A Marriage Made in . . . Ashland??
>> Friday, October 15, 2010
Or . . . No wonder that voice is so familiar.
Quite a few of the audiobooks I’ve listened to over the years have been by Blackstone Audio and I know that they’re based in Ashland in Southern Oregon. I’m familiar with Ashland because The Hubster and I make one or two trips down there every year. We’ve been attending plays there at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for years. The OSF performance season runs from March to October every year so many of the long term members of the acting company live in the area.
It wasn’t until I learned the other day that Kevin Kenerly is the narrator for Blackstone’s audio version of Tom Franklin’s wonderful book Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter that my mind went “Oh, DUH”. Of course Blackstone would seek out actors from OSF for adding to their list of narrators – what a match made in heaven.
Now as for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, my first thought was “Romeo reading Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter? – OK, I guess that works”. The more I thought about it though, the more I decided it would be perfect, he’d have a wonderful voice for that. I’ve seen Kevin Kenerly in many different roles over the years at OSF, but one of my all time favorites was his performance in Romeo and Juliet a few years ago. This past summer we saw him as Hotspur in Henry IV, Part One.
So this revelation prompted me to browse Blackstone Audiobooks website to see what other familiar names and faces were among their extensive list of narrators. I was pleasantly surprised to see several familiar names and voices. The links below are to each actors list of books at Blackstone.
Here are a few folks I’ve come to know over the years on stage and will certainly look for when choosing audiobooks.
No stars – I couldn’t even finish it
1 star – I didn’t like it but I managed to finish it.
2 stars – It was OK. Not good, but seriously just OK.
3 stars - I liked it. I didn’t think it was great, but I thought it was good entertainment.
4 stars – I really liked it. I really think you might like it too.
5 stars – It was amazing. I’d recommend this to just about anyone.
4 comments:
How cool to see (hear) actors you've come to know doing something a little different!
Very cool indeed. I always wanted to go to Ashland when I lived in Oregon, everyone just raves about the performances.
oh wow! i love the photo you included and would love to visit OR for the festival. i've done shakespeare in the park (central park, nyc) a few times. i tend to get in a 'narrator rut' and listen to specific narrators over and over again. cool that you found ones that you've actually watched perform!
Mary: it was such a surprise when I heard that Kevin Kenerly read Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. My first thought was "I KNOW him". I don't really 'know' him, of course, but after seeing him in so many different roles on stage over the years he's more than a faceless voice.
BethF: Oh you need to get out here for a visit and include a trip to Ashland. You'd love it!! (ps. there's also some great wineries in that area of Southern Oregon).
Nat: It's pretty cool to be sitting there watching the performance and see the Big Dipper in the sky overhead. Lovely setting.
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