SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES

Part fantasy, part allegory, Bradbury's mad ecstasy of words spews forth like a demented poem. Some listeners may find themselves swamped in the lush, expository verbiage, but Hecht's measured baritone keeps it all from running amok. Slowly he builds the menace of a carnival arriving in the night, with weird calliope music that transforms time itself. The tatooed director and his freaks emerge to lure customers to death, or worse. As Will and Jim follow their 13-year-old appetites of derring-do, Hecht uses a breathless falsetto of wonder and apprehension. In the wrong hands, the symbolism might have wilted into cartoonish platitudes. But Hecht's careful handling delivers the message with dignity. S.B.S. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 01]