulnerability and trusting normalcy, which make the story all the more chilling. Farrow's narration is professional otherwise, and her portrayal of other characters solid. One minor problem is that she carries over emotion from speeches inappropriately into speech tags and descriptions. A not so minor problem is that her voice sounds hollow, as if recorded in an acoustically unfriendly space. Harper/Caedmon provides a timed listing of tracks, something all audio publishers should do. W.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]