New Reviews: Poetry & Drama

Ross Gay's poetry leans, generally, toward the joyful, so the early parts of this collection come as something of a surprise. His narration is, as always, quite fine, but his tone (and that of the work) is somewhat darker than we might expect. The poetry is up to Gay's usual high standard, and his control of tone, phrasing, and pace are exemplary, but he begins here with... Read More

Ross Gay gives the kind of performance that demands your attention. Gay, an award-winning poet, originally published this poetry in 2015; this newly recorded audiobook features Gay performing the work. While the entire program is short, the themes are deep and the insights consistently disarming. Everyday observations develop into reflections of love, grief, and the nature of... Read More

Many of Mary Oliver's poems are about God or nature, and sometimes it's difficult to find the line between them. Her world was full of many delights and, had she lived to hear them, Kimberly Farr's interpretations of her poems would have been among them. There is some melancholy in this collection--although not much--and Farr's marvelous vocal talents bring that out as much as... Read More

With a little help from state-of-the-art production techniques and veteran acting talents, narrators Alison Larkin and Andrew Wincott give voice to nine characters and create the energy, intimacy, and acoustics of live theater in their presentation of Henrik Ibsen's 1879 groundbreaking masterwork about a woman's personal and economic awakening. At first, the world seems easy... Read More

A stellar cast performs Tennessee Williams's first major play, produced here by L.A. Theatre Works. Calista Flockhart has the difficult role of the painfully shy Laura Wingfield, while Julie Harris is her overbearing and talkative mother, Amanda. John Goodman soberly narrates the painful story, which is based on Laura's brother Tom's memories of his family's struggles to stay... Read More

Asian American actors Angela Lin and Jenapher Zheng are perfect as a determined lawyer who hires her independent-minded sister to be a Mandarin-English translator in a high-stakes multinational lawsuit. In this complex and compelling drama, emotions run high, and ethics run low when the Chinese government partners with an American tech giant to enhance the country's internet... Read More

Although her novels overshadow her other works, Margaret Atwood's poetry has won the Governor General's Award--roughly equivalent to the Pulitzer. Her latest collection, which she delivers in this audio edition, includes selections from her entire career and involves subjects that range from the Canadian experience to life as an aging woman alone. Perhaps as a way of... Read More

This adaptation of Tennessee Williams's classic story of romance, fate, and a conflicted mother-daughter relationship is "theater of the mind," thanks to excellent performances by Tony Award winners Anthony LaPaglia and Mercedes Ruehl. An Italian American neighborhood explodes when the police kill truck driver Rosario Delle Rose, who was smuggling. His buxom widow, Serafina,... Read More

Playwright Jeanne Sakata's newly commissioned version of this beloved classic for L.A. Theatre Works is both well produced and thoughtful. It provides backstory for Mary Lennox before turning the dour child over to Archibald Craven, her remaining relative, after an outbreak of cholera takes her family in India. Mary, voiced by Alma Marian, moves from petulance to wonder as she... Read More

Two great characteristics of Billy Collins's poems are their surface simplicity and their intriguing depth. Collins reads them here as though the surface were all, letting us appreciate the language and wit but allowing us to stop and think and go as deep as we want into these meditations on poetry, age, mortality, and many other subjects. Now in his 80s, Collins spends more... Read More

Each American poet laureate is expected to carry out at least one project, and the 24th, Ada Limón, created this anthology of poems about humans in nature. Narrated by Kim Ramirez, the audiobook includes a range of exemplary contemporary poets, including Joy Harjo, Jericho Brown, Dianne Seuss, Matthew Zapruder, and many fine (if sometimes lesser-known) others. Ramirez gives... Read More