A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: FINAL PERFORMANCE

[Editor's Note: This is a combined review with A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Annual Farewell Performance.]--When Garrison Keillor left Minnesota in 1987, he gave a farewell performance of “A Prairie Home Companion,” then gave encores the next three years, while still away, resuming the show some years later. These programs are heavily musical and include guests such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins. Unfortunately, Keillor himself is entirely too willing to sing, and his voice is weak. Mixed in are the usual skits, commercials for make-believe products, and news from Lake Wobegon—brief, sometimes moving, short stories, really, which Keillor tells skillfully. Some skits aren't all that funny, though the news often is. But, in general, these programs range from moderately entertaining, in the self-consciously homey “Prairie Home Companion” manner, to quite fine. W.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]