DEAR HEART

Originally performed as a play, DEAR HEART consists mainly of WWII love letters written by Davis's Aunt Wynne to her husband Mickey, imprisoned by the Japanese in Burma. Rebecca Davis, Jenny's daughter, reads Wynne's letters, bringing out her lack of sophistication and her deliberate cheeriness, which sometimes lapses into desperation and longing. Halusz fills us in on what's happening to Mickey, his less emotional reporting playing counterpoint to Wynne's outpourings. She complains about rationing and English weather; we know he's starving in jungle heat. At war's end, we share her grief as the letters return but Mickey doesn't. Intermittent sentimental music is appropriate for the times and does not detract from this powerful story. J.B.G. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 00]