The Secret Garden (Radio Theatre)

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Summary: enchanting story comes to life in this dramatized production
Review: Over the years, I have collected several versions of Secret Garden from various internet bookstores. This production, beautifully done by Focus on Family, is by far the best version I have ever heard. The narrator, using first person in her narration, effectively weaves in the story smoothly. And the original story and sequences of story are well kept so that it can be easily followed with the text. Another good thing about this cd is in its cover. The audio actors and actresses are properly introduced and thus given its listeners the first hand knowledge about who is who on this wonderful sound production. Keep up the good works! Focus on Family

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Summary: Be careful --- this is not the original version!
Review: The Secret Garden is a wonderful classic tale. I've read the original book, and seen two different movie productions of it. This "radio theater" version, however, is different. Apparently produced by Focus on the Family, it brings religion into a story that wasn't originally religious. To read the original, you wouldn't think of it as "Biblical" at all. What if Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island was rewritten so that Long John Silver viewed his piracy as an allegory for doing Christ's work in an imperfect world, and started carrying on about the Holy Spirit? This is not so different from what has been done with this Secret Garden version. For some, this could be a plus, but in case you are in the "other" category, let the buyer beware.