As September's school stress sets in, there's happy news for families who may not have heard Rabbit Ears Audios. My children were young in the early years of Rabbit Ears and our family spent many happy times listening and re-listening to audios that please all of us and waiting excitedly for the release of new titles.
Rabbit Ears, a small family-like operation, was founded by Mark Sottnick in 1985. The company paired actors and premiere musicians to publish more than 60 audio stories that won acclaim and awards including two Grammies. A two year public radio contract brought these performances to 285 stations, making it PRI's second-most carried program.
Many audios begin with a musical interlude. Many are more dramatization than reading. But these audios are unique in the way actors seem chosen to match the tale and the story serves as a jumping off point for the musical and acting excellence of each performer. All of these elements are masterfully mixed to give you a listening experience you may never have encountered before.
In 1996 Rabbit Ears was bought by Millenium Media, a company that, after six months, moved headquarters and rid itself of the staff responsible for the company's success. The stories vanished until last month when Listening Library, the top producer of audios for children, announced the re-release the Rabbit Ears CDs, beginning with four collections-"Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales", "Rabbit Ears American Tall Tales", "Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fables" and "Rabbit Ears Treasury of World Tales" (each from Listening Library, $19.95, unabridged, two CDs, approximately two hours). Stories are performed by actors like Nicolas Cage, Anjelica Huston, Holly Hunter, Denzel Washington, and John Hurt. They feature a wide-range of original scores by musicians like UB40, Mickey Hart, Ravi Shankar, and Leo Kottke.
Here's a close-up of the four stories included in the "Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales". Sissy Spacek creates a strong Lousiana bayou setting in "The Talking Eggs", the story of a kind young girl who is well-rewarded by a strange conjure woman. Cajun music by Michael Doucet with BeauSoleil complete the sense of place.
Mark Isham composes Asian-toned music for Glenn Close's acting in the classic, "The Emperor and the Nightingale", the story of a foolish monarch who comes to prefer a golden mechanical bird to the purity of the plainer real nightingale. This audio has a scary finale, Close's tones desperate as the frightened Emperor fights off death and Isham's musically echoes her lead including a chorus of scary whispering voices.
Kelly McGillis performs "Thumbelina". Her narration adopts a sad tone for the two inch tiny girl who can't find her place in the world. Throughout she gives solo spotlight performances for the many characters-like the croaking toad and arrogant mole that Thumbelina seems doomed to marry before she finds her happily ever. Interwoven are melancholy strains of music by Mark Isham.
The "Fisherman and his Wife" performed by Jodie Foster has tense dialogues between the long-suffering husband whose reluctance is clear as he asks a magical fish for increasing power for his greedy wife, Isabel. Her voice, in contrast is filled with insensitive sterness that becomes almost maniacal as her power builds. Van Dyke Parks plays pleasant majestic interludes when wishes go well and dark threatening music when the wife's greed gets out of control.
And there's more happy news. These are only the first collections, additional titles will follow in 2007. May Rabbit Ears live happily ever after!