THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

It's difficult for a performer to do justice to this autobiography, fascinating though parts of it are, because it's famously spotty and unfinished. Huge gaps in Franklin's life are left undiscussed. But one can hardly imagine a better reader than Fredd Wayne, who lately has performed off-Broadway a widely respected one-man show, Benjamin Franklin: Citizen. On the jacket he looks like Franklin, as one might expect, and he also sounds like we imagine Franklin to have been: sprightly, humorous, reflective, friendly, sometimes pensive, like a wise next-door neighbor. D.W. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAR/APR 98]