Rating: 
Summary: It's a radio play!
Review: This is probably the greatest play ever written for RADIO! It's a medium rarely thought of for such things today, and theater people repeatedly come a cropper in trying to put it on the stage. I've seen several stage productions and one TV version, and the piece simply does not work that way. Dylan Thomas takes the LISTENER inside the characters' dreams and thoughts. Once they are concretized or thingified on a stage or screen, they are destroyed. Don't read it. Close your eyes and LISTEN. It's magnificent - funny, sweet, moving.
Rating: 
Summary: Great fun, if unwittingly hilarious
Review: This is the famous Caedmon recording of the first ever performance of Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas' most celebrated piece of drama. It was recorded in New York in May 1953 with Thomas himself and an American cast, whose brave attempts to master the Welsh accent are almost as entertaining as the actual play. Thomas fans would probably admit that while Under Milk Wood is a fine old romp, full of wit and beady-eyed observation of small-town life, it's not quite Thomas firing on all cylinders. The whimsy can be quite off-putting if you're not in the right mood, and there's no doubt that it lacks the rage and tragedy of his finest poems. The cast is also a problem. These actors just can't sound Welsh, no matter how hard they try, and some of the jokes go straight over the audience's collective head. (A cheeky gag about condoms is greeted with stony silence.) Thomas' own voice, for those who've never heard it before, is startlingly orotund and English-sounding, the result of teenage elocution lessons. But it's an eerie thing to listen to, if you reflect that the poet was dead within six months. A good stocking-filler for literary uncles.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun, if unwittingly hilarious
Review: This is the famous Caedmon recording of the first ever performance of Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas' most celebrated piece of drama. It was recorded in New York in May 1953 with Thomas himself and an American cast, whose brave attempts to master the Welsh accent are almost as entertaining as the actual play. Thomas fans would probably admit that while Under Milk Wood is a fine old romp, full of wit and beady-eyed observation of small-town life, it's not quite Thomas firing on all cylinders. The whimsy can be quite off-putting if you're not in the right mood, and there's no doubt that it lacks the rage and tragedy of his finest poems. The cast is also a problem. These actors just can't sound Welsh, no matter how hard they try, and some of the jokes go straight over the audience's collective head. (A cheeky gag about condoms is greeted with stony silence.) Thomas' own voice, for those who've never heard it before, is startlingly orotund and English-sounding, the result of teenage elocution lessons. But it's an eerie thing to listen to, if you reflect that the poet was dead within six months. A good stocking-filler for literary uncles.
Rating: 
Summary: What ?
Review: While I'm a long time fan of Dylan Thomas's prose and poetry, I've never understood the fascination with this sloppy, non-sensical play. It is, to me, a moment when Thomas stopped being Thomas and made a clumsy attempt to emulate James Joyce. The result is a confusing and pointless play. That said, the man was a marvel. Read his poetry, read "Adventures In The Skin Trade" and "Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog."
Rating: 
Summary: a masterpiece
Review: Words like "masterpiece" and "genius" get hurled around a lot when speaking of works of art, and often they are used recklessly. Often by me. But not in this case. "Under Milk Wood" achieves something wonderful that many works of art strive for but often fall short of. We still consider those works of art important, or at the very least, enjoyable. That being the case, think of how important and enjoyable "Under Milk Wood" is!
Rating:
Summary: a masterpiece
Review: Words like "masterpiece" and "genius" get hurled around a lot when speaking of works of art, and often they are used recklessly. Often by me. But not in this case. "Under Milk Wood" achieves something wonderful that many works of art strive for but often fall short of. We still consider those works of art important, or at the very least, enjoyable. That being the case, think of how important and enjoyable "Under Milk Wood" is!
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