FATHER GAETANO'S PUPPET CATECHISM

Nick Podehl gives this relatively short work of suspense an energetic and expressive reading as we are told of a certain young priest, Father Gaetano, who takes over the temporal and spiritual care of a group of orphans in Sicily in 1943, just after the Allies have passed through. Desiring to teach the children the Truths of the Faith, he happens upon a puppet theater in the rectory and sees this as a means of telling them the stories from the Bible, only to find that the puppets are quite the spawns of Satan. Podehl's expressive performance does well in relating the various emotions of horror, fear, and anger felt by the various characters, though it sometimes strays toward the overdramatic. The reading of the Padre's inner dialogue is especially well done. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2013]