A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Twain's social satire transports Hank Morgan of nineteenth-century Connecticut to 528, the year of a solar eclipse and the zenith of power for King Arthur and his court. The juxtaposition of two civilizations is Twain's vehicle for delightful humor and searing commentary on society and the nature of man. Kenneth Jay balances many points of view and accents. His gravelly voice gives pomp to the courtiers of the time. He is breathless and speeds the tempo as schemes unfold. Wonderment and melancholy permeate as Morgan/Twain ponder the ultimate power of magic vis-ˆ-vis that of science. Period music fills the transitions of this abridged recording and provides the listener time to set the scene and players for subsequent sections. A.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine


A practical, no-nonsense New Englander of 1889, knocked unconscious in a fight, wakes up in old England of 528, where, by dint of his industry, he becomes Sir Boss, a prominent and dissident member of the Round Table. With a trace of cockney in his voice, Chris Walker sprints through Mark Twain's revision of the chivalric ideal as if he were late for an appointment, tripping occasionally and never quite connecting with the authorial personality. He has no idea of what a Connecticut Yankee is or why placing one in Camelot should produce such telling thematic consequences. His main achievement is in keeping so much of the text straight at such high RPM. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine