A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

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

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

This good-natured spoof of King Arthur is vintage Twain. The "Connecticut Yankee," from Hartford, loses 13 centuries in one blow after being hit on the head. Despite a rocky start, when he's almost burned at the stake, the Yankee dazzles the inhabitants with demonstrations of scientific wizardry. He then takes on the king, eventually persuading him to create a model republic in which commoners are treated better than they ever were in fabled Camelot. All this is fun, of course, but it might be more fun if the American were less pompous as he tries to reform the king. Fortunately, Richard Kiley's New England twang adds just the right touch of hilarity to keep the action on track. Once again a lively audio performance has revitalized an older book that can seem stale in print. J.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER.]--It's easy to imagine Samuel Clemens and Carl Reiner as best of friends, had not the one died 10 years before the other was born. Twain would have enjoyed Reiner's work in "Your Show of Shows," "The 2000 Year Old Man," and "The Dick Van Dyke Show," just as Reiner clearly appreciates Twain's humor. The appreciation comes across in Reiner's readings of these two historical farces. Despite the good humor and the best intentions, there's something unfortunately incongruous in the juxtaposition of Twain's stories with Reiner's voice. As warmly entertaining as it is to listen to Carl Reiner, his Bronx Jewish accent and intonation don't jibe well with Twain's Mississippi and New England style, or with the medieval English settings of these two novels. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

Mark Twain's ironic tale follows a man from the nineteenth century who travels back in time to the sixth century. Narrator Nick Offerman's deep voice is at once familiar. He uses his natural voice for the narrator, the Connecticut Yankee, who speaks in a likable tone and distinctly American accent. However, Offerman is especially surprising in his flawless transition from the measured American speaker to the cadenced speech of the sixth-century British characters. He achieves a range of British dialects, and his voice completely transforms in these vocal characterizations. Offerman's distinct contrast between the informal narrator and the elevated sixth-century language enhances the conversational exchanges. Offerman's performance is fitting to Mark Twain, who even mentions in the novel how essential dialects are in helping the reader to distinguish individual characters. D.M.W. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine