Twelfth Night

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Rosalind Ayres, Tara Lynne Barr, Chris Butler, JD Cullum, Sarah Drew, Martin Jarvis, Adhir Kalyan, Stacy Keach, André Sogliuzzo, Josh Stamberg, Mark Jude Sullivan

Shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria, Viola assumes the role of a male page to Duke Orsino. The Duke sends Viola, now disguised as ‘Cesario’ to press his suit with the beautiful Olivia–who promptly falls in love with Cesario. Confusion reigns until the truth is untangled and true love triumphs.

Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood in July 2022.

Adapted and directed by Martin Jarvis

Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg

An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast recording starring:

Rosalind Ayres as Maria

Tara Lynne Barr as Olivia

Chris Butler as Orsino

JD Cullum as Antonio

Sarah Drew as Viola

Martin Jarvis as Sir Toby Belch

Adhir Kalyan as Sir Andrew Aguecheek

Stacy Keach as Feste, the Fool

André Sogliuzzo as Fabian, Curio, Valentine and others

Josh Stamberg as Malvolio

Mark Jude Sullivan as Sebastian

Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson

Recording and Mixing Engineer: Charles Carroll

Editing and Sound Design: David Wilson and Charles Carroll

Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin

Foley Artist: Jeff Gardner

Guitar Accompaniment by JD Cullum

Public Domain (P)2022 L.A. Theatre Works

Would have liked more artistic voice

I appreciated being able to hear this, and the actors seemed like they had fun. However, while I understand it's hard to do Shakespeare, especially a play so full of physical comedy, as audio (even if it is my favorite play), there were some things that could have been done better.

Viola and the Captain didn't seem particularly upset that their ship had been sunk and lots of people, including possibly Sebastian, had died. A few comic timings/tones were off. People kept talking before other characters could possibly have left the room. In fact, there seemed to be an aversion to pauses overall -- maybe a door slam or receding footsteps would have kept listeners from silence-panicking as actors "exited," at least? They kept the original tunes for the music (which are meh), but the melodies often got lost. Also the Orsino's interpretation of his character (angry, forceful, and uncomfortably sensual at the end) creeped me out -- which makes me worry about Viola's fate. If purposeful, this would need to be addressed in the rest of the production, which it wasn't. (Just as well if it wasn't purposeful though -- Toby is always going to be yikes, but I really don't like a yikes Orsino.)

Other than that some of the lines were well-done (I liked the Malvolio), and it sounded like the actors enjoyed their characters, which is one of the most important things. A passable, straightforward production, but I wish it had had a stronger artistic interpretation and gave the actors more to play with.

favorite play!

Twelfth Night is such a delightful, entertaining, witty, and clever play, and the audiobook narration was spot on! I've read the book, watched the movie, and now finished the audiobook, and I have to say the performers really brought Shakespeare's characters to life. Twelfth Night is truly enjoyable and memorable :)

Not nearly as funny as it should be

director needed to encourage the actors to have more fun with their roles. this is a comedy, after all.