Charlotte's Web
By: E. B. White/ Foreword By: Melissa Sweet / Narrated By: Meryl Streep, January LaVoy, Kirby Heyborne, MacLeod Andrews, Mark Bramhall, Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell, Mark Deakins, Kimberly Farr, Tavia Gilbert, Dion Graham, Almarie Guerra, Johnny Heller, Lincoln Hoppe, Raymond Lee, Robin Miles, Adenrele Ojo, Ray Porter, Emily Rankin, John Rubinstein, Bahni Turpin, Julia Whelan
Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins
ZOUNDS!!! Joyous performances, perfection in production! Sure to bring a tear or two to the uninitiated’s eye…!!!
Okay so, like, who hasn’t watched “Charlotte’s Web” on TV?! Or read the book?!
Do I really need to tell you what it’s about? Well, yeh, cuz ya know what? I just saw a review where a woman in her 80s read it for the first time. A gorgeous read, but lemme tell ya: This current iteration is a By-ZOUNDS! standout.
The TV iteration was a musical, complete with fawning audiences following Hero Wilbur as they march and sing about “Zuckerman’s Famous Pig”. The book will make you weep. But this audiobook (And by the way, I have the earlier version of E.B. White reading his own words, but…), well, the performances are specTACular! I don’t besmirch White’s rendition, as an author knows just what emotion and emphasis he intended.
BUT I DO shout to the mighty heavens about topnotch narrators coming to a beloved classic and giving it their all, sounding as tho’ they’re having the greatest good fun with their performances. So HUZZAH for this audiobook, and a mighty shout out to Big Sis for the two of us listening to this at the same time.
8-year old Fern is minding her own beeswax during breakfast when she learns a tough lesson about Life on a Farm: A runt has been found in a new litter of pigs and Dad is off with an ax to take care of it. This is the GROSSEST of INJUSTICES, Fern screeches, and so, for an entire month, Fern gets the piglet to care for. When the piglet, Wilbur, is better and growing well, she is forced to sell him to her Uncle Zuckerman for $6. But at least she can visit him at the farm every afternoon.
At his new farm home, Wilbur fits in quite nicely with the plethora of farm animals, but he’s delightfully surprised when a gray spider named Charlotte takes up residence in the doorway above him. She’s erudite, contemplative, and she comes to love Wilbur dearly. And Wilbur now has his closest of friends nearby.
Another Life on the Farm Lesson, however, is looming. All of Uncle Zuckerman’s Spring pigs are usually cared for, fattened up, and then they’re slaughtered come Winter. This has Wilbur in hysterics, and Charlotte pacifies him and spends her time cogitating, trying to think of ways to save him from such a fate. The answer: She weaves accolades into her webs in the barn door, the first one being: “Some Pig”. This is seen as a Miracle, and tourists travel from far away to view the web and see what a fine pig Wilbur is.
But it’s not enough… and so Life on the Farm continues; and Charlotte indefatigably works her magic as time goes on, getting older in the process.
The performances are beYONd wondrous. My only quibble is that sometimes Meryl Streep lets her acting chops get in the way. While she does the main narrative superbly, she has a tendency of overacting for the lead-up dialogue cues. She uses her voice to get HYSTERICAL when Wilbur is about to get HYSTERICAL… and before Kirby Heyborne dutifully, and wonderfully, has Wilbur getting HYSTERICAL. These are seasoned voice actors Streep is working with, Uber-tops in the field, and they do NOT need direction about how to craft and twist their character’s voices/emotions/convey their actions. It kinda, but only kinda, was ear-jarring, but I’ll forgive her, shall I? Because that’s m’ only quibble in what is a stellar production, complete with background sounds that are sparingly added for atmosphere. January LaVoy as Charlotte is totally awesome, such a sweet voice, even-toned for an unflappable spider. And tho’ I’m NOT going to list each. and every. narrator and their assigned characters, I WILL add that the list is on the Audible page. A few Huzzahs, however, are very much in order for MacLeod Andrews (Whom I absoLUTEly remember for delivering the final Slug To The Gut/Drop Dead Gorgeous line in Waiting for Eden) who seemed like he had a blast being Templeton the Rat. And a mighty Huzzah for Robin Miles as the Old Sheep who knows, just KNOWS, HOW to tweak Templeton’s interest so that he might acquiesce and go along with plans he’d otherwise find odious. Considering Templeton finds ALL requests odious, Miles has to really use her acting skills to bring variety to her tweaking and imperatives.
Nope, I guess since I’d watched the TV special, like, a million (And six!) times, and I’d read the book when I was pretty little, I must admit that I didn’t shed any tears here, this time.
That said?
I’m wondering, reeeeally wondering, how that 80+-year old woman fared during her first time EVER?
Not a dry eye, I’m guessing. Cuz this is just sooo filled with Love, Friendship, Life Lessons, and Wonder. Such Wonder for the Seeming Ordinary that the Heart simply cries out with Joy!
Thank you, E.B.
And thank you to the Powers That Be that respected this story enough, that loved it enough, to throw every talented voice out there to bring this absolute GEM to life yet again!!!
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