THE CHILDREN'S SHAKESPEARE

This single-cassette recording is a re-release of the 1999 Grammy winner for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. It's frankly hard to see how it garnered that prize. The narrations themselves are generally fine, but the seven abridgments (dating to 1907 and including PERICLES and THE WINTER'S TALE, in addition to the familiar HAMLET, KING LEAR, and ROMEO AND JULIET) are precious, humorless, and so brief that they inspire no interest in the plays. Adapting Shakespeare for children has been done so much better--notably by Leon Garfield, whose marvelous work has been recorded by Chivers. Perhaps this reviewer doth protest too much, but the production is further sunk by the distracting ambient music. D.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 02/ JAN 03]